by Mark Nobes, chief editor
Released in November 1985, Burning Heart reached #2 in the U.S. and #5 in the UK and featured on the Rocky IV soundtrack. With its Cold War inspired lyrics about the battle between East and West, the song was highly suitable for a movie about a boxing match between Rocky (played by Sylvester Stallone) and Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). The movie was written and directed by Stallone himself.
In the U.S., the single was held off the top spot by Dionne Warwick and Friends with "That's What Friends Are For". The single reached #1 in Switzerland and the top 10 in Ireland and many European countries.
The B-side of both the 7" and 12" singles was "Feels Like Love". The 12" maxi single also included "Eye Of The Tiger".
The video is very much what you would expect from an 80s soundtrack song, with footage of the band on stage mixed with scenes from the movie. However, a different version without the movie footage has been rolled out as the official video by Vevo (which you can watch above), but this isn't the version I remember from the 80s.
The beret-wearing lead singer of the band's most famous song, Dave Bickler, left the band in late 1983 due to polyps on his vocal chords. He was replaced by Jimi Jamison, who sang on "Burning Heart". He also wrote and performed the theme song to the Baywatch TV series "I'm Always There". Jamison sadly died from a hemorrhagic brain stroke on Sept 1st 2014.
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