Through the band’s 15 albums, Journey guitarist and founding member Neal Schon worked with a collection of other artists during his 50-plus-year run with the band. Along with Journey bandmate, keyboardist, and songwriter Jonathan Cain, Schon formed Bad English in the late ’80s, and the two co-wrote several tracks on the band’s 1989 debut and several more on the follow-up, Backlash, in 1991.
By the late ’90s, Schon also worked with Paul Rodgers on Muddy Waters and Jimi Hendrix tribute albums and co-wrote “Saving Grace” for Rodgers’ third solo album, Now, in 1997. Schon’s collaborations also spanned work with Joe Cocker, former Santana bandmate Gregg Rolie, Michael Bolton, Carmine Appice, Beth Hart, Sammy Hagar, the Allman Brothers Band, and more. In 2022, the guitarist also co-wrote the song “Desert Moon” for Journey frontman Steve Augeri’s album, Seven Ways ’til Sunday.
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Schon & Hammer
Months after Journey released its No. 1 album Escape, with megahits “Don’t Stop Believin’, ‘Open Arms,” and “Who’s Crying Now,” Schon also teamed up with Jan Hammer, known at the time for his work making music for the hit TV series Miami Vice. The two formed Schon & Hammer, and released two albums, Untold Passion in 1981 and their second and last, Here to Stay, a year later.
On Here to Stay, which featured an illustrated play on the iconic Arm & Hammer logo on the cover, Schon and Hammer wrote the majority of the tracks, except for one, the guitarist collaborated on with his Journey bandmates, Steve Perry and Cain: “Self Defense.”
Written by Schon, Perry, and Cain, “Self-Defense” is a reactive rocker on perseverance during blocks of uncertainty.
The situation’s got me rattled
I twist and turn late at night
This whole world’s up in shambles
Who’s the one to make it right
Missing persons lost in action (action)
Forgotten victims of the night (victims of the night)
They’re making crime the main attraction (attraction)
They’re making everyone uptight
They’re all looking for a fight
In this confusion from day to day
Sometimes fear just makes no sense
In this crossfire, I see one way
In self-defense
An Unofficial Journey Song
“Self-Defence” can be considered an unofficial Journey song since Cain co-wrote the track, Perry provided backing vocals, and it also featured the band’s original bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith.
Though both co-wrote Journey classics, including “Anyway You Want It,” along with the band’s earlier charting singles, “Lights,” and more tracks from Perry’s first album with the band Infinity in 1978 through Trial by Fire in 1996, which featured their Grammy-nominuated hit “When You Love a Woman,” “Self-Defence” marked the only time Perry and Schon collaborated outside of Journey.
In the early ’80s, Schon, Perry, and Cain also wrote “Only the Young,” which was intended for the band’s 1983 album Frontiers but was later cut and given to Scandal with Patty Smyth, who recorded it on their 1984 debut, and only full-length release, Warrior.
Decades later, Journey rerecorded “Self-Defence” for their 2005 album Generations with Schon on lead vocals again and the title, “In Self Defense.”
Photo: Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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