Songoftheday 4/2/16 - And if a mirror should break it's easy to take, 'cause deep down I know that you care...

"Superstitious" - Europe
from the album Out Of This World (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #32 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 4

Today's song of the day comes from the Swedish pop-metal band Europe, whose international breakthrough album The Final Countdown rewarded them with three big hits in America with "Carrie" (#3), the title track (#8), and "Rock The Night" (#30). A fourth single, "Cherokee", was also a minor pop hit. Original lead guitarist John Norum left the band shortly thereafter, to be replaced by fellow Swede Kee Mercello, who helped to record their next album Out of This World. Produced by mainstream pop guru Ron Nevison (Heart, Survivor), the first single from the set was the acappella-led "Superstitious". Written by lead singer Joey Tempest, it harkened just a little to the chunky keyboard and guitar rock from the mid 70s from acts like Deep Purple and Bad Company...

"Superstitious" became Europe's fourth and so-far final top-40 pop hit in the U.S. in October of 1988. However, it was their highest-charting song on rock radio in America, landing them their sole top ten hit on the Mainstream Rock radio list at #9. Internationally, the single was a big success, topping the chart in their native Sweden and neighboring Norway, making the top ten in Switzerland (#9) and Italy (#10), and the top-40 in Germany (#21), Ireland (#24), France (#33), the UK (#34), and Canada (#35).

Despite the success of "Superstitious", nothing from the album took hold much, with two more singles becoming minor hits in England ("Open Your Heart" and "Let The Good Times Rock"), though the album sold over a million copies in the States alone. But by the time Europe came out with their next album, Prisoners In Paradise, in 1991, the face of rock music in America had eschewed the "hair metal" movement in favor of grunge and alternative rock. They did manage a top-40 pop hit in Britain in 1992 with "I'll Cry For You" (#28), while the title track went to #8 in Sweden, where they continued to sell decent bank. The group decided to go on hiatus after that, to return in 2004, with Norum returning to the lineup. Two years later, climbed back to #2 in their homeland with the single "Always The Pretenders". In 2009, they again topped the album chart in Sweden with Last Look At Eden, and peaked at #15 there with the ballad "New Love In Town". They continue to tour and record, with their most recent studio set coming out in 2015.

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Here's the band performing live in South America in 1990...

...and from a more recent concert in 2011 in England, sounding damn good...

...and finally, just Tempest and Norum stripping the song to its acoustic core for radio...

Up tomorrow: A Polish songstress "washes in" on American pop radio shores.