Eye of the Tiger

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This article is about the song by Survivor. For other uses, see Eye of the Tiger (disambiguation).
"Eye of the Tiger"
Single by Survivor
from the album Rocky III Original Soundtrack and Eye of the Tiger
B-side "Take You on a Saturday"
Released May 29, 1982
Format 7" single
Recorded 1982
Genre Hard rock[1]
Length 4:04
Label
Writer(s)
Producer(s) Frankie Sullivan
Certification see below
Survivor singles chronology
"Summer Nights"
(1982)		 "Eye of the Tiger"
(1982)		 "American Heartbeat"
(1982)
Music sample
"Eye of the Tiger"
noicon

"Eye of the Tiger" is a song by American rock band Survivor. It was released on May 29, 1982 as a single from their third album Eye of the Tiger and was also the theme song for the film Rocky III, which was released a day before the single. The song was written by Survivor guitarist Frankie Sullivan and keyboardist Jim Peterik and was done so at the request of Rocky III star, writer, and director Sylvester Stallone, after Queen denied him permission to use "Another One Bites the Dust", the song Stallone intended to use as the Rocky III theme, in the film.[2] The movie version of the song is different from the album version because it was the demo version, and it also features tiger growls. It features original Survivor singer Dave Bickler on lead vocals.[3]

It gained tremendous MTV and radio airplay and topped charts worldwide during 1982. In the United States, it held number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six consecutive weeks and was the No. 2 single of 1982, behind Olivia Newton-John's "Physical". The band won a 1982 Grammy Award for "Best Rock Performance by Duo or Group With Vocal" at the 25th Annual Grammy Awards.[4]

The song is also the title song to the 1986 film of the same name.[5]

It was certified platinum in August 1982 by the RIAA, signifying sales of 2 million vinyl copies. The song had sold over 4.1 million in digital downloads in the United States alone by February 2015.[6] It was voted VH1's 63rd greatest hard rock song.[1] Combined sales of original vinyl release and digital downloads total over 9 million copies.[6][7][8][9]

The song was later recycled in various other movies, television programs and video games.

Background

In an interview with Songfacts, co-writer Jim Peterik, who shared writing credit with Frankie Sullivan, explained the song's title.

At first, we wondered if calling it 'Eye of the Tiger' was too obvious. The initial draft of the song, we started with 'It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight, rising up to the spirit of our rival, and the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night, and it all comes down to survival.' We were going to call the song 'Survival'. In the rhyme scheme, you can tell we had set up 'rival' to rhyme with 'survival'. At the end of the day, we said, 'Are we nuts?' That hook is so strong, and 'rival' doesn't have to be a perfect rhyme with the word 'tiger'. We made the right choice and went with 'Eye of the Tiger'.[10]

Charts and sales

Weekly charts

Order of precedence
Preceded by Canadian CHUM number-one single
July 24, 1982 – August 21, 1982 (5 weeks)		 Succeeded by
"Jack & Diane" by John Cougar Mellencamp
Preceded by Norwegian number-one single
33/1982 (1 week)
35/1982 – 41/1982 (7 weeks)		 Succeeded by
"Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" by David Bowie
"You're in the Army Now" by Bolland
Preceded by Australian number-one single
September 20, 1982 – October 25, 1982 (6 weeks)		 Succeeded by
"Come On Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners
Canadian RPM number-one single
July 31, 1982 – September 4, 1982 (6 weeks)		 Succeeded by
"Hard to Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago
Preceded by
"Casablanca" by Bertie Higgins
 Japanese Oricon International Chart number-one single
August 30, 1982 – October 25, 1982 (9 weeks)
Preceded by Irish Singles Chart number-one single
September 5, 1982 – September 19, 1982 (3 weeks)
UK Singles Chart number-one single
September 4, 1982 – September 25, 1982 (4 weeks)		 Succeeded by
"Pass the Dutchie" by Musical Youth
Preceded by US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
July 24, 1982 – August 28, 1982 (6 weeks)		 Succeeded by
"Abracadabra" by the Steve Miller Band
Preceded by US Cash Box number-one single
July 31, 1982 – August 21, 1982 (4 weeks)
Preceded by US Billboard Top Tracks number-one single
July 3, 1982 – July 31, 1982 (5 weeks)		 Succeeded by
"Think I'm in Love" by Eddie Money
Preceded by
"Baby Makes Her Blue Jeans Talk" by Dr. Hook
 South African number-one single
August 21, 1982 – October 2, 1982 (7 weeks)		 Succeeded by
"Da Da Da" by Trio
Preceded by Australian best-selling single of the year
1982		 Succeeded by
"Australiana" by Austen Tayshus
1983
Preceded by US Cash Box best-selling single of the year
1982		 Succeeded by
"Flashdance... What a Feeling" by Irene Cara
1983

Awards

The song was nominated for the 1982 Academy Award for Best Original Song, the only Oscar nomination for Rocky III. It lost to "Up Where We Belong" from An Officer and a Gentleman.

The song was also nominated for the 1983 Grammy Award for Song of the Year, but lost to the Willie Nelson hit "Always on My Mind".

Cover versions

Covers

Parodies

Lawsuits

Mike Huckabee's campaign

Frankie Sullivan's company Rude Music filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago, Illinois, on November 18, 2015, against the former governor of Arkansas and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's campaign organization for using "Eye of the Tiger" at a political rally without permission. The rally took place on September 8, 2015, when Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk, was released from prison after spending five days there for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Kentucky.[57]

Newt Gingrich campaign

In 2012, Survivor sued Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich in Illinois federal court for using "Eye of the Tiger" without authorization as entrance music at his political rallies going back as far as 2009.[58] The suit was later settled out of court.[59]

The same year Sullivan also demanded that Mitt Romney, also a Republican candidate for president, stop using "Eye of the Tiger" at his campaign rallies. Romney agreed to just drop the song from the campaign's playlists.[59]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑
    • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
    • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
    • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
    • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Select Online in the field Sezione. Enter Survivor in the field Filtra. The certification will load automatically
    • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 (Japanese) レコード協会調べ　3月度有料音楽配信認定 ＜略称：3月度認定＞ at the Wayback Machine (archived April 20, 2014). Recording Industry Association of Japan.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Austriancharts.at – Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ CHART NUMBER 1331 – Saturday, July 24, 1982 at the Wayback Machine (archived July 29, 2007). CHUM. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 6557." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ "Officialcharts.de – Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Eye of the Tiger". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  25. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  26. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  27. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger". VG-lista. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 "Swedishcharts.com – Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger". Singles Top 60. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 32.4 "Swisscharts.com – Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  33. ↑ "Archive Chart: 1982-09-04" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 34.4 34.5 34.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ CASH BOX Top 100 Singles – Week ending JULY 31, 1982 at the Wayback Machine (archived September 20, 2012). Cash Box magazine. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 "Survivor: Artist Chart History" Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 "Lescharts.com – Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1982 at the Wayback Machine (archived September 21, 2012). Cash Box magazine. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Select Online in the field Sezione. Enter Survivor in the field Filtra. Select 2012 in the field Anno. The certification will load automatically
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter Eye of the Tiger in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
  54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 54.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  55. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  56. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  57. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  58. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  59. ↑ 59.0 59.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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