Eye of the Tiger
| "Eye of the Tiger" | ||||||||||||||||
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| Single by Survivor | ||||||||||||||||
| from the album Rocky III and Eye of the Tiger | ||||||||||||||||
| B-side | "Take You on a Saturday" | |||||||||||||||
| Released | May 29, 1982 | |||||||||||||||
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| Recorded | 1982 | |||||||||||||||
| Genre | Hard rock | |||||||||||||||
| Length | 4:04 | |||||||||||||||
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| Writer(s) | ||||||||||||||||
| Producer(s) | Frankie Sullivan | |||||||||||||||
| Survivor singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||
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"Eye of the Tiger" is a song by American rock band Survivor. It was released as a single from their third album Eye of the Tiger and was also the theme song for the film Rocky III, which was released a day before the single. The song was written by Survivor guitarist Frankie Sullivan and keyboardist Jim Peterik and was done so at the request of Rocky III star, writer, and director Sylvester Stallone, after Queen denied him permission to use "Another One Bites the Dust", the song Stallone intended as the Rocky III theme. The version of the song that appears in the movie is the demo version of the song. The movie version also contained tiger growls, something that did not appear on the album version. It features original Survivor singer Dave Bickler on lead vocals.
It gained tremendous MTV and radio airplay and topped charts worldwide during 1982. In the United States, it held No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six consecutive weeks and was the No. 2 single of 1982, behind Olivia Newton-John's "Physical". The band won a 1982 Grammy Award for "Best Rock Performance by Duo or Group With Vocal" at the 25th Annual Grammy Awards.
The song is also the title song to the 1986 film of the same name.
It was certified platinum in August 1982 by the RIAA, signifying sales of 2 million vinyl copies. The song had sold over 4.1 million in digital downloads in the United States alone by February 2015. It was voted VH1's 63rd greatest hard rock song. Combined sales of original vinyl release and digital downloads total over 9 million copies.
The song was later recycled in various other movies, television programs, and video games.
In an interview with Songfacts, co-writer Jim Peterik, who shared writing credit with Frankie Sullivan, explained the song's title.
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