Eye of the Tiger

This article is about the song by Survivor. For other uses, see Eye of the Tiger (disambiguation).

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

"Eye of the Tiger" is a single by American rock band Survivor, from their third album Eye of the Tiger. It was released as a single on May 29, 1982, the same year as the album. It was written at the request of actor Sylvester Stallone, who was unable to get permission for Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust". The song was to be the theme song for the movie Rocky III in which he was playing the main role. The movie version of the song is different from the album version because it features tiger growls. It gained tremendous MTV and radio airplay and topped charts worldwide in 1982. It is memorable for its famous guitar riff and anthemic chorus.

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'.

Critical acclaim

• Voted by VH1 number 63 on its list of 100 greatest hard rock songs of all time.
• Its famous guitar riff is listed by DigitalDreamDoor number 41 on its list of 100 Greatest Rock Guitar Riffs.
• Listed as one of the best selling singles of all time because of selling more than 7 million copies (more than 4 million in USA and almost million in UK and France).
• It is regularly cited as one of the greatest sport songs of all time.
• Regularly holds place among top ten positive/motivational songs list.
• It was voted Best New Song by the People's Choice Awards in 1982.
• It is a staple of 80s rock music compilations.
• It was voted "Favorite Song" by the People's Choice Awards (in a tie with "Truly" by Lionel Richie) in 1982.
• It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.
• It is listed by DigitalDreamDoor number 63 on its list of Top 100 Rock Anthems.
• Kerrang! named it number 3 on its list of 5 singles of the year 1982.
• It is listed by DigitalDreamDoor number 13 on its list of 100 greatest songs from 1982.
• Survivor won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Eye of the Tiger".

Chart position

• It was #1 song of 1982.
• It was number one on the Cash Box Top 100 Pop Singles of 1982 year-end chart.
• It was number two on the Billboard Top Pop Singles of 1982 year-end chart.
• It is certified by BPI platinum.
• It is certified by RIAA 2x platinum.
• Listed number 82 on list of Top 200 Best Selling UK Singles of All Time.
• Listed number 21 on Billboard's All Time Top 100.

Cover versions

• In 1982, Sylvie Vartan covered it in French as "Faire quelque chose".
• In 1990, The Shadows recorded an instrumental, guitar-led version for their 24th official album "Reflection", reaching #5 in the UK charts.
• In 1995, the year of his world championship, Boxer Frank Bruno released a cover version. It reached #28 in the UK charts.
• Alvin and the Chipmunks covered this in 1982 for the album The Chipmunks Go Hollywood.
• In 1999, German power metal/neoclassical metal band At Vance included a cover of the song for their debut album No Escape.
• In 1999, CKY included a cover of the song on the compilation album Volume 2.
• The New Deal, a live electronica band from Toronto, occasionally covers the song in concert.
• 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 released a swing jazz cover 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.
• Punk 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?
• It has been covered by Incubus.
• 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 2010, Lorena covered the song on her second studio album De Pelicula.
• In 2010, Ten Masked Men covered the song on the album Attack Of The Ten Masked Men.
• In 2010, Great White covered the song on the album Covered In '80s Hits.
• In 2009, the Belgian acappella group Voice Male recorded a cover of the song for their album "At The Movies".
• 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.
• The song has been parodied on Double Take called "Guys From Al-Qaeda".
• The song was sung by Stan Walker during Power Ballads Night on Australian Idol.
• It was also covered by 2010 X Factor Australia winner Altiyan Childs for his self-titled debut album.

Appearances in other media

• An altered version of the song by the band themselves was featured on a Starbucks Doubleshot commercial.
• Appeared on Pop Idol series one (UK precursor to American Idol) where the rendition by Warren Wald was famously torn apart by Simon Cowell.
• 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.
• Amel Bent's cover was heard on Asterix's 2006 animated film Asterix and the Vikings.
• Has appeared commonly as a previous soundtrack in various Kelloggs Frosties advertisements.
• In the Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen, the song is played during footage from his appearance in multiple films and sitcoms, referencing to his claim that he has tiger blood.
• In the film Persepolis, the lead character Marjane sings the song during one sequence.
• Linda McMahon left the stage to the song after her speech at her victory party, when she had won the Connecticut Republican primary in 2010.