The Final Countdown (Lied)

For other meanings, see The Final Countdown (disambiguation).

"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.

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 synth riff used in the recording was performed on a Roland JX-8P. 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.

Personnel

• Joey Tempest - Vocals
• John Norum - Guitar
• John Levén - Bass guitar
• Mic Michaeli - Keyboards
• Ian Haugland - Drums

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, Furillo, Vision Divine and The Delegates. Contrary to popular belief, the metal band Children of Bodom has never done a cover version of the song - the wrongly credited versions are usually those by Norther and Dispatched. [1]

In 2005, comedian Mike Ward recorded a version as a goof for "Le Mike Ward Show". The song reached #1 on the MusiquePlus "Top 5 anglo" countdown, and was inducted into the "Ultime Combat des Clips" (Combat Zone) hall of fame, after 16 victories against artists such as Eminem, Sean Paul, Gwen Stefani, Beyoncé, and Madonna.

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.

In the same year, Crazy Frog also did his version in his album Crazy Frog Presents More Crazy Hits.

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.

The song has also been played in the ending block of Queen + Paul Rodgers concerts.

Uses in sports and popular culture

• The song is played by bands during many high school and college sports events, particularly basketball games.
• 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" serves as the theme-song for The Dr. Rock & Capt. Fantasy Show, a radio show currently airing on WEGL 91 FM in Auburn, Alabama. The song was chosen as the theme song due to its connection to Arrested Development, as both hosts are fans of the show.
• "The Final Countdown" was played at the closing ceremony of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
• The song was used as the intro for rock band Faith No More's Angel Dust Tour '92-'93 to which the band members took to the stage doing starjumps.
• The song was used as an intro to the computer-related contest program "Concursor", in Mexico, aired by Imevision (pre-TV Azteca) in the late 80's
• 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.
• A clip of the music was used to introduce Raghib Ismail before the 1991 Orange Bowl
• 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 Euro 2004 (football), Eurobasket 2005, and after defeating Team USA in the semifinals of the 2006 FIBA World Championship.
• In the 1997 NBA All-Star Game, the arena turned off the lights except the spotlights and the music is played prior to the starting lineup.
• "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 18, 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 the Italian movie Notte prima degli esami which was named however after another song from the same period by Italian artist Antonello Venditti.
• 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 extensively in the 1992 Cricket World Cup in Australia/New Zealand.
• The song was used as the intro for hard rock band Stone Sour during their Come What(ever) May tour.
• Ben Folds used the song for his entrances during his 2006/2007 tour and played the song's primary riff on his synthesizer at points throughout concerts. At a concert in Blacksburg, Virginia on March 27, 2007 he playfully told the audience that "you can stick that riff into anything."
• Mark Hominick, a mixed martial arts fighter in the super lightweight division, uses this song as his ring entrance music.
• A clip of the song is played at Jacobs Field in the top of the ninth inning when the visiting team is down to their final out.
• NBC's game show The Singing Bee titles the final bonus round as "The Final Countdown", and a portion of the chorus is even preformed to introduce the round.
• E!'s show The Soup made fun of The Singing Bee using the song.
• Rolling Stones #9 Best Sports anthem song ever! Rolling Stone
• Used by professional wrestler Bryan Danielson as an entrance song.
• The song shares its name with a card in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game.

Trivia

• The Final Countdown is synonymous with the celebration in Partit Nazzjonalista mass meetings in Malta.Vorlage:Fact
• The Final Countdown was also a large part of the climatic scene in How to Kill a Mockingbird
• 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.
• The UK version of the single had to be put back due to a printing error on the sleeve, which missed out an 'o' to read The Final Cuntdown.
• A video of an unknown band performing the song has become an Internet phenomenon, as the consensus is that it shows a truly awful performance[3].

Vorlage:Start box Vorlage:Succession box Vorlage:End box