The Stroke

Billy Squier · 1981

Signature

91.2 BPM 3:40 Song Form · peaks 0:59 Energy 3 of 5 Bright

key confidence low · relative D minor · tempo confidence medium · double-time 182.4 · low end 15% · measured from the full recording · 2026-09-12 · how accurate

Character

Not tagged yet. The words are proposed and waiting for a person.

Good for

Nothing yet. The rules need the character words above before they can say.

Lineage

Covered[unknown]source
Written byBilly Squier source
CoveredBonfire source
Sampled byEminem, Berzerk source
CoveredEnuff Z’Nuff source
CoveredMr. Bungle source
CoveredMystic Prophecy source
CoveredUdo Dirkschneider source

Why it is here

It was Billy Squier's first single to chart, hitting No. 3 on the Mainstream Rock Top Tracks chart and becoming a much bigger hit on rock radio than on the pop chart. source
Eminem sampled the song on "Berzerk" from his 2013 album The Marshall Mathers LP 2. source
The track inspired Maestro Fresh Wes' 1989 hit "Let Your Backbone Slide." source

The full ledger entry: every chart it has been on, where it is live now.