1,227,171 plays (281,207 listeners)
“The Final Countdown” is a hard rock song by Europe, from their 1986 breakthrough album of the same name. The song’s musical-style and production were heavily inspired by glam metal, glam rock and hard rock from the 80s. Released as the album’s first single, the song entered the top five on the majority of the charts it appeared on. It is arguably the band’s most recognizable and popular song.
The song was based on an old keyboard riff that vocalist Joey Tempest had composed as early as 1981–82. In 1985, bassist John Levén suggested that Tempest should write a song based on that riff. The lyrics were inspired by David Bowie’s song “
Space Oddity”.
It continues to enjoy notable popularity in many sports arenas and stadiums; public address booths have often played the opening keyboard riff to rally the home crowd. It has also become a staple of high school and college pep bands for this same purpose.
The song has been covered by various artists, both local and famous; including Dannii Minogue, Gigatron, Geoff Downes, Laibach, Norther, Dispatched, the Toy Dolls, Immolation, Furillo, Vision Divine, The Delegates, and the Latvian cello band Melo-M. Contrary to popular belief, the melodic death 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.
The song was based on an old keyboard riff that vocalist Joey Tempest had composed as early as 1981–82. In 1985, bassist John Levén suggested that Tempest should write a song based on that riff. The lyrics were inspired by David Bowie’s song “
Space Oddity”.It continues to enjoy notable popularity in many sports arenas and stadiums; public address booths have often played the opening keyboard riff to rally the home crowd. It has also become a staple of high school and college pep bands for this same purpose.
The song has been covered by various artists, both local and famous; including Dannii Minogue, Gigatron, Geoff Downes, Laibach, Norther, Dispatched, the Toy Dolls, Immolation, Furillo, Vision Divine, The Delegates, and the Latvian cello band Melo-M. Contrary to popular belief, the melodic death 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.
Video
Added by richorico
Europe - The Final Countdown Tour
Share Video
See 11 more
Related Tracks
-
Rock The Night
Europe -
Cherokee
Europe -
Eye Of The Tiger
Survivor -
Jump
Van Halen -
Poison
Alice Cooper -
Wind Of Change
Scorpions
Albums featuring this track
-
School Disco.com (disc 2)
Various Artists Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
-
100% Rock, Volume 2 (disc 1)
Various Artists Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
-
1982 - 2000
Europe Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
-
The Final Countdown
Europe Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $9.99
- 7digital $9.99
- iTunes $9.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
Shouts
-
davidthemugman wrote:
this is great i love this song never gets old
-
davidbowiegirl wrote:
Memories... my childhood... :)
-
Wallensteinfan wrote:
Klasse Stück !!
-
schmoove wrote:
my youth manifesting in one song
-
Vicpolfer wrote:
es la pjolaannn d cancion xDDDDDDD
-
Atomkraftwerk wrote:
great song
-
Peavey11 wrote:
Perfect composition
-
Saggia1 wrote:
This will now always be "Gob's Theme" from the ingeniously funny but little watched serices "Arrested Development." How could you not love that?
-
MadRangerMan wrote:
LMAO!! Quit baggin' on GNR!!! They were a great band with a serious ego problem!! They definitely rocked and I think they made just a dollar or two more than Europe..........
-
GrungeJammer87 wrote:
I heard that the real reason that GNR broke up wasn't because of Axel, but because they couldn't make a song better then this. It's just what I heard.
-
rg_gapa wrote:
genius
-
funkybeats556 wrote:
this song is own
-
chancellor69 wrote:
start counting
-
onetruephoenix wrote:
This song has such epic music. Lyrics are rather blah.
-
Varsun wrote:
How is this a horrible song your the one who listens to guns n roses, motley crue, and marilyn manson
-
DownWithForever wrote:
[This song helps me get through finals.] 2
-
Timtab wrote:
It's the final, final countdown!
-
davidthemugman wrote:
@TZPEAZOA fuck right back up your hole this is a tune!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-
TZPEAZOA wrote:
god, this is such a horrible song hahaha
-
jungle_of_music wrote:
nice cover :P http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjeMDvCdrtc
Europe
The Final Countdown
30-second preview
Listeners
-
gylfram
Listening now
-
grejfrut
Listening now
-
froscobear
Listening now
-
sweet-sorrow
Top Listener
-
mrdeicide
Top Listener
-
SkaKri
Top Listener
Recent Activity
-
privateharrison, ScarredKnuckles, Hadouko26 and 5 other people loved Europe – The Final Countdown. 32 minutes ago
-
Papi54 added The Final Countdown to Papi54’s library. 5 hours ago
-
Papi54 added The Final Countdown to the playlist Papi. 5 hours ago
-
wildmerlyn69 added The Final Countdown to their Loved Tracks. 5 hours ago
-
kinkytomato added The Final Countdown to kinkytomato’s library. 6 hours ago
-
kinkytomato added The Final Countdown to the playlist. 6 hours ago
-
zpayne270, kfrederickson, Makeloahana and 30 other people loved Europe – The Final Countdown. 6 hours ago
-
oisinmac added The Final Countdown to the playlist Sequence songs. 14 hours ago
-
oisinmac, FATAL746666, Octaviar and 1 other person loved Europe – The Final Countdown. 14 hours ago
-
dcondon added The Final Countdown to dcondon’s library. 15 hours ago
Related Journals
-
24th November 2009: Last.fm Milestones
by tanyw |
24 Nov 2009 | Add comment
-
The 15 Most Annoying Songs EVER
by AnnaDraconida |
19 Nov 2009 | 28 comments
-
Top 50 Survey
by dolmetscherin |
21 Sep 2009 | Add comment
