Songs I Can't Stand #7 - "The Final Countdown"

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Time to take on the metal crowd with #7 in my Songs I Can't Stand series, and that distinction belongs to "The Final Countdown" by Europe. Swedish have heavy metal band Europe formed in Stockholm in 1979, and after a couple hiatuses, are still at it. They have placed two albums into the Top 20 on the Billboard 200, and two singles into the Top 10 on that magazine's Hot 100 chart. All told, they have sold over 23 million records worldwide, and they have even appeared in a GEICO commercial! (Fun Fact: Vocalist Joey Tempest wrote the song "Give a Helping Hand" for the Swedish Metal Aid charity project.) "The Final Countdown" is the title track from the band's 1986 triple platinum album (US, gold or better in eight other countries.) The song reached #1 in 25 countries, and reached #8 on the Hot 100. It is regularly played at sports stadiums to fire up the crowd during close games. However. I have never been of the mindset that keyboards have no place in heavy metal. They do, but NOT as the main instrument. This thing is so keyboard heavy that they may have well left their guitars at home. It just leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Here's all you have to know: the band itself did not want to release the song as a single. In his heavy metal primer Hell Bent for Leather: Confessions of a Heavy Metal Addict, author Seb Hunter routinely bashes the hell out of Europe because of the whole keyboard thing. Blender Magazine ranked "The Final Countdown" as the 27th worst song of all time. Yet, the people in 25 countries can't be wrong, can they? Turns out, they can. (Info verified by Wikipedia)