Before the City Was Built: An Appreciation of "Find Your Way Back" by Jefferson Starship

by tonydoug wright

Certain artists have been branded with the “they killed rock” label and Starship is a fantastic example because critics and fans generally agree that their 1985 album, Knee Deep in the Hoopla, was nothing more than a shameless corporate rock release that tainted the rock and roll universe. Maybe you cringe when you hear ‘We Built This City’ or ‘Sarah’, two of the biggest hits from Knee Deep in the Hoopla. And yes, the music of Starship has become something of a pop culture joke, but let’s look at Jefferson Starship, the precursor to Starship, because I believe there is a lack of appreciation for one of their best songs, ‘Find Your Way Back’.

If you are not familiar with ‘Find Your Way Back’ then check out the video. I thought the leather-clad dude playing the double-neck guitar found a way to turn the “Chachi” factor up to eleven for the video. Did you notice that Grace Slick did not have that much face time for the video? I wonder if the camera man was like “Oh shit, I forgot to pan the camera over to Grace. I just can’t keep my camera off the dude with the double-neck guitar.”

Remember, this is the band that started off as the psychedelic Jefferson Airplane and then turned into the rockers of Jefferson Starship with the final evolution being Starship, a band that was far removed from the original Jefferson Airplane sound and lineup. Before the transition to the strictly pop Starship, Jefferson Starship released some good classic rock tunes like ‘Jane’, ‘Miracles’, and ‘Find Your Way Back’.

Jefferson Starship released Modern Times in 1981 and the opening track was ‘Find Your Way Back’. I remember liking this song as a kid, but it was many years until I heard it again on a classic rock station. I wondered why ‘Find Your Way Back’ was not a common classic rock station selection and then I realized that the band evolved into Starship, so in my opinion, the backlash against Starship hurt Jefferson Starship. In all fairness we have two different bands. Jefferson Starship was rock while Starship was more soft rock or light pop. Was Starship’s ‘Nothing’s Going to Stop Us Now’ the song that drove all classic rock DJs to declare a jihad against Jefferson Starship?

I believe ‘Find Your Way Back’ is an excellent classic rock tune and it needs to be played more on those stations because I could use a little less of the Moody Blues and a lot less of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. Apparently the sins of Starship have ruined the chances that classic rock stations will give hot numbers like ‘Find Your Way Back’ some airtime. Don’t let me down classic rock radio because if you play ‘Find Your Way Back’ then that will give me a reason to put on the leather vest (sans a shirt of course) and my super sweet double-neck guitar.