You're the Best

"You're the Best" is a song performed by Joe Esposito and written by Bill Conti (music) and Allee Willis (lyrics), which came to prominence as the music to the All-Valley Karate Championships montage in the 1984 movie The Karate Kid in which the protagonist, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), proves a surprisingly formidable contender.

For the song by Mamamoo, see Melting (album).
"You're the Best"
Song by Joe Esposito
from the album The Karate Kid Soundtrack
ReleasedJune 23, 1984
RecordedApril 23, 1984
GenreSynthpop, hard rock
Length2:54
LabelCasablanca
Songwriter(s)Bill Conti (music),
Allee Willis (lyrics)[1]

Background

"You're the Best" came to prominence after being used in the 1984 film The Karate Kid. Responding to years of criticism of "You're the Best" on the radio, singer Joe Esposito called in to the Adam Carolla Show on April 9, 2008. The criticism was that the lyric "History repeats itself" was inappropriate because it was played during Daniel LaRusso's (Ralph Macchio) first All-Valley Tournament in The Karate Kid. Esposito revealed that the power ballad[2] was originally intended for the Rocky III soundtrack, but was replaced by "Eye of the Tiger". It was subsequently also turned down for the Flashdance soundtrack in favour of "Maniac" by Michael Sembello. The Karate Kid's director, John G. Avildsen, liked the song so much that he used it in the movie.[3]

Usage

The track has been used since in numerous homages to eighties movies, including:

Animated television

Live-action television

Live-action film
  • The Italian Chef Movie
  • The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.
  • Strays, a short film by Gareth Nolan
  • Big Stan
  • The Wedding Ringer
  • Kickboxer (1989 film)

Professional sports
  • Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao used the song as entrance music in his fight against Antonio Margarito.
  • Mixed martial arts fighter Joe Stevenson uses a hip-hop version as entrance music.
  • The independent professional wrestling tag team The Best Around uses the song as entrance music.
  • Professional wrestler Frankie Kazarian uses this as his theme song on the independent circuit.
  • Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Andy LaRoche used this as his at-bat intro song for much of his minor league career and also during his rookie season in 2008. His brother, former Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Adam LaRoche, also used this song for several weeks in 2008 as a dare by Andy. However the fans in Pittsburgh seemed to find little humor in the song, as both players struggled with poor results during the season.
  • Professional wrestler Robert Evans uses the song as his victory music on the independent circuit.
  • The IBL's Los Angeles Lakers play the song over the PA system at the end of every home win.
  • Professional wrestler Chris Holmes uses the song as his theme song on the independent circuit.
  • Professional wrestler Prince Devitt used the song as his theme song in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
  • The Richmond Flying Squirrels, Class AA affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, use this song in the opening animation video that plays when the team takes the field at its home games played at The Diamond.
  • New York Mets Catcher Josh Thole used this as his walk up song during the 2009 season when he was with the Binghamton Mets Class AA affiliate of the New York Mets.
  • Professional Poker Player and pro MMA fighter Terrence Chan used this as his entrance song on his debut victory versus Alex Lee
  • The New Jersey Devils played the song when Martin Brodeur made a great save.
  • Mixed martial arts fighter Luke Rockhold used the song as his entrance music for his bout versus Lyoto Machida
  • The song was used in a tribute VHS to the 1985 Kansas City Royals World Series Championship team, during a segment on George Brett.

Mexican wrestler Ricky Marvin uses the song as his theme.

Commercials

Radio
  • The song also appears on the Opie & Anthony show whenever Master Po walks into the studio.
  • The song is often played on the Mike and Mike Show on ESPN Radio.
  • A brief sample of the song is played in honor of particularly interesting callers on the Charlie Hodge Rock 'n Roll Halftime Show on KLBJ-FM in Austin, Texas. This is referred to as "The Joe Esposito Award".
  • It is used periodically on the Toucher and Rich Show on Boston's 98.5 the Sports Hub, for example in reference to Tyler Seguin.
  • The chorus of the song "You're the best around/Nothing's gonna ever keep you down" is frequently played on the Tampa, Florida radio station WXTB, colloquially known as 98 Rock.
  • On BBC Radio 1, the song is played after the first text of the day winner is selected on Devin Griffin's Early Breakfast Show.
  • The song is used as an intro to the League of Ireland section of the Off the Ball show on Newstalk radio in Ireland.
  • Eminem sings a little part from the song at the first Beats Radio interview.
  • 105.1 TripleM in Melbourne, Australia, uses 'You're the best' as a way of congratulating something well said by guests on talkback radio.
  • The song is also occasionally used as bumper music by Scott Ferrall on his CBS radio show Ferrall on the Bench.
  • The song is used on the Dave and Mahoney Morning Show in Las Vegas on X107.5 whenever a listener wins a contest

Video games
  • Plays in "Radical Heights" after being the last man standing in a Battle Royale match.
  • Capcom and UDON used the song for both of their trailers for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.
  • This song is used for the ending theme on a remixed version of Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes.
  • An achievement/trophy in the video game BlazBlue is named "You're the best! Around!" and another named "Nothing's Gonna Keep You Down".
  • The achievement called "You're the best around!" is awarded for completing the video game Splosion Man in single player.
  • An achievement/trophy in Dante's Inferno called "You're the best around!" is awarded for earning a player score of 250,000 in the Trials of Saint Lucia DLC pack.
  • The Adult Swim game Jetpack Jackass uses the song as its soundtrack.
  • The song is part of the Saints Row: The Third soundtrack, featuring prominently the mission "MurderBrawl XXXI," a wrestling match between the player and Killbane, the Luchador antagonist.
  • In the 2013 video game Shadow Warrior. when the player picks up a Fortune Cookie and it reads "You're the Best. Around. Nothing's Ever Going to Keep You Down."
  • In "The Evil Within 2" during a shooting mini game when you got the high score, the nurse will say "you're the best around, detective" and Sebastian will follow up saying "nothing's ever going to keep me down"

Other songs

References
  1. "BMI Repertoire". BMI. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
  2. "Ten Amazing 80s Action Movie Power Ballads".
  3. Adam Carolla Show, 2008-04-09 interview.
  4. "montage". Homestar Runner Wiki. 8 November 2004. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
  5. "Fringemunks Web site". Davidwumusic.com. Retrieved 2013-01-16.
  6. "Every Time I Die "Intro/No Son Of Mine" Live @ Warped Tour Pittsburgh 7-7-10". Youtube.com. 2010-07-16. Retrieved 2013-01-16.
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