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The Final Countdown (song)

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"The Final Countdown"
Song
B-side"On Broken Wings"

"The Final Countdown" is a hard rock song by Europe from their breakthrough album The Final Countdown (1986). The song's musical-style and production were heavily inspired by glam metal, glam rock and hard rock from the 1980s.

The song was released as the album's first single in early 1986 (see 1986 in music) and entered the top five on the majority of the charts it appeared on.

Origin and recording

The song was based on an old keyboard riff that vocalist Joey Tempest had composed as early as 1981–82,[1] on a Korg Polysix keyboard he had borrowed from keyboardist Mic Michaeli.[2][3] In 1985, bassist John Levén suggested that Tempest should write a song based on that riff.[1] The lyrics were inspired by David Bowie's song "Space Oddity".[4] The sound of the keyboard riff used in the recording was achieved by using a Yamaha TX-816 rack unit and a Roland JX-8P synthesizer.[5] "I made a brassy sound from the JX-8P and used a factory sound from the Yamaha, and just layered them together," Michaeli said.[5]

When it was time to choose the first single from the album The Final Countdown, Tempest suggested the song "The Final Countdown".[6] Originally the band had never planned to release the song as a single, and some members wanted "Rock the Night" to be the first single.[4][6] "The Final Countdown" was written to be an opening song for concerts, and they never thought it would be a hit.[6] But when their record company Epic Records suggested that it should be the first single, the band decided to release it.[7]

As Tempest stated:

"It’s always a nice feeling. Sometimes you hear it on the streets or someone has it on their mobile phone or something… it’s a nice feeling! Actually, I did an interview about a year ago with a newspaper from America and they talked about how much it’s been used in sports in America… which I didn’t know so much about. Apparently it has been used a lot and it was nice to hear. The ironic thing, though, is that the song was actually written for the fans. It was over six minutes long and was never meant to be a hit or anything like that. It was meant to be an opening for the “live” show. We were putting out our third album and we wanted a really “grand” opening for the show. So, I had that “riff” tucked away in a drawer since my college years and I took it out, found a tempo for it, wrote lyrics and it turned out to be a great opening for that album and for the show as well. Nowadays, we don’t rehearse it but when we play it live, it is still just so amazing! It does communicate so well with the audience and we really love playing it."[8]

Reception

The song enjoys notable popularity in many sports arenas and stadiums; public address booths have often played the opening keyboard riff to rally the home crowd; it has also become a staple of high school and college pep bands for this same purpose.[8] It also is used frequently in the American television show Arrested Development as the opening theme of G.O.B.'s magic show. The song was used for the American commercial of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and is used as an entrance theme for professional wrestler Bryan Danielson in Ring of Honor. It was the unofficial song of the Eurobasket 1987 held in Athens Greece (it was the main song theme played during the time -outs) and it is still heavily associatied with the surprise and unprecedented victory of the Greek Men's Basketball team over the team of the Soviet Union in the last seconds of that Cup final (1987).

Chart performance

"The Final Countdown" was released in the spring of 1986 and became the most successful song from The Final Countdown on the American rock charts and arguably the band's most recognizable and popular song. It appeared on Billboard magazine's Billboard Hot 100 chart, reaching the top 10. The following week it debuted on the Mainstream Rock Tracks, where it peaked at number eighteen in its eighth week and remained on the chart until its twentieth week. The band would wait until "Superstitious" to be released which got a higher chart position on the Mainstream Rock Tracks.

Outside of the United States, the single was released in worldwide. In Canada, the song reached the top twenty on the Canadian Singles Chart. It remained in the top twenty for three weeks and became the band's highest charting song in Canada. "The Final Countdown" reached the UK Top 5, eventually spending two weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart in December, and was the only the single from the album which would chart in the UK top 10. "The Final Countdown" reached number one eight countries which included France, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and Italy. "The Final Countdown" would peak at number four on the Norwegian Singles Chart.

Music video

File:Europe The Final Countdown music video.jpg
A screenshot from the music video for "The Final Countdown".

The video, directed by the acclaimed Nick Morris, contains footage from two concerts the band did at Solnahallen in Solna, Sweden on May 25 and 26, 1986, as well as some extra footage filmed at the sound checks for those concerts.[6] When the music video was released it received heavy airplay on music television all over the world which helped drawing attention to the album The Final Countdown.

Live performances

The song has been a regular in Europe concerts ever since its live debut on the premiere of their Final Countdown Tour in April 1986. One of the most memorable performances of the song took place in Stockholm, Sweden on December 31, 1999, as part of the Millennium celebrations.[9]

Cover versions

The song has been covered by various artists, both local and famous; including Freezepop, Dannii Minogue, Gigatron, Geoff Downes, Laibach, Norther, Dispatched, the Toy Dolls, Immolation, Leif Garrett, Furillo, Vision Divine, The Delegates, and the Latvian cello band Melo-M. Contrary to popular belief, the melodic death metal band Children of Bodom has never done a cover version of the song - the wrongly credited versions are usually those by Norther and Dispatched. [10]

On June 25 2008, Hump Day Dance Party hosts Rev. Flavor and Dr. Drase played two hours of versions of "The Final Countdown" in celebration of their last radio show broadcast on WLUW 88.7 FM Chicago. For the occasion they asked bands to contribute covers of the song. Versions played that night included various 8-bit (music) covers, "The Final Crackdown" by Drop the Lime, a version translated into Polish and done by the group J+J+J, a live beatbox/freestyle rap version with Chicago rapper Sharkula & Yea Big, a cover by the band Dr. Murderer, a freestyle version done by Treasure Mammal live from his car, a version by the band Autumn on Acid, a "sad" banjo version by Rick Franklin, and a re-edit mashup by Greek radio personality Steve Damien. The hosts closed out the show with a live version played in-studio with a 10-person band including members of the Blue Ribbon Glee Club & the Hidden Mitten.

The Final Countdown 2000

"The Final Countdown"
Song
B-side"The Final Countdown" (Original Radio Edit)

In 1999, the dance remix "The Final Countdown 2000" was released. It was produced by Brian Rawling, who had previously had success with "Believe" by Cher. The single release caused minor controversy as the first pressing had a misprint that left out the first "o" in "Countdown". The story was confirmed by Tempest during an interview with the American rock radio show The Tour Bus.[11]

Personnel

Chart positions

Year List Peak Ref.
1986 French Singles Chart 1 [12]
German Singles Chart 1 [13]
Irish Singles Chart 1 [14]
The Netherlands 1 [15]
Swiss Singles Chart 1 [16]
Swedish Singles Chart 1 [17]
UK Singles Chart 1 [18]
Italian Singles Chart 1 [19]
Norwegian Singles Chart 4 [20]
Billboard Hot 100 8 [21]
Modern Rock Tracks 18 [21]
2000 Austrian Singles Chart 33 [22]
Finnish Singles Chart 12 [23]
German Singles Chart 35 [13]
Norwegian Singles Chart 12 [20]
Swedish Singles Chart 6 [17]
UK Singles Chart 36 [18]
Preceded by French (SNEP) number one single
November 8 - December 27, 1986 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK number one single
November 30 1986 		Succeeded by

References

  1. ^ a b 1982–1992 (Media notes). Epic Records. 1993. {{cite AV media notes}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coauthors= and |notestitle= (help); Unknown parameter |albumlink= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |bandname= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |mbid= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |publisherid= ignored (help)
  2. ^ Tengner, Anders (1987). Europe - den stora rockdrömmen (in Swedish). Wiken. ISBN 91-7024-408-1. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Europe. Live from the Dark (DVD). Warner Bros. Entertainment. {{cite AV media}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month2= and |year2= (help); Unknown parameter |date2= ignored (help)
  4. ^ a b Ling, Dave (January 2005), "Counting Down Again", Classic Rock, no. 75, pp. p.60–67 {{citation}}: |pages= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  5. ^ a b "MusicPlayers.com: Features > Bands > Europe". MusicPlayers.com. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
  6. ^ a b c d Europe. The Final Countdown Tour 1986: Live in Sweden - 20th Anniversary Edition (DVD). Warner Bros. Entertainment. {{cite AV media}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month2= and |year2= (help); Unknown parameter |date2= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Thompson, Erik (October / November 2005), "Hårdrockens Historia 1986", Sweden Rock Magazine, no. 31, pp. p.102 {{citation}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  8. ^ a b "Interview: Joey Tempest (Europe)". Rockeyez. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  9. ^ "RATHOLE.com - Fireworks Magazine: Issue 18". RATHOLE.com. Retrieved 2008-04-15.
  10. ^ "Children Of Bodom Hate Crew Official Website". Retrieved 2008-06-09. {{cite web}}: Text "work" ignored (help)
  11. ^ "Audio Interview". The Tour Bus. Retrieved 2008-04-15.
  12. ^ "French Album Chart". lescharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  13. ^ a b "German Album Chart". charts-surfer. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  14. ^ "Irish Singles Chart". The Irish Charts. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  15. ^ "De Nederlandse Top 40, week 39, 1986". Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  16. ^ "Swiss Album Chart". swisscharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  17. ^ a b "Swedish Album Chart". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  18. ^ a b "UK Album Chart". Chart Stats. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  19. ^ "Italian Singles Chart". hitparadeitalia. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
  20. ^ a b "Norwegian Singles Chart". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  21. ^ a b "US Album Chart". Billboard 200. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  22. ^ "Austrian Album Chart". austriancharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  23. ^ "Finnish Album Chart". finnishcharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
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