| "Juke Box Hero" | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Foreigner | ||||||||
| from the album 4 | ||||||||
| B-side | "I'm Gonna Win" | |||||||
| Released | February 1982 | |||||||
| Format | 7" | |||||||
| Recorded | 1981 | |||||||
| Genre | Hard Rock | |||||||
| Length | 4:05 | |||||||
| Label | Atlantic | |||||||
| Writer(s) | Lou Gramm, Mick Jones | |||||||
| Producer | Robert John "Mutt" Lange | |||||||
| Foreigner singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Juke Box Hero" is a song by Foreigner and was the third single released from their 1981 album 4. It first entered the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in July 1981. It subsequently went to #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts after released in February 1982.[1]
The song focuses on a boy unable to purchase a ticket to a sold-out rock concert. Listening from outside, he hears "one guitar" and has an epiphany, leading him to buy his own guitar from a second-hand store and begin to play without any lessons. He realizes that with the guitar he can become famous, and does.
The song then goes on to describe the struggle he has to stay on top of the music charts, which makes him a "Juke Box Hero." He eventually encounters another fan outside the stage door at one of his concerts, who reminds him of himself and how it all began. Mick Jones told Songfacts that the song was inspired by an actual fan who stood waiting outside an arena for about five hours in the rain. Jones, impressed by his dedication, decided to take him in and give him a glimpse of what happens backstage at a show.
This song was also re-recorded live at a 2005 Las Vegas concert where it includes portions of the Led Zeppelin song "Whole Lotta Love" (from Led Zeppelin II), and released on Foreigner's Live in '05 album.
A cover version by Soul Asylum appeared on their 2006 compilation Closer to the Stars: Best of the Twin/Tone Years.[2]. Outside of this, the song appears as background music in at least three sport documentaries or videos: once in 2004 about American professional snowboarder and skateboarder Shaun White[3], to differentiate Aaron Feinberg's part in MindGame's rollerblading video "Brain Fear Gone".[4], and lastly in the late Shane McConkey's "Claim" video.[5]
As well, the song has been employed commercially. Mistakenly titled "Jukebox Hero", it appeared in a commercial for the product launch in late 2007 of the Samsung Juke cellphone.[6] It is a downloadable track for the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock[7] and the music video game series Rock Band.[8] A mash-up based on the song is featured in DJ Hero, composed and performed by DJ Z-Trip.[9]