Greater music contribution from the Rocky series to pop culture: Gonna Fly Now vs. Eye of the Tiger

gotta go with Bill. his original soundtrack on that first couple of films was genuinely fantastic i think.

i mean come on. get your hankies out..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C--7WX-9_Xk

I have mad love for Eye of the Tiger, but when the chorus on Gonna Fly Now comes in, I elevate to another plane of joy.

There's something really poignant to me about the way Survivor's speccy keyboard player tries and fails to pull off the tough guy look in the Eye of the Tiger video, but I'd still have to go with Gonna Fly Now.

"Vigil" is stunning.

voted "gonna fly now", the song sounds like the title

Bill Conti. Although the Survivor song has gone on to become a pop culture staple.

Srs question because I am old and out of touch: if you sing the opening bars of "Gonna Fly Now" to someone in their teens/early 20s, will they get the reference, or at least get that it is a song that denotes perseverance in the face of great adversity?

That's a good q. I don't know anyone that young except a guy here at work who's already left for the day.

I feel like the answer to this question rests on this information. I'm guessing that people in that age group would get "Eye of the Tiger" but maybe because it's been referenced in other things that are more contemporary?

I'm afraid if I keep talking about this, I'm going to sound like the interior flap of the free book covers my high school gave out that listed ten criteria for "Real Teens" and was stuff like, "Meets friends at the malt shop to talk about boys and not behind the bowling alley to shoot up heroin!"

In other words, I don't know anybody in that age group either unless you count "sometimes gawks uncomprehendingly at Tumblr" as "knowing."

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jesus christ on a creeping cross: I hadn't heard all of "Gonna Fly Now" in a dog's age: the orchestration! the synth swells! the modulations! the authority of the rhythm section! it is true that younger folks have likely had greater exposure to "EotT," w/r/t to 80s nostalgia.

you know what? you could do a poll of, like, 80's successors to the Conti theme and the Survivor tune w/r/t to themes of perseverance in Stallone movies and maybe other action films of the day …like Hagar's "winner takes it all", or Robert Tepper's "No Easy Way out"…

or of course the below, Survivor's attempt to give Jimi Jamison his own "eye of the tiger"…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc71KZG87X4

Survivor songs are the best karaoke songs but voted Gonna Fly Now because it is transcendent.
And Carl, I'm gonna say no.

I went to see Rocky III in the movie theater with my grandfather and when it was over and I asked him how he liked it, he said, "It was good, but there was too much rock and roll in it."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzDDJm27vmc

in the summer of '82, my friend michael had a radio on the handlebars of his bike (cool), and we would listen while riding, sometimes just hang around his bike in the driveway. "eye of the tiger" came on one afternoon, shortly after we'd seen the film. from the first notes, we became simultaneously, telepathically aware that we had to jump on our bikes and pedal as fast as we fucking could, race through the neighborhood flat out until the song was over, at which point whoever was in the lead would have won. this remains one of the most triumphant feelings i've ever experienced. so survivor, by at least three schwinn-lengths.

rocky and adrian's first date is the greatest contribution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmyc_clvhSc

also my real vote goes to "training montage"

in the summer of '82, my friend michael had a radio on the handlebars of his bike (cool)

I love everything about this.

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"There's no easy way out" ftw