The birth and agonising death of 'The Final Countdown'

I don't know if you've seen this astonishing video of some band warming up at some festival playing a cover of Europe's 'The Final Coundown'. There are numerous great things about it, like the moment when a roadie wearing hot pink short shorts wanders onto the stage, checks that the sound coming out of the speakers really is that bad, and wanders off. It's particularly special for a synth geek, as it contains perhaps the most powerful synthesizer lead sound ever recorded. For more on 'The Final Countdown', I'd highly recommend this Dutch rockumentary, telling the story of the track, from Joey Tempest's parent's house in Stockholm to their dismay at the arrival of the grunge scene. It contains many delicious Spinal Tap moments. (See also Part 2 and Part 3)(Thanks Alan)

Posted by Tom Whitwell.

Comments:

The Guitar/Keyboard solos are pure GOLD!

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:24 am

So is vitamin enriched urine.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:32 am

Wow, no two members in the band were playing in the same key...

# posted by

Anonymous : 2:37 am

This is no trick, Michael....

It's an ILLUSION!

# posted by

Anonymous : 6:04 am

Okay, they're bad, I get it, but wow - those vocals really take the cake. Wow.

# posted by

Anonymous : 6:59 am

Man, that ended on a real downer note. It looked like a happy ending, what with playing a reunion show for the millenium or whatever, but then it has the guy playing it all somber on piano. Then it talks about each member, and they are just standing there, looking sad. Made me kinda depressed....

# posted by

Anonymous : 11:12 am

And there's never a firing squad around when you need it most.

# posted by

Zingus J. Rinkle : 4:45 pm

WOW.
The question is, who is the worst? The
Keyboardist with that 'pure' tone is my fave.

# posted by

Luke Oram : 5:09 pm

Thanks!!!

# posted by

Rafa Gil : 5:15 pm

ah, I'm replacing my Arrested Dev-influenced ringtone with this version... I kept waiting for Gob and his Segway to float by (hrm... After Effects anyone?)

genius. The doc's great as well.

# posted by

Anonymous : 5:46 pm

I had the honor of finding this video at random one day, and it became an inside joke all last semester.

I actually enjoy their version better than Europe's... ('the final countdown final countdown... ooooOooOOOoooO') so bad!

# posted by

Chris : 7:19 pm

those vox - whoa

nice stage presence too, mr. front man

that guitar solo reminds me of greg ginn/early black flag circa 84-ish

(i thought this tune was just the opening riff for the NFL shows on TV here in the states - now i cant unknow the horrible truth)

# posted by

Awakened Yeti : 9:40 pm

Does anyone know what the synth playing the Final Countdown riff on the original version is?

# posted by

Anonymous : 10:28 pm

Roland JX8p it is shown in the part II of the rockumentary.

# posted by

Anonymous : 10:40 pm

The keyboard that the coverband uses sounds alot like my Casio MT18.

# posted by

Anonymous : 10:42 pm

If you go by the number of comments, these guys get more of a reaction than Brian Eno.

# posted by

Anonymous : 11:43 pm

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Top!!

# posted by

london cokehead : 11:50 pm

They all wear baseball hats and black tshirts!

# posted by

Anonymous : 4:39 am

Hmm. It's odd, but it sounds better backwards.

# posted by

Doktor Future : 4:58 am

everything sounds better backwards.

# posted by

Anonymous : 11:57 am

Credit is due to my old supervisor, Mark, at the county btw.

-Alan

"It's part of a trilogy, a musical trilogy I'm working on in D minor which is the saddest of all keys, I find....It's like a Mach piece, really."

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:00 pm

D minor... it makes people weep instantly

# posted by

Anonymous : 2:15 pm

Here's Europe's version on youtube...sounds mostly the same :D

# posted by

Anonymous : 2:24 pm

Wow. That singer is so terrible. He makes William Hung from American idol sound like an amazing singer!

# posted by

Anonymous : 2:24 pm

The groupie does not simply check the sound from the monitor, he listens to the guitar and then dead-pan re-tunes one of the strings of the guitar player whil ethe guy's playing :-)

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:41 am

A very obscure modal harmony being attempted by the singer!!!!!

# posted by

Anonymous : 6:14 am

My Band can play a million times better than them. they suck

# posted by

Anonymous : 8:34 am