Synopsis

Journey performs "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" at New Orleans' Louisa Street Wharf while a young woman in a white jacket and black leather skirt walks through the harbor setting, apparently unaware of the band. Steve Perry and the musicians repeatedly appear beside her, singing and miming their performances. The video ends by revealing that the woman is listening to the song through headphones in bed, suggesting that the entire waterfront sequence was a dream inspired by the music.

Factoids & Trivia

• Released in 1983, this was Journey's first choreographed concept video. Their earlier clips had mainly been filmed performances or touring footage.

• The shoot took place during Mardi Gras season at the Louisa Street Wharf in New Orleans. A cold wind from the Mississippi River made the outdoor filming uncomfortable, with Steve Perry reportedly retreating to his camper between takes.

• The woman in the video was Margaret Olmstead, a local Tulane University student who answered an open audition. She was paid $250 per day for three days of work.

• The video uses the shorter single version of the song rather than the 5:24 album recording.

• Its most famous visual mistake is the band's exaggerated miming of imaginary instruments, including air guitar, air drums, air bass, and air keyboards. Jonathan Cain later said he would never live down the air keyboards.

• Cain's keyboard is also shown in a real performance sequence, mounted vertically on a wall and identified as a Roland Jupiter-8.

• Neal Schon later recalled that the video cost approximately $5,000, a modest budget even by the standards of the early MTV era.

• The production was reportedly improvised to a considerable degree, with more than fifty camera moves and many "try this" ideas developed on location.

• The clip was lampooned on MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head in 1993 and was later included at No. 13 on MTV's 1999 list of the 25 Worst Videos of All Time.

• Despite its reputation as an awkward early-1980s video, the clip remains one of Journey's most recognizable visual artifacts and has acquired a lasting camp appeal.