By 1982, the American band
Survivor had released two unsuccessful albums and were concerned they would be dropped by their record label. That year, the director and actor
Sylvester Stallone enlisted them to write a song for his film
Rocky III, after
Queen denied him permission to use "
Another One Bites the Dust". Stallone asked for "something street" He sent them a copy of the
montage used in the film's introduction, depicting the boxer
Rocky Balboa and the ascent of his rival,
Clubber Lang. They conceived a riff based on chord changes to mirror the timing of punches. Survivor initially planned to title the song "Survival", and had the chorus: "Rising up to the spirit of our rival / And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night /
And it all comes down to survival", with "survival" rhyming with "rival". They changed it as they felt the "eye of the tiger" hook was stronger and did not have to rhyme perfectly. Survivor recorded a
demo at the
Chicago Recording Company on February 1, 1982. Sullivan was so destitute that he used a guitar with a broken headstock he had glued back together. The band attempted to capture a drum sound similar to that of the
Led Zeppelin drummer,
John Bonham. Stallone loved the demo and insisted on using it in the film. Survivor rerecorded it for the album and single releases. == Release ==