11 September 1982
Anyone who’s a member of a sports club has probably been asked to fill out a Q&A or profile for the club website or newsletter, a get-to-know-your-teammates sort of thing. One of the standard questions is along the lines of ‘What music do you listen to for motivation?’ — the expectation being that you need something intense and pounding to work yourself into a frenzy, and with literal lyrics about performing and winning; ‘Lose Yourself’ by Eminem, or this song. Seeing as you asked, I don’t have one. I’m usually keyed up enough before a race anyway, and I’m not aware of any pertinent track by The Ronettes, T. Rex or Prince about hitting your split times and keeping your eyes on the singlet in front of you.
‘Eye Of The Tiger’ only exists for us because of the Rocky films, and as an anthem for one meat-headed lummox thumping another it certainly fulfils the brief. It’s hard to dislike it, because it’s daft and ridiculous instead of dumb and menacing. There’s a bit between the two parts of the first verse where the drummer needs to put in a brief fill, but because the whole rhythm of the song is a lumbering dum-dum-dum lock-step he can only manage an awkward clatter; a round-the-houses full kit roll would have broken the mood and sounded positively baroque.
Still, all involved certainly gave it 110% and were rewarded by going through to the following Rocky film. I’ve really given ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ far more thought here than it ever needs.
