How the Band Europe Turned a Keyboard Riff Into Glam Metal Gold

It was no easy trick to get a leg up in the crowded glam metal scene in the late 80s. A couple of albums into their career, the Swedish band Europe decided that a synthesizer fanfare for the ages would be their calling card.

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That opening synth flourish adorned the band’s “The Final Countdown”. It led to a worldwide hit that’s enjoyed an impressive shelf life, in large part due to that unforgettable keyboard riff.

Swedes with Swagger

Their original band name was Force when they got together at the end of the 70s. The Swedish band changed their name to Europe and released their first album in 1983, followed by another the next year. Those records gained traction in their native country but didn’t do much on the worldwide scene.

Once they secured an international contract for their third release, their prospects brightened. But what would they choose as the lead single from this all-important project? They went back to something that had been circulating within the band for several years.

Before Europe had even released their first album, lead singer Joey Tempest had borrowed a keyboard from another band member. He wrote a little piece, not more than a minute, that he thought might be useful as an intro for the band’s live performance. It transformed into much more than that.

Going “Final”

As the band began gathering material for their third album, Europe bassist John Leven suggested to Tempest that he might want to finish writing a complete song based on that old keyboard intro. Tempest obliged and fleshed out “The Final Countdown”, coming up with lyrics that had a bit of a sci-fi bent.

Not everyone in the band loved the idea of using that riff to start the band’s lead single off the album. Guitarist John Norum played a searing solo on the track. But he left the band not long after in protest of what he thought was a move towards pop.

Nonetheless, “The Final Countdown” couldn’t help but grab attention on the radio, which was very receptive to the so-called hair metal bands of that era. The song wound up at No. 8 on the American charts. Amazingly, the band did even better than that, at least chart-wise, further on down the album cycle with the power ballad “Carrie”.

Behind the Lyrics of “The Final Countdown”

The title of “The Final Countdown” resonated in a time period where concerns about nuclear war were rampant. In his lyrics, Tempest focuses on space travel, hinting that it might be the only choice for survival. “We’re leaving together,” he sings at the beginning of the song. “But still, it’s farewell.”

He leaves open the possibility of one day returning to Earth from their new destination on Venus. But the final line of the second verse leaves things on an ominous note: “I’m sure that we’ll all miss her so.”

Give credit to Tempest for writing a song that cashes in on the drama promised by the intro. In the meantime, numerous television shows, movies, and commercials have made excellent use of the high-drama opening to the track, thus ensuring the ongoing pop-culture prominence of Europe’s “The Final Countdown”.

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