10 Best Classic Rock Intros Of The 1980s
4. Eye Of The Tiger - Survivor
The theme tune for Rocky 3, and undoubtedly on a million gym Spotify playlists even today. It is impossible to hear this song without thinking of Rocky and vice versa, so deeply embedded in each other's essence are they. Spending six weeks at number one in the US charts in 1982, it was the band's biggest hit.
The intro is a study in calculated repetitiveness, a two chord pattern repeated over and over with subtle embellishments to build the tension. The opening is so effective that the rest of the song almost feels like an anticlimax. The punchy two chord pattern perfectly suggests working out on a heavy bag; perfect for those boxercise sessions.
Although Survivor had a handful of hits following this one, they'd dried up by 1988. Personal differences saw them split and singer Jimi Jamison touring with a band under the 'Survivor' moniker, although he was the only original member. Sadly, Jamison died in 2014.