29 November 1986
Correct me if I’m doing you wrong, but I doubt any of us listen to ‘The Final Countdown’ for the crafted verses or insightful lyrics. No sirree, we’re all here for that humungous synth riff, a signal to unleash good-natured headbanging and devil-horns hand gestures.
That ‘we’ probably includes the band, by the way: everything in this song is built to fit around that riff and show it off to its best advantage. Even the title lyric is carefully squeezed into the chorus so as not to obscure it. The verses about “heading for Veee-NUS!” and the legally-required widdly guitar solo are perfectly serviceable froth, a nice bit of fun to see us through to that riff again. No pretensions, no ideas above their station: Europe and ‘The Final Countdown’ are just here to rock us and entertain us, and they do a good job of it too. Imagine if their near-soundalikes Queen and Bon Jovi were this enjoyable.
