Eye of the Tiger

"Eye of the Tiger" is a song by American rock band Survivor. It was released as a single from their third album of the same name 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 it was recorded 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 as the Rocky III theme.[2] The version of the song that appears in the film is the demo version of the song. The film version also contained tiger growls, which did not appear on the album version. It features original Survivor singer Dave Bickler on lead vocals.[3] The song is also the title song to the 1986 film of the same name.[4]

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 and Eye of the Tiger
B-side"Take You on a Saturday"
Released1982
GenreHard rock[1]
Length4:04 (album version)
3:45 (single version)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Frankie Sullivan
  • Jim Peterik
Survivor singles chronology
"Summer Nights"
(1982)		 "Eye of the Tiger"
(1982)		 "American Heartbeat"
(1982)
Audio sample
"Eye of the Tiger"
  • file
  • help
Music video
Eye of the Tiger on YouTube

It gained tremendous MTV and radio airplay and topped charts worldwide during 1982. In the United States, it held No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six consecutive weeks (the band's only song to top the chart) and was the No. 2 single of 1982, behind Olivia Newton-John's "Physical". It spent fifteen consecutive weeks in the top ten, the second-longest run of 1982, behind "Hurts So Good" by John Cougar (which was prevented from reaching the top of the Hot 100 by "Eye of the Tiger"). This top ten run is tied with the aforementioned "Another One Bites the Dust" as well as "Physical" as the longest run in the top ten for a number one song during the entire 1980s decade. The band won an award for "Best Rock Performance by Duo or Group With Vocal" at the 25th Annual Grammy Awards.[5] In September 1982, it also peaked at No. 1 in the United Kingdom, remaining at the top of the UK Singles Chart for four consecutive weeks.[6]

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.[7] It was voted VH1's 63rd-greatest hard rock song.[8] Combined sales of original vinyl release and digital downloads total over 9 million copies.[7][9][10][11]

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".[12]

Accolades

The song was nominated for the 1982 Academy Award for Best Original Song (the only Oscar nomination for Rocky III), but it lost to "Up Where We Belong" from An Officer and a Gentleman.[13]

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".

Covers

Lawsuits

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.[16] The suit was later settled out of court.[17]

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 drop the song from the campaign's playlists.[17]

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 jail after spending five days there for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Kentucky.[18] In June 2016 it was reported by CNN that Huckabee had agreed, in a confidential, out-of-court settlement with Sullivan's Rude Music, to pay $25,000 in compensation.[19][20]

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the album Eye of the Tiger.[21]

Charts

Weekly charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[68] 2× Platinum 200,000^
France (SNEP)[69] Gold 877,300[70]
Italy (FIMI)[71] 2× Platinum 100,000
Japan (RIAJ) 244,000[72]
Japan (RIAJ) (Digital)[11] Gold 100,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[73]
Physical single 		Gold 1,650,293[9]
United Kingdom (BPI)[74]
Digital single 		2× Platinum
United States (RIAA) (Digital)[75] 8× Platinum 4,100,000[7]
United States (RIAA) (Mastertone)[75] Gold 500,000^
United States (RIAA) (Physical)[75] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

gollark: It's not really enforcable.
gollark: Asking for assistance on eggs, I mean.
gollark: Isn't it opt-in?
gollark: ... not really, I think.
gollark: Nope, that failed.

See also

References
  1. Holden, Stephen (July 28, 1982). "The Pop Life; RCA Gambling on Kenny Rogers". The New York Times. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  2. "Interview: Guitarist Jim Peterik Talks 'Tiger' and the New Pride of Lions Album, 'Immortal'". Guitar World. October 19, 2012. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
  3. Fischer, Blair R. (June 2010). "Who's Left?". Spin. Vol. 26 no. 5. p. 74. ISSN 0006-2510.
  4. "Eye of the Tiger (1986) – Soundtracks". Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  5. "Past Winners". Grammy.com. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  6. "Survivor". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
  7. Grein, Paul (February 4, 2015). "The 15 Most Downloaded Songs in Rock History". Yahoo! Music. Archived from the original on January 19, 2016. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
  8. Winistorfer, Andrew (January 5, 2009). "VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs list only slightly less annoying than their hip-hop list". VH1. Prefix Magazine. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  9. Copsey, Rob (September 19, 2017). "The UK's Official Chart 'millionaires' revealed". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  11. 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＞ (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014.
  12. "Eye of the Tiger by Survivor". Songfacts. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  13. "The 55th Academy Awards – 1983". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  14. "Frank Bruno". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  15. DiVita, Joe. "Devil You Know Unveil Hard-Hitting Cover of Survivor's 'Eye of the Tiger'". Loudwire. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  16. "Newt Gingrich Sued For Using Survivor's 'Eye of the Tiger' at Rallies". Rolling Stone. 31 January 2012. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  17. Bryant, Christian (September 9, 2015). "Rock band Survivor has been going after GOP politicians over the years for using their song "Eye of the Tiger" without permission". Newsy. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  18. McCaskill, Nolan D. (November 18, 2015). "Huckabee sued for playing 'Eye of the Tiger' at Kim Davis rally". Politico. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  19. Kaufman, Gil (June 28, 2016). "Mike Huckabee Owes Survivor $25,000 for Playing 'Eye of the Tiger' At Rally". Billboard. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  20. Kreps, Daniel (June 27, 2016). "Mike Huckabee Settles 'Eye of the Tiger' Lawsuit for $25,000". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
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  73. "British single certifications – Survivor – Eye of the Tiger". British Phonographic Industry. Select singles in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Eye of the Tiger in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  74. "British single certifications – Survivor – Eye of the Tiger". British Phonographic Industry. Select singles in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Eye of the Tiger in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
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