(Credits: Far Out / Israel Palacio / Alexandr Sadkov)
Sun 7 December 2025 14:30, UK
The 1980s were, without a doubt, one of the best decades in music history. 1982, especially, seemed to birth some of our favourite all-time classics, sparking a major turning point in modern rock with entries that were often as innovative as they were goddamn flamboyant and risqué.
Across mainstream spaces, including the charts, it seemed there was space for everybody – from the more traditional or nostalgic to new wave and disco funk. With MTV still very much in its adolescence, focus on the visual aspect of musical expression was rife, and many, from Michael Jackson to Kiss, were entering its heavy rotation.
MTV was, for all intents and purposes, a place where the strangest, most absurd or far-out ideas could thrive – a literal scheduling slot where people could rally to explore what it meant to express visually and creatively and see what stuck, with visionaries both old and new trying their hand at innovative techniques to get themselves not only heard and seen, but remembered.
With that came a new attitude that saw the more risky or boundary-pushing messages as a necessary and flavoursome venture, where bolder was charming and stepping out of the norm was not only expected, but admired. This was the year that saw some of our greatest players – from Stevie Nicks to Marvin Gaye – really push the boat out in a pool that suddenly got a hell of a lot more competitive than previous years.
Across rock music, things were heating up. There was a divide between those who were trying to reinvent the wheel and those who were looking forward, and those who occupied the sweet spot in the middle, adopting familiar rock ‘n’ roll traits with a taste of something new – like Survivor, whose major hit of the year, ‘Eye of the Tiger’, adopted elements of hard rock with a quintessential disco beat, becoming a new MTV phenomenon and the turning point that saved Survivor from being dropped from their label.
What classic rock song was number one spot the longest in 1982?
The song wasn’t only a hit, it also became one of the most defining tracks of the year, holding the number one spot in the US for six weeks – the longest any classic rock held during the entire year. In the UK, it faired just as impressively, taking the top spot for four consecutive weeks and selling over 900,000 copies.
The song itself went on to accrue a legacy of its own. Even those who haven’t heard anything else that the band put out know of the significance of ‘Eye of the Tiger’, and how it became as much a classic rock staple as a go-to soundtrack for those intense action sequences, whether across high-stakes wrestling matches or epiphanic moments in film or television epics.
This was the attitude they adopted while creating the song after being approached by Sylvester Stallone to come up with something that would accompany the high-energy atmosphere of Rocky III. Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterik wrote the song in keeping with his request for “something street”, mixing different elements to reflect the rhythmic nature of the film’s boxing punches.
Clearly, the innovative mindset worked wonders for Survivor, not only pulling them back from the precipice of damn-near commercial failure but standing out in the overcrowded space that was 1982. Had they not risen up and taken their chances, they likely would have fallen to the sidelines, lost to the loud pool of innovation taking the entire year by storm.
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