Music Monday: “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor

Is any song more recognisable from its opening guitar notes?

Eye of the Tiger by Survivor is best known as the theme song to the 1982 film Rocky III (or as many casual moviegoers know it today, “The Rocky With Mr. T”). In the decades since it has has arguably eclipsed even the original movie’s signature tune (Bill Conti’s triumphant anthem Gonna Fly Now) as the series’ most recognisable song.

In a fascinating historical “what if?”, writer and director Sylvester Stallone originally wanted to use Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust for his sequel. When the English rockstars turned him down, he turned to lesser-known Chicago group Survivor to write an original song especially for the movie. It was to become their breakthrough.

Songwriters Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterik were more than up to the task, working dialogue from the film into the lyrics, and even timing the iconic guitar riff around punches in the movie’s boxing scenes.

Australian listeners couldn’t get enough of the song; it was the country’s highest-charting hit of 1982.

Take a trip down memory lane below…

Survivor had several more charting songs through the ’80s, including Burning Heart, High on You and The Search is Over, before going on hiatus in 1988.

They reformed in 1993 and have remained an active touring group to this day — among various lineup changes — under the leadership of founding member Sullivan.

Feeling nostalgic? Browse more of our flashback stories.

Love cinema? Join us this Wednesday for our monthly live trivia broadcast on Facebook. This time we’re covering The Movies of the 1950s and 1960s.