Although this Billboard Top 100 single from Journey's album, Frontiers
was featured in the 1985 movie, "Vision Quest" the first person to actually
hear them sing this song outside the band was a sixteen year old fan
named Kenny Sykaluk from Rocky Ridge, Ohio who had been
diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.
Kenny's mother wrote a letter to the band telling them of her son's terminal
condition, and how he was a big fan of Journey. At the request of the
Make-A-Wish Foundation, the band flew to Ohio to see Kenny and
played the song at his hospital bedside. He died the next day.
Band members Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain were profoundly affected by
the young man's death, and seriously began to re-evaluate what really matters
in life- love and caring and friendship- especially when it came to the petty
arguments they often experienced with other members of the band.
In memory of Kenny Sykaluk, the band opened with, "Only The Young"
during their Raised On Radio Tour in August, 1986.
Cash Box called this song, "Journey at it's very best."
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