Survivor

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Survivor was an American rock band, formed in Chicago in 1978 by Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan. Peterik had previously played in The Ides of March and found the band name in a lyric on the sleeve of his own solo album. The singer Dave Bickler, who also worked as a jingle writer in Chicago, completed the first line-up. The album Survivor came out at the end of 1979 on the Scotti Bros. label and did not yet produce a big hit.

Music and breakthrough

With Premonition (1981) the band got going better, with Poor Man's Son as its first hit in the American Top 40. The breakthrough followed in 1982, when Sylvester Stallone asked the band to make the title song for the film Rocky III. That became Eye of the Tiger, which spent six weeks at number one in the United States. The album of the same name came out that same year. After Caught in the Game (1983), Bickler left the band because of a voice problem, and Jimi Jamison took his place. With him came Vital Signs (1984) and When Seconds Count (1986), with hits such as High on You and The Search Is Over. In 1988 the band went on hiatus. Later Survivor returned in changing line-ups, and in 2006 Reach appeared.

Influence

The music is melodic, polished arena rock with guitars, synthesizers and vocals that are easy to sing along to. Survivor became a model of the American radio rock sound of the 1980s, and Eye of the Tiger remained a fixture in sport and film.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1979Survivor
• 1981Premonition
• 1982Eye of the Tiger
• 1983Caught in the Game
• 1984Vital Signs
• 1986When Seconds Count
• 1988Too Hot to Sleep
• 1998Prime Cuts
• 2006Reach