Journey’s classic “Any Way You Want It” peaked on the chart back in 1980. The song was featured on their landmark album ‘Departure.’
The classic was written by Neal Schon and former Journey lead vocalist Steve Perry. Although the song was not one of the band’s biggest hits, it has become one of their most enduring classics over the decades on the radio and in concert.
In the summer of 1979, Journey toured Thin Lizzy and the guys hung out a lot with Thin Lizzy’s lead singer and songwriter, the late Phil Lynott. Journey guitarist Neal Schon talked about how he and Steve Perry wrote "Any Way You Want It" under the influence of their tour mates.
He said, "That was inspired by Thin Lizzy. It's got sort of a chunky rhythm guitar thing and I was listening to these guys every night, so it just rubbed off on me. I mean, there's not much to the song. I mean, it's the same three chords through the whole song. It's sort of like you chunk on it for awhile in the verses and let it loose in the choruses and I felt I was Peter Townshend for a second. And then you get to rip a little solo and it was a real simple message. It's just a good, fun-time song."
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[Source: Classic Hits Today]