In the late summer of 1981, San Francisco rock quintet Journey would release their eighth album, Escape, their fifth with lead singer Steve Perry. It was the album that would make the band, which had been a popular live act and staples on album rock radio throughout the '70s, and make them mainstream superstars, scoring numerous pop hits, in the '80s.

It was hardly that Journey had no pop success prior to Escape. They had charted four songs into the US Top 40, but their biggest success to that point - 1979's "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" - had stalled at #16. The uptempo ballad "Who's Crying Now" was tabbed as Escape's first single. Highlighted by lead singer Perry's dramatic and soaring tenor, and featuring some bracing, fluid guitar work from Neil Schon, the song was an immediate smash on practically all radio formats upon its late summer release.

In August, "Who's Crying Now" entered the Top 40, needing a mere five weeks to become Journey's first Top Ten hit. On the album charts, Escape was sitting at the top and would go on to sell better than ten million copies. "Who's Crying Now" would remain in the Top Ten well into the autumn of 1981 and eventually spend two weeks at #4. It would be the second biggest single of the band's career, surpassed only by the ballad "Open Arms," which would peak at #2 in early 1982 as Escape's third Top Ten single.

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