1982 No. 1 Rock Classic Lost the Oscar for 'Best Original Song' 43 Years Ago
After its appearance in the 1982 film Rocky III, "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor has remained one of the most iconic songs in cinematic history.
The rock classic, written for the movie, snagged an Oscar nomination for "Best Original Song" at the 1983 Academy Awards, per The Saturday Evening Post. However, Survivor's hit lost out to "Up Where We Belong" by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes from the movie, An Officer and a Gentleman, as reported by the publication.
While "Eye of the Tiger" lost the big award, the rock song did secure the top spot on Billboard's Hot 100 in July 1982.
Survivor's Jim Peterik Shared Details About Writing the Song for 'Rocky III'
In a 2017 interview for Top 2000 a gogo, Survivor's keyboardist and songwriter, Jim Peterik, shared how the band's 1982 hit song came to be. According to Peterik, Sylvester Stallone, the star and writer of the Rocky franchise, approached the band to write a song to be featured in Rocky III. Stallone explained that he wantedQueen's 1980 song, "Another One Bites the Dust," to be in the film, but the British band refused to give him the publishing rights.
Peterik said he and Survivor's guitarist Frankie Sullivan watched a Rocky III scene and eventually came up with "Eye of the Tiger." Peterik said that Stallone enjoyed the end product.
"Stallone he calls us, 'You guys really did it. You really did it, man,'" said the musician, now 75.
In addition, Peterik said he appreciates how much the 1982 song still means to fans.
"What amazes me and it's still inspiring people to go beyond what they thought they could do. I talked to cancer patients, it got them through chemo. I talked to company presidents, that got them to the top of the ladder. Sports music, they got the 'Eye of the Tiger' and it's the best reward I could ever get as a songwriter, is hearing those stories from people. I'm just very thrilled," said Peterik in the 2017 interview.
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This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 4:58 PM.