Survivor (band) - Early Years

Early Years

Founding Survivor members Jim Peterik, Gary Smith and Dennis Keith Johnson initially came together in 1977 as The Jim Peterik Band after Peterik had released an album, Don't Fight the Feeling, on Epic Records the previous year. On the liner notes of the album, Peterik is referred to as a "survivor." Smith and Johnson had both been members of Bill Chase's jazz-rock fusion band Chase, and Peterik had worked with Bill Chase in 1974. Then in 1978, at the urging of tour manager Rick Weigand, Peterik hooked up with Frankie Sullivan, brought in singer Dave Bickler and Survivor was born. Peterik was previously the lead vocalist–guitarist for the band The Ides of March. After playing in small clubs for several years, Survivor was signed by Atlantic Records A&R executive John Kalodner. The group's first album, the self-titled Survivor, was released on the Atlantic subsidiary Scotti Bros. in early 1980, but the album produced no Top 40 singles, and did not achieve the level of success that the band had hoped for.

In 1981 Johnson and Smith had schedule conflicts with their other projects, so they were replaced by Stephan Ellis and Marc Droubay in time for the recording of the band's follow-up album, Premonition. It charted higher, achieving popularity with American audiences and giving the band its first Top 40 single, "Poor Man's Son." The album also showed off Bickler's range as a vocalist with its second single, "Summer Nights."

In 1982 Survivor's breakthrough arrived when actor Sylvester Stallone asked them to provide the theme song for his movie Rocky III. Stallone had heard their single "Poor Man's Son" and wanted a song similar to it. The band agreed to write him a song and soon released "Eye of the Tiger". The new song featured a faster tempo while still incorporating the stylish, nearly identical power chords. It had an enormous impact on the Billboard charts, peaking at #1 and remaining there for a total of six weeks. It also topped the British charts. It was in the Top 40 for a total of 18 weeks and was Australia's #1 single for four weeks. The song won the band a Grammy Award, was voted "Best New Song" by the People's Choice Awards, and also received an Academy Award nomination. The album of the same title, Eye of the Tiger, was released by the band later in 1982 and contained another Top 40 hit in the United States, "American Heartbeat" (#17 US). The album went on to chart at #2 in the United States.

In 1983 Survivor tried to duplicate the success of Eye Of The Tiger with their next release Caught in the Game. The album turned out to be a commercial disappointment, stalling at #82 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. The album's only single, the title track, peaked at #77. The band suffered another setback in late 1983 when lead singer Dave Bickler suffered voice problems and was forced to leave. In early 1984 he was replaced by Jimi Jamison of the bands Target and Cobra.

In 1984 singer–comedian "Weird Al" Yankovic wrote and recorded a parody of "Eye of the Tiger" called: "Theme from Rocky XIII". It appears in his album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D, as well as in Yankovic's compilation, The Food Album (where it was renamed "Theme from Rocky XIII (The Rye or the Kaiser)").