The day after “The Sopranos” finale we were definitely one of the few places out there that didn’t have any big gripe with the way the show ended. Seeing that we’ve closed down many a late night at seedy bars to the soundtrack of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing, we even went out of our way to applaud the choice of the closing song. How many times in life does your final memory of one of your favorite shows get tied to a song that you associate with bouncers tossing you on your ear and getting shot down one last time by that chick with a boyfriend?

Needless to say, we think Don’t Stop Believing is awesome. Over the years, it’s probably been the closest thing to a theme song that Team Cool & Tough has had. We know a lot of you out there feel the same way. It’s awesome for the same reasons that anything from the 80’s is awesome: it’s fairly obscure and you’re being more than a little ironic when celebrating it and Journey’s greatness.

Who would have known “The Sopranos” might be capable of taking this away from us? This week, both the NY Times and TMZ.com have reported the ridiculous spike in popularity of Don’t Stop Believing. The song’s download increase on I-Tunes has been absurd and it’s received more radio play and requests over the last two weeks than it has the rest of this decade.

Now we know how Dave Chapelle felt when middle aged white people came running up to him screaming, “I’m Rick James, Bitch!” at Disneyworld. Some things just weren’t meant to be shared by the masses.

It’s beginning to look highly likely that all the lame asses out there that we purposely avoid on a daily basis have now been turned on to our little Journey secret. And–mark our words–they’re going to fucking ruin it for us, we know it.

Over the years, the best part about Don’t Stop Believing has been when–after about 20 beers–you and your friends get way too excited to hear it, creating an unsettling feeling for the other bar patrons who were hoping to hear some U2.

Well, that’s not going to happen anymore. Next time you’re doing your best Steve Perry impersonation, some douchebag in capri pants is going to give you a nod and try to start a conversation about whether you think Tony “got whacked” in the finale scene. It may end with you mumbling something about onion rings and Meadow’s parallel parking skills as you punch the dude in the neck. It won’t be pretty.

Dammit, everything that’s cool gets taken away from us. Everything.

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