Open Arms

For a while in the early 1980s, San Francisco-based rock band Journey was huge.  In fact, they were so popular that in 1982 Data Age video games released a video game for the Atari 2600 based on the band.  Yet, despite their popularity, the band never reached number one on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart.

Journey’s highest-charting hit came up just short, when “Open Arms” peaked at number 2 for six weeks, starting exactly 30 years ago today.  For the first three of those weeks, the J. Geils Band’s “Centerfold” kept Journey out of the top spot.  Then, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” leaped over “Open Arms” to take the number one spot for the final three weeks of Journey’s run in the runner-up spot.

Though “Open Arms” didn’t make it to number one, it still managed to become one of the 1980s’ more memorable tunes, and VH1 even named it the greatest power ballad of all time.