Sylvester Stallone, the director and star ofRocky III, enlisted Survivor afterQueen denied him permission to use their song "Another One Bites the Dust". Survivor derived lyrics and title from dialogue in the film, and conceived a riff with chord changes to match the punches in the boxing scenes.
"Eye of the Tiger" reached number one on the charts of many countries. In the US, it was number one on theBillboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks, spent 15 consecutive weeks in the top 10, and was the second-bestselling single of 1982. It wascertified platinum in August 1982, for sales of two million copies. In the UK, "Eye of the Tiger" sold 956,000 copies and was number one on theUK singles chart for four consecutive weeks.
By 1982, the American bandSurvivor had released two unsuccessful albums and were concerned they would be dropped by their record label.[5] That year, the director and actorSylvester Stallone enlisted them to write a song for his filmRocky III, afterQueen denied him permission to use "Another One Bites the Dust".[5][6] Stallone asked for "something street"[5] with a pulse to match the punches of the boxing scenes.[7] He sent them a copy of themontage used in the film's introduction, depicting the boxerRocky Balboa and the ascent of his rival,Clubber Lang.[5][6]
"Eye of the Tiger" was written by the guitarist,Frankie Sullivan and the keyboardist,Jim Peterik.[8] They conceived a riff based on chord changes to mirror the timing of punches.[5][6] The title was taken from a line spoken by theRocky characterApollo Creed: "You had that eye of the tiger, man, the edge ... You gotta get it back."[5] Stallone took the phrase from the 1969 filmA Dream of Kings.[9]
Survivor initially planned to title the song "Survival", and had the chorus: "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", with "survival" rhyming with "rival". They changed it as they felt the "eye of the tiger" hook was stronger and did not have to rhyme perfectly.[10]
Survivor recorded ademo at theChicago Recording Company on February 1, 1982.[6][7] Sullivan was so destitute that he used a guitar with a broken headstock he had glued back together.[5] The band attempted to capture a drum sound similar to that of theLed Zeppelin drummer,John Bonham.[6] Stallone loved the demo and insisted on using it in the film.[5] Survivor rerecorded it for the album and single releases.[7]
"Eye of the Tiger" was played extensively onMTV and radio, and topped charts worldwide during 1982. In the United States, it was number one on theBillboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks.[5] In August 1982, it wascertified double platinum in the US for sales of two million copies.[11] "Eye of the Tiger" sold 956,000 copies in the UK and was number one on theUK singles chart for four weeks.[12] It was the UK's third-best-selling single in 1982.[13] By February 2015, It had sold more than 4.1 million in downloads in the US.[14] Sullivan felt people related to the message of self-empowerment: "It's about getting your ass out of bed. It's about saying: 'I'm not going totry to go to the gym Monday – Iam going to go to the gym Monday.'"[5]
In 2012, Survivor sued theRepublican presidential candidateNewt Gingrich in Illinois federal court for using "Eye of the Tiger" without authorization as entrance music at his political rallies.[18] The lawsuit was settled out of court.[19] In the same year, another Republican candidate,Mitt Romney, agreed to stop using "Eye of the Tiger" at his rallies.[19] In 2016, the Republican candidateMike Huckabee agreed to pay $25,000 in compensation for using "Eye of the Tiger" at a rally without permission.[20][21][22]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^Rees, Dafydd; Lazell, Barry; Jones, Alan (1983). "The Top 100 UK Singles".Chart File Volume 2. London, England: Virgin Books. pp. 80–81.ISBN0-907080-73-1.
