Eye of the Tiger

For other uses, see the song by Survivor.

"Eye of the Tiger"
Song
B-side	"Take You on a Saturday"

"Eye of the Tiger" is a song performed by the American rock band Survivor from the album Eye of the Tiger, released in 1982. It was used at the request of Sylvester Stallone for the film Rocky III. The mix of the song heard in the film features tiger growls, though these are omitted on the album and single versions.

"Eye of the Tiger" topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for six weeks beginning July 24, 1982. The single was number two on the Billboard Top Pop Singles of 1982 year-end chart and number one on the Cash Box Top 100 Pop Singles year-end chart. "Eye of the Tiger" also reached number one in the UK, Irish and Australian charts. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1982, representing two million records sold in the U.S. Survivor won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Eye of the Tiger". The song received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song and was voted "Favorite Song" by the People's Choice Awards (in a tie with "Truly" by Lionel Richie).

In an interview with Songfacts, co-writer Jim Peterik 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.

The song was listed at #21 on Billboard's All Time Top 100 and was named the 63^rd best hard rock song of all time by VH1.

Cover versions

• In 1982, french cover of Sylvie Vartan (Faire quelque chose).
• In 1985, the year of his world championship, Boxer Frank Bruno released a cover version. It reached #28 in the UK charts.
• Alvin and the Chipmunks parodied this in 1982 for the album Chipmunks Go Hollywood.
• In 1989, German power metal/neoclassical metal band At Vance included a cover of the song for their debut album No Escape.
• In 2000, Australian band Regurgitator recorded a cover version of the song, titled Comeback (Eye Of The Tiger) for their Crush The Losers EP.
• In 2003, Finnish melodic death metal band Withering recorded a cover version of the song.
• American indie artist Josh Joplin recorded an acoustic folk cover of the song.
• In 2005, Paul Anka recorded a swing/jazz version of this song on his album Rock Swings.
• In 2006, the song was covered by Amel Bent where it reached #2 in France, #13 in Belgium and #32 in Switzerland.
• Alternative rock band Green Day performed the intro of the song on several occasions.
• Rappers DMX and Ice Cube covered the song.
• In 2006, Australian pop artist Lee Harding included a cover of the song on his debut album What's Wrong with This Picture?
• Judith Owen recorded a jazz version for her album Here, also released in 2006.
• In 2007, Vomitron covered the song on their self titled album on MySpace.
• In 2007, Serbian singer Ognjen Vuletić sang the song and won DUNS music contest.
• In 2008, HOPE, a rapcore band located in Poland, released a cover of the song as a single. After decent commercial success in Poland, the band filmed a music video for the song. The video had hardly any airtime on MTV2 in the U.S; yet was successful in various European countries.
• In 2008, Lorena covered the song on her second studio album De Pelicula.
• In 2008, Ten Masked Men covered the song on the album Attack Of The Ten Masked Men.
• In 2008, Great White covered the song on the album Covered In '80s Hits.
• In 2008, cover was made by Katrine Ottosen for the cover album Hollywood Mon Amour.
• In 2009, mAm'Zelle Bip & FrAnck Perrolle covered the song (jazz version) on the french TV show Le grand lifting des tubes (+ digital single).
• In 2009, Christian Hard Rock band Echoes the Fall recorded a version of this song to be released on their debut album, Bloodline.
• The song is covered in the 2009 Nickelodeon movie Spectacular! by Tammin Sursok.
• The song has been covered recently by The Jonas Brothers, albeit with a negative reception; some of the main criticisms being the lyrics sung by female vocalist Demi Lovato and an overuse of the crash cymbals on the drum track.
• A version performed by the choir of PS22 of New York has become popular on many video sharing websites.
• Moderatto performed a Spanish cover called "El hijo del tigre"
• The song has been parodied on Double Take called "Guys From Al-Qaeda".

Parodies, appearances in other media

• Hulk Hogan followed up his appearance in Rocky III by using this as his entrance music for a time before his WWF matches.
• The song appeared in the fourth season of the TV show Supernatural, and as an extra to the same episode, where Jensen Ackles lip-synched and danced to the song.
• Jason Lee sings it to his father on the second episode of the fourth season ("Monkeys Take A Bath") of My Name is Earl.
• In the Simpsons' episode "The Fat and the Furriest", the chorus of the "Eye of the Tiger" is played.
• An altered version of the song by the band themselves was featured on a Starbucks Doubleshot commercial.
• A parody by "Weird Al" Yankovic entitled, "Theme from Rocky XIII (The Rye or the Kaiser)", was included on his In 3-D album from 1984. This song uncannily predicted that Rocky Balboa would end up running a restaurant late in life, as seen in Rocky Balboa.
• The song is the official theme of the National Rugby League Team The Wests Tigers. It is played when they come out onto the field in every rugby league game.
• The instrumental at the beginning of the song was often used as Baltimore Orioles Cal Ripken, Jr.'s batter introductory music.
• The song is featured in the 2007 film Persepolis, performed by Chiara Mastroianni (with a heavy accent).
• An episode of the Canadian show Degrassi: The Next Generation is named after this song.
• Featured as a track in Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero World Tour, and the European version of Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades.
• The song is played at the end of the Family Guy episode "The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire," when Cleveland and Quagmire reconcile their differences in a friendly boxing match as the shot fades to a watercolor-like painting.
• Auburn University, The University of Missouri and Occidental College play the song at most athletic events. All their mascots are the tiger.
• The LSU football team's stadium contains a depiction of the "Eye of the Tiger" at midfield.
• The LSU marching band plays the song every time the football team makes 3rd downs.
• Was played in an episode of The Boondocks.
• Is used during a comedy montage in the episode entitled "Fat" of series five of the BBC comedy Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.
• John McCain used this song to open and close campaign rallies during the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign.
• Conservative talk show host Sean Hannity uses the introduction as background music for his radio show's third hour (which is referred to as the "world-famous final hour free-for-all".)
• In 2001, A song by DMX & Ice Cube was Remixed with "Eye of the tiger", named "We Be Clubbin' (Eye of the Tiger Remix) for The 24th Letter by DMX.
• The song is sung in the movie Asterix and the Vikings.
• The song is currently being used as the theme song for Konnan in Asistencia Asesoría y Administración.
• A remix of this song is located as a track in the game We Cheer (for Wii)
• The song is frequently played at sporting events for the Clemson University Clemson Tigers.
• It is also one of the fight songs for the University of Memphis Athletic Department.
• Ben Stiller sings the song in the film Night at the Museum over the loudspeaker at the American Museum of Natural History at night.
• Reed College plays the song on the hour, every hour, in the library lobby during finals week.
• Many high schools that use a tiger as their mascot may use the song.
• "Eye of The Tiger" is the title of episode one in the third season of The Bernie Mac Show. The character Jordan uses the song for his routine.
• The television series Las Vegas episode "Fake the Money and Run" (first aired 9/26/2005) played a slow jazz version in the background during a poker game.
• Darts player Raymond Van Barneveld uses it as his entrance theme.
• The Israeli band Infection parodies the song in their 2005 album Bekhef (Hebrew: בכיף). The parody is also entitled "Eye of the Tiger" (Hebrew: עין הנמר).
• The song is heard in Big Fat Liar when one of the jocks is doing sit-ups.
• In the Nickelodeon movie Spectacular! by Tammin Sursok, the group Spectacular uses it as their theme for the early part of the movie.
• The "Krusty Krab Training Video" on SpongeBob SquarePants features theme music which bears a resemblance to the opening riff from "Eye of the Tiger." That song was called "Quest for the Best" by David Reilly of APM Music.
• In the Jimmy Neutron episode "Birth of a Salesman", you can hear Cindy Vortex say "Eye Of The Tiger", making a reference to the song. The opening can also be heard in the background.
• The song is featured in the movie Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd.
• The song is played in series 2: episode 3 of Ashes to Ashes.
• The song is played by the band at every varsity game at Breckinridge County High School in Hardinsburg, Kentucky.
• This song is heard in Epic Movie when Peter and Harry Potter are fighting with swords.
• A remixed version is used in the game clash of the idiots for ed edd and eddy.
• In Scrubs, the song is played as the surgeon Todd wrestles a driver's license from an older patient.
• The song is played before and during every Real Madrid Baloncesto match at the Palacio Vistalegre.
• It was the very first song to be played on New York City CHR/Top 40 Powerhouse Z100 on August 2, 1983 at 6:08 a.m.
• One of Mash Up duo 2 Many Dj's most famous mash up's is "Eye Of The Tiger" mashed with Skee-Lo's "I Wish" and The Breeders "Cannonball".
• In the Johnny Bravo episode "T is for Trouble" a spoof of the song plays while Johnny Bravo is being trained by Mr T.
• Appeared on Pop Idol series one (UK precursor to American Idol) where the rendition by Warren Wald was famously torn apart by Simon Cowell.
• Song's intro appeared in The Big Bang Theory series (episode 4 of the 3rd season)
• In the movie, Role Models, Danny (Paul Rudd) makes a reference, "He has the heart of a lion...and the Eye of the Tiger."
• Lisa Snowdon and Brendan Cole performed a paso doble to the song in the fifth series of Strictly Come Dancing.
• Was used as the entrance song for Nate Marquardt when he fought Anderson Silva at UFC 73
• The song is used as UFC fighter Tyson Griffin's walkout song.