The Moment of Truth (song)
song performed by Survivor
"The Moment of Truth" is a song recorded by the rock band Survivor. It was the first hit single with their new lead singer Jimi Jamison, originally from Cobra, who replaced Dave Bickler. After making the No. 1 hit "Eye of the Tiger" for Rocky III, the band was asked to perform a composed song for the 1984 film The Karate Kid. The song reached No. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 7, 1984, and stayed on the chart for seven weeks. It was later re-issued on the Vital Signs album in 2009 by Rock Candy.
Critical reception
In a September 1984 review, Vici MacDonald of Smash Hits called the song a "horrible example of American pomp-rock."
Music video
The music video shows the band performing in a Japanese-style park with mixed scenes from the movie. The song was written by Bill Conti, Dennis Lambert, and Peter Beckett, and was published by Karussell Label.
Charts
Cover versions
Mari Hamada covered the song for her 1985 album Rainbow Dream.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Moment of Truth (song)” as song performed by Survivor. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as song performed by Survivor. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q60762455. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1984, 2009 and 1985.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Moment of Truth (song)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Moment of Truth (song) primary sources, The Moment of Truth (song) archive and Moment research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Moment of Truth (song)”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Moment of Truth (song)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.