Songs of the Day: Survivor

Best known for their contributions to the soundtracks to the "Rocky" series, Chicago rockers Survivor were actually born from the ashes of another Chicago rock group, the Ides of March.

Ides of March leader Jim Peterik met guitarist Frankie Sullivan and singer Dave Bickle while working on a solo album.  They decided to form a band and, with a drummer and bassist, became "Survivor".  After hitting it big with "Eye of the Tiger" and touring almost non-stop, Bickle developed throat problems and dropped out of the band.  He later became the singer in the Bud Light "Real Men of Genius" commercials.

Survivor, uh, survived with a new singer, Jimi Jamison.  Jamison was one of those singers with naturally clear and powerful voice.  He could have sang the phone book and killed.  Although their material with Jamison became more and more like mainstream pop toward the end of the 80's, it is still some of their best stuff.  Peterik plays a few of them to this day in his live shows with the reconstituted Ides of March.

"Is This Love"


"I Can't Hold Back"


"High On You"


Bonus


Here are Jim Peterik (and friends) performing "Eye of the Tiger" live and acoustic in Valparaiso Indiana, 2007