Retro Video of the Week: "Rock The Night" by Europe

Today is the 35th anniversary of the release of Swedish rockers' Europe's third album, The Final Countdown.  This album and its title track were what broke Europe into mainstream success.  The album was a worldwide hit.  In the U.S., it went to #8 on the Billboard album chart and eventually went triple platinum.  Elsewhere, it went to #1 on the album charts in Finland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, as well as the Top 10 on the album charts in nine other countries.

The album spawned four songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100.  The power ballad "Carrie" went to #3, the title track went to #8, "Rock The Night" went to #30, and "Cherokee" went to #72.  While I like all of those four songs, "Rock The Night" is my favorite of the bunch, so I'm going with that video for this week's Retro Video of the Week.

The song was actually originally released the year before and appeared on the soundtrack to a Swedish movie, but then it was re-recorded for The Final Countdown.  In addition to reaching #30 on the Billboard Hot 100, it was a big hit in -- wait for it -- Europe, where it went to #12 on the UK pop chart and the Top 10 on the pop charts in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

There were two videos made for the song.  The original video was for the 1985 version and it relates to the aforementioned Swedish film in which it appeared, and the more famous MTV version was released for the 1986 version, featuring the band rocking the night in a Hard Rock Cafe, which is just want hair bands did back in the '80s.