During last Friday’s episode of the BBC television broadcast news program called “BBC Breakfast,” Swedish hard rock group Europe’s Joey Tempest was asked how his group felt as being sometimes referred to as a one-hit wonder for their song “The Final Countdown” which held far more cultural impact than any of their other tracks. According to Blabbermouth, he responded by saying: “We’ve gone through such a long journey together. Original bandmembers since the ’80s, and we’ve done eleven albums. And we feel like we’re doing better now on the circuit, on the rock circuit, and we’re very accepted. So we don’t really think about that. But that song did have a crossover thing; it came into the pop world, whereas [we were] a rock band. So, it’s kind of… Yeah… We’re okay with it.”
Europe’s “The Final Countdown” music video, directed by Nick Morris, was uploaded to YouTube in 2009, and a year ago reached one billion views on the platform.
The song was the first single released from Europe’s third studio album of the same name in 1986, and reached No. 1 in 25 countries. In the U.S. the song reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as 18 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart, and the single was certified gold in the UK in 1986.
According to Tempest, The Final Countdown remains “one of our strongest albums and it was one of the albums that stands out; it opened up a lot of doors for the band. You know, Wings Of Tomorrow was a little more naïve and stronger in that regard. But personally, I think we have done better albums, especially in the last [few] years. The three last albums are our strongest, but obviously it was something that belonged in that era and something so important to our career and history.”
Watch the interview clip on YouTube below.
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