Journey’s Neil Schon Sent A Cease And Desist Order To Bandmate Jonathan Cain For Playing The Band’s Music At Trump Events

Journey‘s 1981 hit Don’t Stop Believin’ is a timeless tale about following your dreams. It is also the last song most bars play when they want you to get the fuck out. A classic tune, either way. But unfortunately, since the song is wildly popular, that means its reach extends to people who probably need to stop believing in their dreams and go sit down somewhere. This brings me to Trump who claimed he’s running for POTUS again. And at his most recent gathering at Mar-a-Lago, Journey member Jonathan Cain (right) performed the tune to hype up the crowd. And that’s when his bandmate, Neal Schon (left), tossed a cease and desist order at Jonathan to inform him to stop using their wholesome song for such an unsavory group of folks.

Variety reports Neal does not want their hit song or Journey’s legacy attached to anything Trump-related, a view Neal shares with former lead singer Steve Perry. But since Jonathan, who wrote the song with Neal and Steve, sticks to Trump tighter than whatever glue he uses to shellac that wig down, he feels he has the right to perform it whenever he wants to. And Neal countered that type of arrogance with, “Oh really?”

The letter, obtained by Variety, reads in part: “Although Mr. Cain is free to express his personal beliefs and associations, when he does that on behalf of Journey or for the band, such conduct is extremely deleterious to the Journey brand as it polarizes the band’s fans and outreach. Journey is not, and should not be, political.

“Mr. Cain has no right to use Journey for politics,” the letter continues. “His politics should be his own personal business. He should not be capitalizing on Journey’s brand to promote his personal political or religious agenda to the detriment of the band,” calling it a “harmful use of the brand.”

What’s even worse is that Jonathan performed the song with vocals provided by Marjorie Taylor Greene and a few other bland background singers.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Kari Lake sang “Don’t Stop Believin’” along with Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain at a recent event with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. pic.twitter.com/dvSp1z62BX

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) November 23, 2022

Jonathan has no plans of stopping his new career as a one-man Journey cover band. A spokesman for Jonathan relayed, “Schon is just frustrated that he keeps losing in court and is now falsely claiming the song has been used at political rallies.” But this fight will rage on, as this isn’t the first time Neal has commented on Jonathan’s misuse of their song.

Schon said in 2020, “I’ve stated how I felt about mixing religion and politics and how our music is not of one religion — Democratic or Republican. This is and has been an issue with myself, Mr. Cain and his wife. I’ve had to fight this whole time to protect the brand I built with Steve Perry, way before Gregg [Rolie] and I picked Cain to replace himself when he wanted to retire from the road back then. Well frankly, I’m tired of having to defend all by myself.”

Maybe Jonathan can create a new song for Trump rallies and leave the classics alone. Or, speaking of classics, why not just play the Oompa Loompa theme from Willy Wonka instead since it would be 100% acceptable in this situation.

Pics: INSTARImages