Cover Versions
The song has been covered by various artists; including After Forever, Dannii Minogue, Dispatched, Freezepop, Furillo, Geoff Downes, Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Immolation, Leif Garrett, London Symphony Orchestra, Melo-M, Norther, Gigi D'Agostino, Stone, The Delegates, The Protomen, Toy Dolls, and Vision Divine. Slovenian avant-garde group Laibach made a rework of the song for their NATO album, they also recorded a promo clip. 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. In an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks in 2008, Bill Bailey and his team mate tried to play "Back to Black" by Amy Winehouse to Myleene Klass in the Intros Round, though they deliberately shouted out "It's the final countdown!" in the song to confuse everyone on the show.
On 25 June 2008, Hump Day Dance Party hosts Rev. Flavor and Dr. Drase played two hours of versions of "The Final Countdown" in celebration of their last radio show broadcast on WLUW 88.7 FM Chicago. For the occasion they asked bands to contribute covers of the song. Versions played that night included various 8-bit (music) covers, "The Final Crackdown" by Drop the Lime, a version translated into Polish and done by the group J+J+J, a live beatbox/freestyle rap version with Chicago rapper Sharkula & Yea Big, a cover by the band Dr. Murderer, a freestyle version done by Treasure Mammal live from his car, a version by the band Autumn on Acid, a "sad" banjo version by Rick Franklin, and a re-edit mashup by Greek radio personality Steve Damien. The hosts closed out the show with a live version played in-studio with a 10-person band including members of the Blue Ribbon Glee Club, the Hidden Mitten, and the Maybenauts.
Classic Rock 101 released a parody titled The Financial Meltdown, based on the 2008 financial crisis as part of their Twisted Tunes, which is played every day to reflect current issues.
British band Eskimo Disco recorded a cover used in the 2009 film Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel.
A cover by a band called Deep Sunshine has brought an additional notoriety to the song : Deep Sunshine's live performance was captured on video and later became a variation of a Rickroll on Fark.com, receiving over 1 million views on YouTube. The video has been entitled "Worst cover ever" on YouTube, its success stemming for its lack of artistic value.
The song is included in Rock of Ages, a Broadway musical which pays homage to 1980s rock music.
The Gadget Show's Ortis Deley sung it as his competition entry in the 2011 Gadget Show Live convention.
Read more about this topic: The Final Countdown (song)
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