The Final Countdown (song)
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| "The Final Countdown" | ||
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| Single by Europe | ||
| from the album The Final Countdown | ||
| B-side(s) | "On Broken Wings" | |
| Released | February 1986 | |
| Format | CD single, 7" single, 12" single | |
| Genre | Hard rock, Glam metal | |
| Length | 5:11 (Album Version) 4:03 (Radio Edit) |
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| Label | Epic Records | |
| Writer(s) | Joey Tempest | |
| Producer(s) | Kevin Elson | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Europe singles chronology | ||
| "On the Loose" (1985) |
"The Final Countdown" (1986) |
"Love Chaser" (1986) |
- This article is about a song by Europe. For the album of the same name, see The Final Countdown (album).
- The Final Countdown is also the name of a 1980 science fiction movie.
"The Final Countdown" is a 1986 hit single released by the Swedish hard rock band Europe. It was the first single released internationally from the album The Final Countdown, and was number 1 in 26 countries, selling more than 8 million copies worldwide.
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[edit] History
The song is based on an old keyboard riff that vocalist Joey Tempest composed as early as around 1981–82, on a Korg Polysix keyboard that he borrowed from keyboardist Mic Michaeli. The lyrics were inspired by David Bowie's song "Space Oddity".
Originally the band had never planned to release the song as a single, and some band members wanted "Rock the Night" to be the first single off the album. "The Final Countdown" was written to be an opening song for concerts; they never thought about it being a hit. But when their record company Epic Records had suggested that it should be the first single, the band decided to release it.
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 December 31, 1999, as part of the Millennium celebrations.
[edit] Personnel
- Joey Tempest - Vocals
- John Norum - Guitar
- John Levén - Bass guitar
- Mic Michaeli - Keyboards
- Ian Haugland - Drums
[edit] Sample
- "The Final Countdown" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Sample of "The Final Countdown".
- Problems playing the files? See media help.
The full version of the song can be heard on the band's MySpace site.
[edit] Cover versions
The song has been covered by various artists, both local and famous; including Dannii Minogue, Gigatron, Geoff Downes, Laibach, Norther, Dispatched, the Toy Dolls and Vision Divine. Contrary to popular belief, the metal band Children of Bodom has never done a cover version of the song - but Norther has. [1]
Indie-Pop group Of Montreal used the song as the introduction to their hit song "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games" during their Winter 2006 US Tour. Third-Wave Ska band Five Iron Frenzy used the main riff from the song as an introduction to their song "One Girl Army" on their live album, Proof That the Youth Are Revolting.
Italian house DJ Gigi D'Agostino also did an electro cover of this song on his 2006 compilation album Some Experiments.
Argentinian singer Benigno Scarante did a strong cover version in the 90s in the "Si lo sabe cante" (If you know it, sing it!) show.
The song has also appeared in the Beatmania IIDX series, covered by one of Konami's resident in-house artists, dj TAKA.
[edit] Uses in sports and popular culture
- The song is used as the introduction theme at Blackburn Rovers
- The song is featured prominently in the television show Arrested Development as the beginning to the character GOB's magic act and his cellphone's ringtone. It has also been played during various scenes of the show.
- The song was used in an advertisement of the Brazilian Air Force in the second half of the '80s, in the Brazilian TV network.
- "The Final Countdown" was played at the closing ceremony of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
- In 1999 the dance remix "The Final Countdown 2000" was released. It was produced by Brian Rawling, who previously had a hit with Cher's "Believe".
- The song is the theme song for the NBA team Detroit Pistons, and it's featured in the player introduction ceremonies prior to Piston games.
- Japanese pro wrestler Keiji Mutoh used it as his theme song early in his career. Nosawa Rongai also used it as his theme song when he was known as Space Lone Wolf. Independent wrestlers Bryan Danielson and Sara Del Rey currently use it as their entrance song.
- It was used to celebrate Greece's first place in Eurobasket '87 and is still strongly associated with that victory. It is still used today by Aris (the team where Nikos Galis, Greece's MVP in Euro '87 belonged at the time) to celebrate victories. Since then, it was used when Greece won 2005 Eurobasket, and after winning the FIBA Semi-Final in 2006.
- "The Final Countdown" was played on the arena organ during the first stoppage of play in the final minute of the third period in all games of the hockey tournament in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
- Used as the opening theme song for the popular pop-punk act KICKDRIVE's 2006 Arena tour. Most notably, they covered it as a closer to their Madison Square Garden Debut on August 18th, 2006 on the "Too Punk Rock For This" tour.
- The start of the song was used in the start of the title song of Hindi movie"Maine Pyaar Kiya"(1989)
- It was used at the 2005 Penny Arcade Expo Omegathon final competition.
- It was used in an A2 Media production by Nick Thompson and John Ashton, where they made the video as it was seen to be still mainstream but outside of the box.
- It was used in an Italian movie "Notte prima degli esami" as main theme.
- It is featured in a 2007 FedEx television commercial aired during Super Bowl XLI. The ad envisions an office built in the low gravity environment of the moon. At the end, a FedEx spacecraft flies in to this music.
- During the original pay-per-view broadcast of the 1989 Great American Bash NWA professional wrestling show, the intermission for the live crowd was filled with a music video hyping the main event match of Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair in what was billed as Flair's last shot at Steamboat's NWA World Heavyweight Championship; the video combined footage of Flair and Steamboat's earlier encounters with footage of a live performance of the "The Final Countdown".
- It was featured in a Pepsi commercial, where a diet Pepsi machine faces off against Reggie Bush in a training camp scenario.
- The song was used as the intro for hard rock band Stone Sour during their Come What(ever) May tour.
[edit] Trivia
- The Final Countdown is synonymous with the celebration in Partit Nazzjonalista mass meetings in Malta.
- Because of its heavy emphasis on synthesizer solos, The Final Countdown has been made into MIDI-format files found in various user-made maps for Duke Nukem 3D.
- A Japanese-language version of the song is one of the Japanese opening theme songs for Toei, Bandai, and Disney's Japanese anime "Disney Duel Monsters: Final Countdown"
- The song was the first backing track for the Air Training Corps Unofficial Rheindahlen Summer Camp 2006 Video. The video is of Air cadets at JHQ Rheindahlen from the 16th August to the 23rd August 2006 and the song was played numerous times throughout the week. It can be found on Google Video by searching Rheindahlen 2006.
- It was rated number one on VH1's 40 Most Awesomely Bad Metal Songs [2].
- It topped New Zealand Music Channel C4's Countdown of Best One Hit Wonders of All Time
- There is a Spanish language parody version from Chile called "El Condón Final" ("The Final Condom")
- In the intro to the song, a man counting down from 10 to 1 can be heard in the background among the music[citation needed]
| Preceded by "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin |
UK number one single November 30, 1986 |
Succeeded by "Caravan of Love" by The Housemartins |
| Europe | ||
| Members - Discography - DVDs |
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