#TIL: “Eye of the Tiger” was featured in Rocky III Due To Copyright Issues

by Sean Smith

This week we learned of the sad news that Jimi Jamison, the front-man for the rock band Survivor died of a heart attack at his home in Memphis, Tenn., at the age of 63. Jamison joined Survivor in the mid 1980s and is remembered largely for his hand in crafting the movie soundtrack hits “Burning Heart” from Rocky IV and “The Moment of Truth” from The Karate Kid.

Of course the band Survivor is most notably known for crafting the anthem “Eye of the Tiger” for Rocky III, although Jamison was not member of the band at that time. However, I thought I would take this time to share some interesting information about why “Eye of the Tiger” was featured on the Rocky III soundtrack in the first place. In an interview with the website Songfacts.com, Survivor band member Jim Peterik said that they were asked to record a song for the film by Sylvester Stallone. And when they got the rough cut of the film the place where “Eye of the Tiger” appears was originally cut to Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust”. He recalls watching the training montage set to the Queen song and saying, “Holy crap this is working like a charm.” Peterik goes on to say that he called Stallone to inquire why they weren’t using Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” in the final cut and Stallone said that they couldn’t because they could not get the publishing rights to use it. Survivor went on to record a classic anthem in “Eye of the Tiger”, but it may not have ever been heard by any of us if Stallone was able to attain the publishing rights to Queen’s”Another One Bites the Dust”.

Survivor 

“Eye Of The Tiger”

From Rocky III Soundtrack

Liberty Records/EMI

Queen

“Another One Bites The Dust”

From The Game

Elektra/EMI

Survivor 

“Burning Heart”

From Rocky IV Soundtrack

Scotti Bros. Records

 Survivor 

“The Moment Of Truth” 

From The Karate Kid (1984) Soundtrack

Casablanca Records