Europe - Did You Know?
March 13, 2018Music facts, music trivia, interesting stories and much more. Introducing the "Did You Know" page about German synthpop/new wave band, Alphaville.
Enjoy!
Europe is a Swedish rock band that was formed in 1979 by Joey Tempest (vocals), John Norum (guitar), Peter Olsson (bass), and Tony Reno (drums).
Europe got their major breakthrough in 1982 in Sweden in 1982 when they won the televised competition "Rock-SM" (Swedish Rock Championships). It was the first time that such a competition took place, and Europe became a big success due to their win.
Since the formation of the band, Europe has released 11 studio albums, 3 live albums, 3 compilations and 19 music videos.
Their music is mostly influenced by bands and acts like: Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Led Zeppelin, Rainbow, Thin Lizzy, Michael Schenker Group, and UFO.
Europe achieved international success and fame in the 1980s with their third album, The Final Countdown from 1986, which has sold more than 3 million copies in the US and 15 million copies all over the world (including album and single). Overall, Europe have sold more than 25 million records all over the world.
Even if you're not familiar with Europe, you definitely know one of their most successful and known songs, "The Final Countdown" and this song has an interesting fact and story to it.
It seems that the iconic keyboard riff on the song "The Final Countdown," was composed by Joey Tempest 5 years before the song was even recorded. The keyboard player of the band, Mic Michaeli, had lent him the instrument.
The lyrics of the song are both apocalyptic and optimistic, describing a trip into space, heading for Venus, and leaving Earth behind.
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The vocalist of Europe, Joey Tempest, and the keyboardist, Mic Michaeli both wrote the song "Carrie" in 1985. In 2015, Joey Tempest said that back then they were all young and in the state of the normal breaking up and finding a new girlfriend.
The inspiration to the song was a general one, and so Carrie is not actually a real person. The song was the band's third of four top 40 entries on the US Hot 100, and was Europe's most successful song across the Atlantic, peaking at No.3.
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In the video version of the song "The Final Countdown" by Europe, the vocals don't come in until 1:20. Whey they do, it's when Tempest vocalizing "Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh."
At this point in the video, there is a close-up shot of Tempest singing it. However, extended "oohs" don't look very rock and roll on camera, that is because you have to parse your lips and sing softly.
Tempest hated this shot in the video, and told director Nick Morris that it was "too girly." The record company loved it though, and so it stayed on the clip.
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The song "Cherokee" by Europe is a hymn to the suffering of the Cherokee nation.
Joey Tempest, the lead singer of the band, wrote this song after browsing through a book on the subject that belonged to the wife of the band's producer, Kevin Elson.
Europe found themselves in need of one more song to complete the album, so Tempest played what he had of the song to the other band members, and they decided to give it a go.
The song "Cherokee" ended up being the fourth single from the album.
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