Rocky IV (soundtrack)

Rocky IV
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released	November 27, 1985 2006 (remaster) 2010 (Intrada)
Genre	Rock, pop rock, hard rock
Length	39:24
Label	Scotti Bros. 72392-75240 Volcano (2006 remaster) Intrada (2010)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Rocky IV is the original motion picture soundtrack to the movie of the same name. It was originally released in 1985 on the Scotti Brothers label.^[2] Scotti Brothers re-released the album on compact disc on March 10, 1992 ^[3]. In 2010 Intrada Records released the original score by Vince DiCola, which were not available before.

The soundtrack was hugely successful on the strength of two top-five singles, Survivor's "Burning Heart" (which Sylvester Stallone personally commissioned for the movie and reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100)^[4] and James Brown's "Living in America", as well as Robert Tepper's lone top-40 hit, "No Easy Way Out". It reached the top ten on the Billboard 200 album chart^[5] and was certified Platinum by the RIAA^[6].

It is the only score to a Rocky film not composed by Bill Conti, but does feature some music he composed for the first film.

The album is often played in gyms and used by people for motivation when working out due to its high intensity rhythm and synthesizers and heroic lyrics. In the film an extensive part of the soundtrack is part of the training, with one track simply named "Training Montage".^[7] A number of the tracks on the album, particularly Eye of the Tiger, Burning Heart and Training Montage have been cited amongst many people's top 10 "work out tracks".^[8]

Track listing

1. "Burning Heart" - Survivor
2. "Heart's On Fire" - John Cafferty
3. "Double or Nothing" - Kenny Loggins & Gladys Knight
4. "Eye of the Tiger" - Survivor
5. "War/Fanfare From Rocky" - Vince DiCola
6. "Living in America" - James Brown
7. "No Easy Way Out" - Robert Tepper
8. "One Way Street" - Go West
9. "The Sweetest Victory" - Touch
10. "Training Montage" - Vince DiCola
11. "Man Against the World" - Survivor (2006 Bonus Track)

The 2006 reissue, remastered by BMG, featured the bonus track "Man Against the World" by Survivor, a song written for but cut from the movie ^[9]. This release also used a different mix of the song "The Sweetest Victory".

In 2010 Intrada released the previously unavailable Vince DiCola tracks.

The Vince DiCola instrumental "Farewell" was the B-Side of the A-Side single of "Living in America" in the US and UK and is featured on some foreign pressings of the soundtrack.

The Finnish symphonic metal band Northern Kings covered "Training Montage" on their 2008 album Rethroned.

The Welsh metalcore band Bullet for My Valentine covered "No Easy Way Out" as a bonus track on their 2008 second studio album Scream Aim Fire.

The Vince DiCola track "War" would gain frequent use during National Football League telecasts during the 1980s and early 1990s. CBS Sports would often use the track in segments of their introductions discussing the San Francisco 49ers, while NBC would often feature the track in a similar manner for the play-by-play man to set up the action.

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ "Yahoo! Shopping". http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Rocky%20IV:1921091441. 
3. ^ "Amazon.com". http://www.amazon.com/Rocky-IV-Original-Picture-Soundtrack/dp/B00000I01A. 
4. ^ "Burning Heart By Survivor Songfacts". http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3939. 
5. ^ The Billboard 200 Chart Listing For The Week Of Feb 22 1986
6. ^ RIAA Gold and Platinum Searchable Database
7. ^ Tasker, Yvonne (1993). Spectacular Bodies: Gender,Genre, and the Action Cinema. Routledge. ISBN 0415092248. 
8. ^ Mens Health
9. ^ "Amazon.com". http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E6FSPW.