In the 32 years since Europe released their breakthrough hit single The Final Countdown, the Swedish quintet have only once dared not to play it live.
The gods of rock'n'roll were not pleased.
Europe's Joey Tempest and John Norum placate the gods of rock'n'roll.
"We were going to play Download Festival [in Britain] six or seven years ago, the biggest festival in Europe, and on the way there we thought, let's not play the song," chuckles frontman Joey Tempest.
"This will get a reaction! We're going to get the biggest boo, maybe! But there was trouble on the roads, there was rain, and we missed our show by 10 minutes. So we saw it as an omen – maybe we shouldn't discuss dropping the song again."
Europe have released eight albums since The Final Countdown made them a household name – mind you, naming themselves after a continent had already done half the job – with their latest, last year's Walk The Earth, winning a Swedish Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Metal album.
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Yet the 1986 single remains their calling card, reaching No. 1 in 25 countries and delivering the wild success they'd been working towards since forming in the Swedish town of Upplands Vasby in 1979.
"It was a moment when you're one of the biggest bands in the world," recalls Tempest, 54, his accent a mix of clipped Swedish and well-spoken English.
"You go on private jets and stay in the best hotels, you have security guards. I remember we were No. 1 [in Britain], we were on Top Of The Pops, and the band that were No. 7 were also playing: Bon Jovi, with Livin' On A Prayer. Bjorn and Benny [from ABBA] came to see us in the hotel afterwards. That was huge."
On that era Europe garnered as much attention for their pretty boy looks and ozone-depleting use of hairspray as they did their music, which was at that point a highly-stylised melange of pop-rock and soft-metal.
"I always wanted to look like [Led Zeppelin singer] Robert Plant," says Tempest. "He was my big hero since I was a kid. But that was the MTV era, we were caught up in a movement. It was an interesting era. It's never going to happen again."
Though the group avoided falling victim to the chemical excesses that so often accompany success ("We were more a beer-drinking band"), they couldn't stem the changing musical tides.
When grunge hit in the early-1990s it signalled a good time for Europe to bow out.
"When we went to New York to [our label] Epic Records, we realised Pearl Jam was on their desk," says Tempest. "They were so hungry to find more Seattle bands and sign more bands like that.
"I felt like I wanted to do a solo album and learn more about songwriting, and the other guys were like, 'We've been on the road for 10 years, let's take a break'.
"It was simple things like, I don't even know how to run a dishwasher. Some of the guys were like, 'How do you live a normal life?"
In 1992, a year after the release of fifth album Prisoners In Paradise, Europe went into hiatus.
Tempest released three solo albums, 1995's A Place To Call Home, 1997's Azalea Place and 2002's self-titled effort, but by the early 2000s talk of a reunion was in the air.
They signalled their return with 2004's Start From The Dark, a raw, heavy album that owed more to their Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin-loving roots than the pop-metal that brought them success.
It's a path they've pursued on subsequent records, unexpectedly working with producers such as Dave Cobb (best known for teaming up with alt-country artists such as Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson) on 2015's War Of Kings and 2017's Walk The Earth.
"There are lots of bands now that are doing similar albums to what they did back then, and we couldn't simply do that," says Tempest.
"There's room for nostalgia in a concert, I think it's great to bring out some of the big guns, but in the studio we don't find room for it. We want to move and dig deeper, find the expression in rock'n'roll rather than overwork and over-produce it."
That mix of nostalgia and new material will be on display this month, when Europe embark on their first tour of Australia.
"Apparently there was a tour booked in '88 or something, but for some reason it got cancelled," says Tempest. "So it's long overdue.
"Coming to Australia, [the set] will have four or five new songs, and some from the other new albums, but there will be some old songs, because the fans haven't seen those [live]. It will be 50-50 from the new era and the old era."
The gods of rock'n'roll will be watching.
Europe play the Palais Theatre, Melbourne, May 19; the Enmore Theatre, Sydney, May 22; and the Tivoli, Brisbane, May 23.
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