The Final Countdown (song)

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"The Final Countdown"
Single by Europe
from the album The Final Countdown
B-side "On Broken Wings"
Released 14 February 1986
Format CD single, 7" single, 12" single
Recorded 1985
Genre Hard rock, glam metal
Length 5:09 (Album Version)
4:03 (Radio Edit)
Label Epic
Writer(s) Joey Tempest
Producer Kevin Elson
Certification Gold (UK)
Europe singles chronology
"Rock the Night"
(1985)		 "The Final Countdown"
(1986)		 "Love Chaser"
(1986)
Music sample
"The Final Countdown"

"The Final Countdown" is a song by the Swedish band Europe, released in 1986. Written by Joey Tempest, it was the first single from the band's third studio album which was also named The Final Countdown. The song reached No. 1 in 25 countries,[1] including the United Kingdom, and was certified gold in the United Kingdom in 1986.[2] In the United States the song peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 18 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Contents

Composition[edit]

The song is in the key of F-sharp minor while the guitar solo is in B minor.

Origin and recording[edit]

The song was based on a keyboard riff that Joey Tempest had written as early as 1981–82,[3] on a Korg Polysix keyboard he borrowed from keyboardist Mic Michaeli.[4][5] In 1985, bassist John Levén suggested that Tempest should write a song based on that riff.[3] Tempest recorded a demo version of the song and played it for the other band members.[6] At first the members expressed mixed reactions to it. "When I first heard the synth intro to 'The Final Countdown', my reaction was: 'No, this is nuts. We just can't use this,'" guitarist John Norum said, "Thank God they didn't listen to me."[7] "Some of the guys in the band thought it was too different for a rock band," Tempest said, "But in the end I fought hard to make sure it got used."[7]

The song's lyrics were inspired by David Bowie's song "Space Oddity".[7] 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.[8] "I made a brassy sound from the JX-8P and used a factory sound from the Yamaha, and just layered them together," Michaeli said.[8]

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.[6][7] "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.[9]

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."[10]

Release and reception[edit]

"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 as well as the band's most recognizable and popular song.[11] 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 18 in its eighth week and remained on the chart until its 20th week. The band's next hit was "Superstitious," which achieved a higher chart position on the Mainstream Rock Tracks.

In Canada, the song reached the top ten on the Canadian Singles Chart, peaking at number five and becoming the band's highest charting song in that country. "The Final Countdown" reached number three in the UK, eventually spending two weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart in December, and was the only single from the album that charted in the UK top 20. "The Final Countdown" reached number 1 in 25 countries,[1] including France, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and Italy.

Trivia[edit]

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.[10] It was also frequently used 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 was 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 associated with both the introductions of the Detroit Pistons at their home games at The Palace of Auburn Hills as well as 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). It has been used as the opening theme for Henry Green's weekly radio show "Radio Therapy" on WQLT for several years and continues to see widespread airplay on similar Classic Hits and Classic Rock radio stations. On The Singing Bee, it was used preceding the final round, called "The Final Countdown." The song has been used in the video games SingStar '80s, Saints Row 2, Lego Rock Band and Just Dance 4. In 2010, the song was used in trailers for the third series of the BBC One television drama Ashes to Ashes, which is set in the 1980s. Radio DJ Benny Bashan on Israel's Galei Tzahal station has a daily portion of his show called "The greatest song ever, chosen by people who think that The Final Countdown is the greatest song ever". Listeners are invited to call in and vote for their favorite song, with the only qualifier being that they must be fans of The Final Countdown.

The song was named the 66th best hard rock song of all time by VH1.[12] Blender included it as the 27th worst song ever,[13] and both VH1 and Blender included it at 16 on the list of the "Most Awesomely Bad Songs...Ever".[14]

Music video[edit]

A still 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 26 and 27 May 1986, as well as some extra footage filmed at the sound checks for those concerts.[6]

Live performances[edit]

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 31 December 1999, as part of the Millennium celebrations, as it was the first, and to date only, Europe performance with both of the band's lead guitarists, the original guitarist John Norum and his replacement, Kee Marcello.[15][16]

Cover versions[edit]

The song has been covered by various artists; including After Forever, Dannii Minogue, Dispatched, Freezepop, Furillo, Geoff Downes, Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Immolation, Leif Garrett, London Symphony Orchestra, Melo-M, Norther, Gigi D'Agostino, Stone, The Delegates, The Protomen, Toy Dolls, and Vision Divine. Slovenian avant-garde group Laibach made a rework of the song for their NATO album, they also recorded a promo clip. 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.[17] In an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks in 2008, Bill Bailey and his team mate tried to play "Back to Black" by Amy Winehouse to Myleene Klass in the Intros Round, though they deliberately shouted out "It's the final countdown!" in the song to confuse everyone on the show.

On 25 June 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, and the Maybenauts.

Classic Rock 101 released a parody titled The Financial Meltdown, based on the 2008 financial crisis as part of their Twisted Tunes, which is played every day to reflect current issues.

British band Eskimo Disco recorded a cover used in the 2009 film Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel.

A cover by a band called Deep Sunshine has brought an additional notoriety to the song : Deep Sunshine's live performance was captured on video and later became a variation of a Rickroll on Fark.com, receiving over 1 million views on YouTube. The video has been entitled "Worst cover ever" on YouTube, its success stemming for its lack of artistic value.[18][19]

The song is included in Rock of Ages, a Broadway musical which pays homage to 1980s rock music.

The Gadget Show's Ortis Deley sung it as his competition entry in the 2011 Gadget Show Live convention.

Pop culture[edit]

Professional wrestlers Keiji Mutoh, Franz Schumann, Paul Diamond, Bryan Danielson, Flex Armstrong and Sara Del Rey have used "The Final Countdown" as entrance music.

The song is featured extensively in the show Arrested Development. The character Gob Bluth (Will Arnett) uses it as the theme song to his illusion act.

The Detroit Pistons have used "The Final Countdown" as their introduction music since the Bad Boys era.

The sitcom Scrubs used this on a ukulele as the recurring character Ted quits during season 9.

The stage theme of Infinity Mijinion in Mega Man X6 is inspired by the song.

"The Final Countdown" is used as the entrance anthem for the home games of the French football team AJ Auxerre.

In 2009, Virgin Trains used this song in an advert to promote their services.

The song is featured in the video games Just Dance 4, NHL 11 and NHL Slapshot.

"The first Countdown" is the name of the final segment of every episode of music-based Norwegian television programmme "Popstokk" on NRK1.

The song is copied in the Bollywood movie Maine Pyar Kiya

Sales certifications[edit]

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[20] Gold 50,000^
France (SNEP)[21] Platinum 1,000,000*
Sweden (GLF)[22] Gold 25,000x
United Kingdom (BPI)[23] Gold 500,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

"The Final Countdown 2000"[edit]

"The Final Countdown 2000"
Single by Europe
from the album 1982–2000
B-side "The Final Countdown" (Original Radio Edit)
Released 7 December 1999
Format CD single, 12" single
Genre Eurodance
Length 3:47
Label Epic
Writer(s) Joey Tempest
Producer Brian Rawling, Gary Miller
Certification Gold (Sweden)
Europe singles chronology
"Sweet Love Child"
(1993)		 "The Final Countdown 2000"
(1999)		 "Got to Have Faith"
(2004)

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," spelling the word "Cuntdown." The band's reaction to the remix was less than enthusiastic. "That remix was a disaster," drummer Ian Haugland said, "I wouldn't pass water on it if it was on fire!"[24]

Personnel[edit]

Chart positions[edit]

Chart (1986-1987) Peak
position
Austrian Singles Chart[25] 1
Belgium Singles Chart[26] 1
Canadian RPM Top Singles[27] 5
Dutch Top 40[28] 1
French Singles Chart[29] 1
German Singles Chart[30] 1
Irish Singles Chart[31] 1
Italian Singles Chart[32] 1
New Zealand Singles Chart[33] 12
Norwegian Singles Chart[34] 4
South African Chart[35] 1
Spanish Singles Chart 1
Swedish Singles Chart[36] 1
Swiss Singles Chart[37] 1
UK Singles Chart[38] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[39] 8
US Mainstream Rock Tracks[39] 18
Chart (1999-2000) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart[40] 33
Finnish Singles Chart[41] 12
German Singles Chart[42] 35
Netherlands[43] 60
Norwegian Singles Chart[34] 12
Swedish Singles Chart[36] 6
Swiss Singles Chart[37] 33
UK Singles Chart[38] 36

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Rock group Europe plan comeback". BBC. 2003-10-03. Retrieved 2010-05-25. 
  2. ^ "BPI Certifications". BPI. Retrieved 2008-06-24. [dead link]
  3. ^ a b 1982–1992 (CD booklet). Epic Records. 1993. EPC 473589-1.
  4. ^ Tengner, Anders; Michael Johansson (1987). Europe - den stora rockdrömmen (in Swedish). Wiken. ISBN 91-7024-408-1. 
  5. ^ Europe (2005-11-18). Live from the Dark (DVD). Warner Bros. Entertainment. 
  6. ^ a b c d e Europe (2006-10-04). The Final Countdown Tour 1986: Live in Sweden - 20th Anniversary Edition (DVD). Warner Bros. Entertainment. 
  7. ^ a b c d Ling, Dave (January 2005). "Counting Down Again". Classic Rock (75). pp. 60–67. 
  8. ^ a b "MusicPlayers.com: Features > Bands > Europe". MusicPlayers.com. Retrieved 2007-12-23. 
  9. ^ Thompson, Erik (October / November 2005). "Hårdrockens Historia 1986". Sweden Rock Magazine (31). p. 102. 
  10. ^ a b "Interview: Joey Tempest (Europe)". Rockeyez. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
  11. ^ name="The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits", by Joel Whitburn, ISBN 0-85112-389-9, 1989
  12. ^ "spreadit.org music". Retrieved February 5, 2009. 
  13. ^ "The 50 Worst Songs Ever! Watch, Listen and Cringe! - Blender". Retrieved 2009-04-22. 
  14. ^ "VH1 & Blender's 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever - Rate Your Music". Retrieved 2009-04-22. 
  15. ^ "RATHOLE.com - Fireworks Magazine: Issue 17". RATHOLE.com. Retrieved 2008-04-15. 
  16. ^ "RATHOLE.com - Fireworks Magazine: Issue 18". RATHOLE.com. Retrieved 2008-04-15. 
  17. ^ "Children Of Bodom Hate Crew Official Website". Retrieved 2008-06-09. 
  18. ^ The top 10 songs the Web brought back
  19. ^ Best and Worst Final Countdown covers
  20. ^ "Canadian single certifications – The Final Countdown". Music Canada. 
  21. ^ "French single certifications – The Final Countdown" (in French). InfoDisc. 
  22. ^ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. 
  23. ^ "British single certifications – The Final Countdown". British Phonographic Industry.  Enter The Final Countdown in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Click Go
  24. ^ "Classic Track - The Final Countdown". Rhythm. February 2010. 
  25. ^ Hung Medien. "The final countdown in Austrian Chart". Retrieved 14 June 2013. 
  26. ^ "The final countdown in Belgian Chart". Ultratop and Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 June 2013. 
  27. ^ "The final countdown in Canadian Top Singles Chart". Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 14 June 2013. 
  28. ^ "De Nederlandse Top 40, week 39, 1986". Retrieved 2008-03-06. 
  29. ^ "French Album Chart". lescharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
  30. ^ "The final countdown in German Chart". Media control. Retrieved 14 June 2013. 
  31. ^ "Irish Singles Chart". The Irish Charts. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
  32. ^ "Italian Singles Chart". hitparadeitalia. Retrieved 2008-06-07. 
  33. ^ Hung Medien. "The final countdown in New Zealand Chart". Retrieved 14 June 2013. 
  34. ^ a b "Norwegian Singles Chart". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
  35. ^ John Samson. "The final countdown in South African Chart". Retrieved 14 June 2013. 
  36. ^ a b "Swedish Album Chart". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
  37. ^ a b "Swiss Album Chart". swisscharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
  38. ^ a b "UK Album Chart". Chart Stats. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
  39. ^ a b "US Album Chart". Billboard 200. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
  40. ^ "Australian Chart". australiancharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
  41. ^ "Finnish Album Chart". finnishcharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
  42. ^ "The final countdown 2000 in German Chart". Media control. Retrieved 14 June 2013. 
  43. ^ "The final countdown 2000 in Netherlands Chart". Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 June 2013. 
Preceded by
"Ève lève-toi" by Julie Pietri		 French (SNEP) number one single
8 November - 27 December 1986		 Succeeded by
"T'en va pas" by Elsa Lunghini
Preceded by
"Take My Breath Away" by Berlin		 UK number one single
30 November 1986		 Succeeded by
"Caravan of Love" by The Housemartins
Europe
Studio albums
EPs
Live albums
Compilations
Videography
Related articles
Europe singles
Singles
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