Songoftheday 6/16/12 - Rising up back on the street, did my time took my chances...

Survivor - "Eye Of The Tiger" 

from the Survivor album Eye Of The Tiger (1982) and the Rocky III Original Soundtrack (1982)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (six weeks)

Weeks in the top-40: 18

Today's Song of the Day is one of the biggest songs of 1982,, by a band that before this was slogging in the bluecollar semi-hard rock scene. Survivor was formed in Chicago under guitarist/songwriter Jim Peterik. Peterik was in the Ides Of March in the 70's, and wrote and sang their big hit "Vehicle", but he left the vocal work in Survivor to beret-headed Dave Bickler. Their first two albums were modest hit, giving the group their first pop hit on their debut with "Somewhere In America" in 1980, and with their sophomore effort scored their first top-40 hit, "Poor Man's Son", a year later.

That latter song caught the ear of Sylvester Stallone, who was filming the third Rocky film at the time. He originally intended for Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" to be the theme for the movie, but Queen had no part of it. He asked them to recreate the feel of "Poor Man's Son", and Peterik went beyond the call of duty, crafting a throbbing inspirational rocker that's been used in every "getting ready for the game/battle" scene ever since...

The song stayed at #1 for six weeks in the US, as well as topping the rock chart and making the top-30 of the soft-rock (adult-contemporary) chart. It also hit the #1 spot in England, Canada, and Australia, and remains one of the biggest "oldies" still selling on I-Tunes. The album, titled after the hit, made #2 on the US album charts, and has shifted over 2 million copies, while the Rocky III soundtrack, mostly of Bill Conti instrumentals and the "Eye Of The Tiger" song, even made #15 as well. The group also won the Grammy in 1983 for the song for Best Rock Performance by a Group.

This past year, Newt Gingrich tried to co-opt the song for his floundering campaign until the band sued him.

After one more album, Bickler left the group after voice trouble, and was replaced by Jimi Jamison, who fronted the band on the next Rocky/Survivor tie-in, "Burning Heart" from Rocky IV.

In 1995, British boxer Frank Bruno recorded a remake of the song that made the UK top-40...

In 2005, former teen idol Paul Anka reinterpreted the song for his Rock Swings project...

Insurance company nightmare Great White did a metal take on the song in 1999..

The Temptations did the song in concert in the 90s...

Dance singer Thea Austin belted the song out in 2007...

and finally, mashup genius Lobsterdust (one of my first mashup Dj finds back in the day) paired the song with Gloria Gaynor on "I Will Survivor"..

Up Tomorrow: the soft-rock gods from Australia prefer the evening.