Europe was formed in Sweden in the late 1970s and had already released two albums when it achieved worldwide success with "The Final Countdown," still the band's best-known track, from the album of the same name released in 1986.
Joey Tempest , vocalist and founding member, told Loudwire some stories about his experiences with idols ranging from Freddie Mercury to Lemmy Kilmister , during and after the band's peak of fame.
Freddie Mercury annoyed
“I’m afraid we might have annoyed Freddie Mercury,” the singer begins. During the recording of Out of This World , the 1988 album, the band was doing a drum soundcheck with the producer and forgot to close the door properly.
“Suddenly a face appeared, a little red, and announced: ‘You must be joking.’ He said: ‘Your drums are going straight to our mixing console. Could you please keep the volume down?’” he recounted. “Very elegant, very eloquent, but quite annoyed.”
Billy Idol intimidated
At the height of "The Final Countdown's" popularity, even well-known names like Billy Idol were intimidated. The artist was scheduled to perform on the German show shortly after Europe, but changed his mind after seeing the audience's reaction to the opening act.
“We were scheduled to open the show and Billy Idol was supposed to be the second. We did it in rehearsal, but during filming he said, ‘No, I just can’t go on after that song’,” Tempest recalled.
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Kurt Cobain?
Of all the stories, this is the only one whose veracity cannot be verified, but it reached the vocalist's ears that Kurt Cobain had written a phrase about him on the wall of his apartment in Los Angeles. It was 1989 and Europe was in the city to record the album Prisoners In Paradise (1991). The phrase was supposedly "Who the hell is Joey Tempest ?"
"If it's true, it's kind of flattering. And it's very funny that he spent even a second thinking about me," the singer commented.
Mocked by Lemmy
In 1987, members of Europe met Lemmy at his "second home," playing pinball at the Rainbow bar in Los Angeles, and tried to introduce themselves to the Motörhead . "Someone said, 'Hi, we're from the rock band Europe.' Lemmy didn't even look up. He just replied, 'Europe isn't a rock band,'" Tempest recounted. "What a cool response. We were absolutely stunned."
Despite the mockery, everything went well that night, and the Swedes would get their revenge in the following weeks. Kerrang! magazine covered a show by the band on The Final Countdown and defended them. “Let’s get one thing straight: Europe isn’t a pop band, they never were,” wrote journalist Derek Oliver . “Loudder than Motörhead.”
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