Whether you credit The Sopranos, Glee or Ashkon, Journey's lead singer Steve Perry is back in the national spotlight.
Perry is one of the most identifiable rock stars of the 1980s, but his stardom has faded in the subsequent decades.
That changed -- at least here in the Bay Area -- at the end of the regular season. That's when a fan named Ashkon made a music video that has become a battle cry for Giants fans. It's fair to say the video, and by association, Perry has exploded ever since the Giants made the World Series. The music video, to the tune of Journey's Don't Stop Believing, has 1.2 million hits on YouTube.
Giants management jumped on Perry's new-found stardom and invited him to games. (You hear that, MC Hammer? Are you getting comps??)
The Giants played "Don't Stop Believing" during last Thursday's NLCS game and showed Perry in the stands singing along and encouraging everyone to join him. Which they did. And if you didn't graduate in the 80s, you could find that "torture." Here's a link to a YouTube clip of the song from a fan sitting near Perry.
The Giants played the Journey hit "Lights" between innings of the first game of the World Series Wednesday. Both middle-inning choices were gobbled up by the Giants faithful -- in a full-throated tribute to the team and to Perry.
So now we can add another angle to the main storyline of the 2010 Giants: castoffs, misfits, retreads ... and now, rock stars.
