EUROPE's JOEY TEMPEST On Being Considered One-Hit Wonder For 'The Final Countdown': 'We're Okay With It'

During an appearance on today's (Friday, June 30) episode of the BBC television breakfast news program "BBC Breakfast", vocalist Joey Tempest of Swedish hard rock veterans EUROPE was asked how he feels about sometimes being considered a one-hit wonder for "The Final Countdown", which has proven to be a far more enduring song than any of the band's other tracks. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We've gone through such a long journey together. Original bandmembers since the '80s, and we've done eleven albums. And we feel like we're doing better now on the circuit, on the rock circuit, and we're very accepted. So we don't really think about that. But that song did have a crossover thing; it came into the pop world, whereas [we were] a rock band. So, it's kind of… Yeah… We're okay with it."

A year ago, EUROPE's music video for "The Final Countdown" surpassed one billion views on YouTube. The Nick Morris-directed clip, which was uploaded to YouTube in October 2009, contains footage from two concerts EUROPE played at Solnahallen in Solna, Sweden on May 26 and May 27, 1986, as well as some extra footage filmed at the soundchecks for those gigs.

"The Final Countdown" was the first single released from EUROPE's third studio album, "The Final Countdown", in 1986. The band's most recognizable and popular song, it reached No. 1 in 25 countries, including the United Kingdom. In the United States the song peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 18 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The single was certified gold in the United Kingdom in 1986.

Five years ago, Tempest was asked by Australia's Wall Of Sound if he knew "The Final Countdown" would be a smash when he was writing it and recording it. He responded: "It is a good question. I did the demo at home with this song and we had the ideas for it for so long. It was a one-minute demo since high school for me. On the third album, we decided to record the song and we were talking about writing around this main keyboard riff. Initially, it was really a soundtrack-type song and not a hit single, and I guess this was good for it. I remember playing the demo for the guys and they really saw the song so strong and it built from there. [But] no, we never knew that this was going to be such a big hit. We opened the album and the tour with this song, but we really thought this was not the one to be the initial single."

According to Tempest, "The Final Countdown" still stands as "one of our strongest albums and it was one of the albums that stands out; it opened up a lot of doors for the band. You know, 'Wings Of Tomorrow' was a little more naïve and stronger in that regard. But personally, I think we have done better albums, especially in the last [few] years. The three last albums are our strongest, but obviously it was something that belonged in that era and something so important to our career and history."

EUROPE's latest album, "Walk The Earth", was released in October 2017 via the band's own Hell & Back label through Silver Lining Music.