Iron Maiden, ‘Starblind’ vs. Europe, ‘The Final Countdown': Rock Star Wars

Europe's "The Final Countdown" has been given a second life by this year's Geico commercial – but is it strong enough to take down Iron Maiden's "Starblind" in the first round of our Rock Star Wars battle?

To try and fill our days between now and the arrival of the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie, we’ve tracked down 32 space-themed classic rock songs and paired them off against each other in 16 first-round battles. The field will be halved every week based on your votes, until only the spaciest song in rock history remains standing.

Despite the fact that they've released 10 studio albums over their career, "The Final Countdown" is, of course, the song for which the Swedish rock band Europe is best known. It was a No. 1 hit across the globe back in 1986, and remains part of the public consciousness via repeated airings on the radio and at sporting events.

Iron Maiden's "Starblind" is much younger, having debuted on the band's 2010 The Final Frontier album. It's a typically dynamic, epic latter-day Maiden track, with Bruce Dickinson inhabiting the role of a weary space voyager who seems to be contemplating both the end of his life and the impermanence of the universe as a whole.

So, which of these songs will emerge victorious from this round? It’s your choice. You can listen to both tracks below, and vote once per hour in each of the this round's Rock Star Wars battles until polls close on Nov. 23 at 11:59PM ET. Your choice for our Rock Star Wars champion will be revealed on Dec. 22, 2015.

Watch Europe Perform 'The Final Countdown'

Listen to Iron Maiden Perform 'Starblind'

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