Golden Earring still on the road!

1980 - The band has a contract for one more record for Polydor and so Prisoner Of The Night was recorded. It contains several fine rocksongs like Long Blond Animal and No For An Answer. This time the album was (again on low budget!) recorded at the Golden Earring Workshop Zoetermeer with the Mira Sound Mobile studio and mixed at Soundpush studio's Blaricum, Holland by John Kriek and George Kooymans. The release date for the album was September 12, 1980, exactly 15 years after the release of their first single Please Go. The album premiered in the Radio show of DJ Alfred Lagarde and all tracks were broadcasted. In between band members Barry Hay and George Kooymans talked with the show host who also is one of their friends.

Although the band has put out several fine albums over the years, Golden Earring has not always had an easy time staying consistent from album to album. This 1980 effort was one of the rare instances in the Golden Earring catalog in which the group takes a good album, No Promises... No Debts, and actually improves on it. Like the aforementioned album, Prisoner of the night presents a collection of songs that combine pop hooks and hard rock muscle in a radio-friendly way. However, Golden Earring improves on this style instead of recycling it: The guitar riffs hit harder, the hooks are catchier, and the arrangements are more willing to toss an occasional left turn at the listener while still managing to keep the songs lean and exciting. Good examples include the single "No For An Answer" which combines a muscular array of guitar riffs and a frenetic hard rock tempo with a killer singalong chorus, and "My Town", an amped-up slice of driving power pop that is worthy of Cheap Trick. However, the finest of the rockers is "Long Blond Animal," which combines a stomping beat, a circular guitar riff, and another infectious chorus to create a blood-pumping rocker that is as catchy as it is invigorating. Some of the other songs don't quite hit the manic highs of these standout tracks, but everything is well-arranged and features unexpected twists that keeps things fresh (i.e., the new wave synthesizer riff that pops up out of nowhere midway through the power ballad "Will And Mercy"). The end result is one of the finest albums of Golden Earring's career. It's a required listen for the group's fans and an album that is likely to win over any pop/rock devotee who gives it a spin. The album Prisoner Of The Night was also released in the USA but with a different title Long Blond Animal named after one of the albumtracks.

The for July 19, 1980 scheduled concert in Den Haag at the Maliepop open air festival had to be postponed till next day because of heavy rain. The other bands programmed for the Maliepop concert on July 20 were New Adventures, Gruppo Sportivo, Urban Heroes, Tutti Frutti, Dr. Pop, Iquana. The Maliepop festival was organised by Leen Visser, stagemanager Maarten Baggerman and Rob Gerritsen. Maliepop was named after the location Malieveld and was the predecessor of the now wellknown Parkpop festival which is organised annualy from Summer 1981 on at the The Hague Zuiderpark. This park is located very near to the neighbourhood George Kooymans and Rinus Gerritsen spent their childhood.

The track Long Blond Animal was released on single in September 1980, entered the Dutch Top 40 on September 20, 1980 on position 35 and became a minor hit only as it reached chart position 19 and a total of 7 weeks in the charts. The b-side from the Long Blond Animal single is Triple Treat. It's a single only track which is not available on any original Golden Earring album. The next single No For An Answer (Released November 1980) did it even more worse as it reached the Tipparade only....

Polydor released another compilation album on lp and cassette called Greatest Hits 3. This album had the working title 15 years Golden Earring but was renamed.

In February 1980 the first lp by the New Adventures was released which was produced by George Kooymans. Earlier on several singles were released (New Adventures, Come On, Late Late Show and Backdoor Lover). The Chuck Berry cover "Come On" was the most successful of them all. All the singles were also produced by George as well.

George Kooymans can also be heard on the in 1980 released lp "Wait A Minute" by Herman Brood. He played guitar and did additional vocals on the track Girl Of My Dreams. George Kooymans also performed on guitar at the Warren Harry single release "Welcome To Judy's World" (Catalogue info: Polydor 2050 637)

Cesar Zuiderwijk was the drummer on the Maywood lp release "Maywood" (EMI label, label number 062-26521). From this album 4 (!) singles were released called: Mother how are you today, Late at night, Give me back my love and You treated me wrong.

On October 05 1980 Rinus Gerritsen was present at a Golden Earring fan happening in Epe. More info about this fan event is welcome but here is a nice picture of fans asking Rinus Gerritsen some questions. There was also a quiz.

(Photo Roel Vinkes used with kind permission.

In 1974 Bertus Borgers, a guest player on several Golden Earring releases and horn player on their 1974 USA tours, went into the studio and recorded a demo for his first solo album. Just after these recordings he went with Golden Earring on their 1974 USA tours. The recordings stayed on the shelf. Later on Bertus Borgers started a new band called Sweet d'Buster with Robert Jan Stips which did split in 1980. In 1980 he released his demo recordings. When you take a closer look at the participating guest musicians you'll find the names Chè Chu De Viecg on drums (Cesar), Robo Switch (Robert Jan Stips), Rus Garoedsen on bass (Rinus Gerritsen) and Co Schnelling on guitar (Eelco Gelling)!

1981 - On February 21, 1981 another Golden Earring fanclub day was held. This time at the Don Bosco youthcentre, Zoeterwoude, Holland. About 900 fans attended the event and the band oversaw them from the roof of the building. Don Bosco is the former rehearsel place of the band. Video's were shown as well as the Eight Miles High movie. All 4 members were attending and performed a miniconcert (3 songs and encore). Also there was a performance by the group Strezs and a lottery.

The band seriously thought about quitting the music scene. Despite that fact Golden Earring sounded heavily inspired on the in Roosendaal, Holland recorded double live lp Second Live. This live album (on Polydor Records again) has a good and much more energetic sound than the first live double lp. Slow Down was released on single in June 1981 but only made it into the tipparade. Slow Down is a cover of the 1958 Larrie Williams song. 2nd live would be the last album on Polydor records.

The Dutch Hitkrant magazine from March 18, 1981 carried an interview with Barry Hay in which he reveiled the name of the soon to be released double live album: 2nd Live. In the same interview Barry mentioned all tracks for the album were recorded at one concert with a great atmosphere but doesn't reveal the city name. The album cover doesn't carry the venue name either but in the song "My Town" you hear Barry saying "Hé Roosendaal". The Roosendaal show took place on December 27, 1980 at the Leysdream hall. The end mix for the album was done in six days at a studio in Weije (Drenthe) according to the interview.

For several months the band Powerplay from guitarist Jan van der Mey is the new support act for Golden Earring.

On August 22, 1981 the band performed again in The Hague at the Openlucht Theater where they played a new song which made the audience very enthusiastic. This song, announced as When The Bullet Hits The Bone, later became known as Twilight Zone and a huge hit!

At the Platen Tiendaagse the band signed their records at De Bijenkorf in Amsterdam. The exact date is not know to me.

George Kooymans produced the second album for the New Adventures called Wild Cat's Moaning. From this album the singles Midnight Magic Maniac and She Does It Right were released (and produced by George as well of course). The albums New Adventures and Wild Cat's Moaning were re-released on 1 cd in 1999.

Rinus Gerritsen produced the Modern Times Revive album by Herman Brood and his Wild Romance (Catalogue info: Ariola ). This album was released on CD in 1985 (Catalogue info: Ariola 0236562 74321). The album Modern Time Revive is the fifth studio album by Dutch Rock and Roll and Blues group Herman Brood and his Wild Romance. The Wild Romance fell apart after Go Nutz and Wait A Minute album releases. The "new" Wild Romance featured David Hollestelle on guitar. From the Modern Times Revive album the single In the heat of the night was released (1981) The b-side Jivin' (myself) is produced by Rinus as well. Another band Rinus did produce was the Urban Heroes of which his brother Rob Gerritsen was the manager at that time. Rinus Gerritsen produced their album "Urban Heroes live".

1982 - After 16 years (1965-1981) making records for the Polydor record company the band didn't prolong their contract and signed a new contract with 21 Records (F. Haayen\W. van Kooten) with a distribution deal by CNR. As Golden Earring produced over 30 hits in The Netherlands for Polydor and several of their first albums were hard to get and collectors items Polydor decided to release them again. This time in a clear white luxoury 5lp-collectors box with gold print. The 5 albums consisted from the period 1965 - 1968 and were released in their original cover but with different label numbers! The box costed 99 guilders which was cheap compared to the prices given for the collectors items. (prices over 100 guilders each)

Manager Fred Haayen begged the band not to quit without another hit song. George Kooymans thought about another solo-lp again, but decided to take one of those songs from the shelf for another Golden Earring album. The song was tried out during several concerts and the band noticed the enthusiastic reactions from the audiences. Therefor they decided to release this song on single in August 1982. The song is called ‘Twilight Zone’. (The song was performed at the Rockpalast gig with initial title When The Bullet Hits The Bone). The song is full of suspense, which was promoted with a sensational video clip by Dick Maas (At that time a young, starting and promising movie maker at the Film academy. He was "discovered" by Cesar and with the proceeds Dick got for the clip he was able to finish his later on well known Dutch movie De Lift). Twilight Zone (which handles about a double-crossed assassin) became another number 1 hit for the band in their home country. (Actually their fourth number 1 hit song in The Netherlands.)

Golden Earring performed at the Sartory Saale in Cologne on June 05, 1982 during one of the many Rockpalast broadcasts. The decade between 1976 and 1986 the Grugahalle in Essen was the place of the classic era of the Rock Palast Nights, which were broadcasted live on german television and via Eurovision all over Europe twice a year. A fine selection of the most legendary WDR TV broadcastings of these shows are available on DVD and amongst them is Golden Earring Live At Rockpalast. You see the band in a very energetic show in great shape.

So after spending much of the late '70s and the early '80s internationally as a cult band, Golden Earring returned to an international level of popularity in 1982 with the hit single (and popular MTV attraction) "Twilight Zone". This song and seven others are featured on Cut, a solid album that found Golden Earring starting to deviate from the pop/rock formula they perfect on the albums No Promises...No Debts and Prisoner Of The Night. Like those albums, Cut works its way through a series of guitar-based rock songs built on strong hooks. However, the band allows themselves to instrumentally stretch out a bit on some of the songs this time out. The most notable example is the midsection of "Twilight Zone," where George Kooymans lays out an exploratory series of guitar solos that build to crescendo over the taut bass line provided by Rinus Gerritsen.

The album Cut, recorded with producer Shell Schellekens, became a huge succes. The United States provided Golden Earring another succes. Twilight Zone climbed up in the Billboard Hot 100 to the 10th position. The other songs on Cut aren't as tightly crafted and hook-laden as those on the last few albums, but there are still plenty of strong tracks: "Baby Dynamite" is a power ballad about a fame-seeking girl that is built on a nicely harmonized chorus and "Lost and found" is a strong mid-tempo rumination on the end of a relationship that boasts an impassioned yet subtle vocal performance from Barry Hay. The Devil Made Me Do It was another top 20 hitsingle and released in June 1982 (Highest chart position: 16). Besides "Twilight Zone" this album track is the least typical. The Devil Made Me Do It is a witty, fast-paced pop-rocker about love gone bad built on an eccentric but effective combination of mock-gospel call and response vocals and an energetic horn section. Some of the Cut tracks fall short of the mark ("Future" runs a decent riff into the ground by failing to develop it in an interesting way), but the album contains enough strong tracks to make it worth a listen for the Golden Earring fan.

The Cut album's cover image is the iconic 1964 photo Cutting the Card Quickly taken by M.I.T. Professor "Doc" Edgerton showing the jack of diamonds playing card being shredded by a bullet. The image is used in the music video of "Twilight Zone" in which the card represents the life of the rogue espionage agent.

Modern, high-end consumer cameras are capable of capturing 60 frames per second (fps), and the fastest camera in the world can take over a trillion frames per second. However, the field of high-speed photography was still in its infancy in the early 1930’s. Professor "Doc" Edgerton was one of the early pioneers of strobe photography. During his long and distinguished career as a professor at M.I.T., Dr. Edgerton produced dozens of wonderful photographs with a tremendous degree of artistic merit. This is all the more impressive when you consider that creating works of art wasn’t his goal per se; Dr. Edgerton’s goal was good science. One of Edgerton’s most famous series of photographs depicts bullets passing through everyday objects. Apples, bananas, balloons, light bulbs, and playing cards were all shot (pun intended) in Edgerton’s lab. In our slightly biased opinion, one of his best photographs is called Cutting the Card Quickly (1964). The picture shows a bullet tearing through a King of diamonds. The card in the photograph was a Racer Back No. 2, one of the Bicycle brand playing card designs popular in the 1960s. Photograph by Harold E. Edgerton. Courtesy of MIT Museum copyright 2010 MIT.

Cutting the Card Quickly by Harold "Doc" Edgerton (1964). A .30 caliber bullet, traveling 2,800 feet per second, requires an exposure of less than 1/1,000,000 of a second. Edgerton outdid the gunslinging heroes of western movies by turning the card sideways when he shot through it. The rifling of the barrel caused the rotation of the projectile, which, in turn, carved out the S-shaped slice of card between the two halves.

The Twilight Zone single carries the back side King Dark, which is a non-album release. In several countries abroad these tracks were named in Spanish. (Twilight Zone became Zona Del Crepusculo and King Dark became Rey De La Oscuridad. The Twilight Zone single was released in many many countries, Italy, Germany, Japan, Canada, Usa and Peru to name a few only. B-side King Dark was originally called "Don't Be Silly" and performed several times live in Spring 1982 as well under that title.

The Golden Earring Cut album was released in Argentina as well with the Spanish title Corte on Mercury Records label (6302224) as an lp and promo lp; all titles are in Spanish!

Tracklisting for the Corte album:
Side 1:
El Diablo Me Lo Hizo Hacer (The Devil Made Me Do It)
Futuro (Future)
Chica De Dinamita (Baby Dynamite)
El Ultimo De Los Mohicanos (Last of the Mohicans)

Side 2:
Objectos Perdidos (Lost and Found)
La Dimension Desconocida (Twilight Zone)
Cargando Mis Baterias (Chargin' Up My Batteries)
Secretos (Secrets

Somewhere in July 1982 Rinus broke his collarbone during a soccergame, but this didn't prevent him from playing on... This happened only a day before Rinus became father of his first child, a daughter called Naomi. A newspaper article titled "Concert van Golden Earring kon toch doorgaan" mentioned that with the help of fysiotherapist Coumans from the city of Kerkrade Rinus Gerritsen was able to perform the Mechelen (Near Valkenburg) concert. His shoulder was taped in to secure the collarbone by the fysiotherapist who was kind enough to help out even though he had days off because of vacation.

In the same period (just after finishing the "Cut" album recordings) George Kooymans also became a father as his wife Milly gave birth to their son Kid. In 1982 Barry Hay received his (first) tattoo located on his left shoulder. The tattoo was set by Henk Schiffmacher who became a big friend as well. The tattoo was a dolphin jumping through a ring and Barry got the idea for it when he saw a t-shirt on which the scene was depicted.

On September 01, 1982 the band did a concert at The RAI Amsterdam which was broadcasted live by NCRV as a LosVast special. Tracks performed were Candy's Going Bad, Leather, No For An Answer, Save Your Skin, Twilight Zone, Radar Love and Slow Down.

The Cut album was released on September 03, 1982 and there was a launch party for the album on September 06, 1982 in Amsterdam. The location was movie theater "The Movies" as a reference to the Twilight Zone video clip. This clip is directed by Dick Maas and one of the very first Dutch video clips. The Twilight Zone video clip was also promoted in cinema's as a preview to Pink Floyd's "The Wall" movie. The Cut album entered the Dutch LP top 50 on September 18, 1982 and reached in the week of October 02, 1982 the first position in this Dutch album list. In the USA music videos were still the thing that made MTV and MuchMusic tick; CBC had video shows, as did a lot of local stations across Canada. Videos were made to promote songs; they weren't meant to necessarily be about art. Back in 1982, Golden Earring had a top-10 hit with "Twilight Zone." Rock video was still in its infancy, and the band stirred it up, as the video tried to tell some kind of weird James Bond spy story. The video had breasts in it, and a scene in which the spy hero, being tortured for information, has a vision of women dancing in bondage gear. Now, Golden Earring was a Dutch band, so this was just another day in Amsterdam to the group, but the resulting furor over the video only helped to propel the song up the charts.

On September 28, 1982 Golden Earring is at the Hitkrant magazine for an hour in which fans could phone with the band and ask them questions. The event was organised to promoto the album Cut and one fan could win a prize for the most original question.

On October 02, 1982 the Cut album reached the number one position in the Dutch LP Top 100, but only for one week.

On October 08, 1982 Golden Earring performed at the first edition of the Veronica Popnacht. This TV program was broadcasted live on both Dutch Radio Hilversum 3 and TV channel Nederland 1. The show was recorded at de Maaspoort in Den Bosch. The program started at 23.50 hr and ended around 4 o'clock at night. There were performances by Vitesse, Golden Earring, Normaal and Doe Maar.

*

Later during the 80's Golden Earring opened for Rush and .38 Special before they did their 'own' very succesfull 1983/84 U.S. 'Twilight Zone Tour'. They were aired live by radioshows as the 'King Biscuit Flower Hour' and 'The Source'. These radio shows are available on lp-sets, but are hard to find and collectors items. In the same year 'Twilight Zone' became a big hit in the U.S. Billboard single charts Top-10 (Twilight Zone entered on November 27, 1982 (with B-side: King Dark) the USA Billboard hot 100 with highest position #10 and was charted for 27 weeks (Catalogue info: 21 Records 103). 'When The Lady Smiles became a Top-3 hit in Canada. The 'Twilight Zone' video became a 'classic' on MTV.

The Twilight Zone single was released in many countries. The English issue has a different cover than the Dutch one. You see the Earring with neon lights wrapped around them and Japanese style lettering in an artistic way. The UK magazine Sounds (November 20, 1982 issue) has a Twilight Zone single review by Geoff Barton which says: "Golden Earring's Twilight Zone is a 7.55 long HR extravaganza, full of the Dutchmens's traditionally quircky excentricities, bringing back memories of their greatest album, 1976's "To The Hilt". Earring may have been together since the Sixties, but "TZ" proves that they still can deliver. Listen to the line "When the bullet hits the bone" and take cover as the fractured fragments fly."

On December 25, 1982 The Devil Made Me Do It single entered the Dutch national Top 40 hitlist at position #32, highest position was 16 and it was 07 weeks in the chart. One week earlier on December 18, 1982 The Devil Made Me Do It single entered the Veronica Tipparade at position 12.

1983 - Because of the huge succes of Twilight Zone the band didn't think about quiting anymore. On the contrary: Golden Earring toured several times through the United States, but this time all financial matters were closely monitored to avoid a new financial problem. Former debts from past USA-tours were paid of and finally a little money was earned. The album Cut became gold in Canada and the single Twilight Zone reached the third place in the charts. In the USA their 1983 videoclip 'Twilight Zone' (21 Records/Polygram) became a U.S. Top-10 hit thanks to a high rotation on MTV music channel.

On February 07, 1983 Golden Earring flew to the United States for a new 1983 USA tour. In February and March 1983 Golden Earring was the opener (special guest) for several Rush shows during the Rush Signals (New world) tour 1983 and opened at least 11 shows for them.

Golden Earring did a performance on March 14, 1983 at the Breakaway Club at Akron, Ohio as headliner with special guest Scandal. During this show a 2-lp Radio Show was recorded. A radio show is a professional live recording in much better sound quality than you can get from any radio recording which is always reduced in dynamics with a compressor. The recordings are used for radio stations to promote the band with live recordings. Amongst the performed songs were No For An Answer, I Need Love, Vanilla Queen, Radar Love, Heartbeat, Save Your Skin and Future to name some tracks. Also a local tv station was present to make some recordings.

Golden Earring saw a brief American comeback with the album Cut and the Top ten single "Twilight Zone," but just like the middle of the seventies, Golden Earring could not sustain it's momentum and faded away again in the U.S. marketplace in the middle of the Eighties. The Cut album debuted on the USA Billboard album charts on February 26, 1983, highest position #24 and was charted for 12 weeks (Catalogue info: 21 Records 9004). On April 23, 1983 a new USA single was released as a succesor to Twilight Zone: The Devil Made Me Do It (B-side: Chargin' Up My Batteries) This single entered the USA Billboard Hot 100, peaked at highest position #79 and was charted for 4 weeks (Catalogue info: 21 Records 108).

After their return from the United States on April 13, 1983 the band gave a press conference at Schiphol Airport and was awarded with a golden record for their hit album "Cut". They also announced a special "Welcome Home" concert at Ahoy Rotterdam. This show was given on April 29, 1983 for 6500 fans and the complete light show from Rush was flown in from London as a special extra. Soon afterwards Rush started their European part of their Signals (New World) tour and they performed on May 03, 1983 at the Ahoy, Rotterdam. Unfortunately the support act was then Vandenberg instead of Golden Earring which would have been a great combination.

Golden Earring performed again at the Rotterdam - Ahoy for their back home concert on April 29, 1983. This is the first major concert in Holland again when the band returned from their 1983 USA tour. This gig was only preceeded with a try out show at Lelystad - Agorahal on April 27, 1983.

The Hitkrant Magazine dated April 30, 1983 mentioned the band got a golden record for their Cut album on their arrival at Schiphol Airport.

Great story about Golden Earring show in Leuven, 1983. Info here Info thanks to Haagsch Leven website!

A 1983 single release from Peru is called "Zona Del Crepusculo"/"Rey De La Oscuridad". This is the Spanish translation for the Twilight Zone single tracks. Issued on the Mercury label with label number F.MER 6000884.1 and has on the left side of the label the text: Fabricado by "El Virrey" Ind. Musicales. S.A. and on the right side Published 1983 Industria Peruana. (made in Peru by El Virrey Company.) It also excists in an white label promo version. In 1983 the Devil Made Me Do It single was also released in Peru. The tracks are called: "El Diablo Me Hizo Hacerlo"/"Avenida Sombria". It is issued on the Mercury label with label number F.MER 8122607.0 and has on the left side of the label the text: Fabricado by "El Virrey" Ind. Musicales. S.A. and on the right side Published 1983 Industria Peruana. (Made in Peru by El Virrey Company.) It also excists in an white label promo version single. Of course these singles are very scarce and collectors items.

This year the only picture lp Golden Earring ever made was released. It's a two-side printed picture disc and contained a compilation of live tracks from the live-albums Live and 2nd Live. It was released in the Netherlands on Polydor Records label (PD 830 06)

Golden Earring was awarded with the Dutch Export price for 1983 on December 29, 1983 for the second time in their career. The award was given to them by staatssecretaris van Economische Zaken Piet van Zeil.

In 1983 the band was hot in many countries and magazines around the world wrote about the band. Even in Mexico a magazine called Connecte had an article about the band. This 34 page magazine was published in Mexico by Edito Poster and is in Spanish language. The cover of this magazine has the line "Golden Earring se aparacen como fantasmas" on it.

Barry Hay was co-songwriter for Jan van der Meijdens Powerplay. He wrote the song Magic in cooperation. It was released in 1983 on single and the mini-album Noises and Voices. Later on in 1993 Magic was also released on cd. This cd compilation has both the albums Avanti and Noises & voices on it. Powerplay has been a support act for Golden Earring several times over the past years.

In 1983 a Please Go cover was released by:
1983 De Gouwe Oorringe - Alsjeblief... Ga!! (7", Dutch translation of the song)

1984 - The band was awarded with a Gouden Harp award out of the hands of Ed Nijpels on January 20, 1984 at the Congresgebouw, Den Haag, Holland. The Golden Harp, introduced in 1962, is presented annually to composers, performing artists or individuals who have made a specific contribution to the performance and success of Dutch light music. A jury selects the winners, which have included internationally successful acts such as Golden Earring and The Nits. The band members were given a special pin dureing the ceremoney and the clip was shown. So on January 20, 1984 there was the TV premier of When The Lady Smiles clip as well. Soon afterwards there was an edited version to be seen as the clip caused a lot of rumour after the premier due to the so called "violation" of a nun.

Time for more good news. Shell Schellekens produced a record again called N.E.W.S., which contained another number one hit (5th) in Holland with When The Lady Smiles (Released February 1984 with b-side Orwell's Year which is a single bonustrack!). For the second year in a row a single reached the third place in Canada. The video clip by Dick Maas was a huge success in The Netherlands but many foreign countries refused to show the clip, in which a nun was "molested". Recording the video clip partly took place at the Rotterdam metro and making the whole 5 minute movie took about a week of recordings. In the countries abroad a severe edited videoclip was broadcasted on the music video channels. Actually one of the main rolls was the old nun, which was molested in the train. Her role was played by the wife of their truck driver at that time. It looked like the train was really in action. But in reality the train was parked in an carriage house, where the whole film circus was located during a day and shot that part of the clip.... In cinema's a making of the When The Lady Smiles clip was shown at Polygoon journaal and the on stage shots from crew and band were taken at De Flint theatre in Amersfoort during the Golden Earring show on January 06, 1984. The working title for When The Lady Smiles was "When The Lady Comes". In the video clip for When The Lady Smiles george Kooymans can be seen playing a BC Rich Warlock reversed headstock 6 in line.

On March 05, 1984, soon before they left for a new USA tour, the album News (North East West South) was released and it reached a number one position in the album charts on March 17, 1984. It stayed at the number one position for three weeks. News was recorded at Kooymans Pseudo studio's Rijkevorsel, Belgium and mixed at Soundpush studio's Holland. The digital mastering was done at the Sterling Sound studio, New York City by Greg Calbi. (Like done before for the Grab It For A Second album) During this 1984 USA tour Cesar Zuiderwijks mother became ill and Cesar had to fly back to The Netherlands to see her. She died when he was in Holland and after her death Cesar returned to finish the USA tour with Golden Earring. Cesar was temporarily replaced by drummer Steve Potts from Memphis, Tennesee. He was present for about five shows.

As a promotion for the album 20.000 pieces of an 8-page newspaper called News were spread by and in Dutch records shops in February 1984. This newspaper promotion item is nowadays hard to find.

Golden Earring "N.E.W.S." was even released in Mexico on a different label (Mercury Records LPR-19101). Special about this release is all titles on the label are in Spanish! Here are some examples from album titles: Noche Clara, Luz De Luna (Clear Night Moonlight) and Cuando Sonrie La Dama (When The Lady Smiles)

On their USA tour Golden Earring performed with 38 Special. All the commotion around the When The Lady Smiles video kept the song at the 76th position only of the American hitparade because the original video was banned from MTV due to nudity and the portrayal of the supposed violation of a nun. A newly cut version of the clip failed to capture the true intentions of the director and Golden Earring, although When The Lady Smiles did make hit the number 3 position in Canada and became their fifth number one hit in their home country. The "When The Lady Smiles" 7" single was released in the USA as a DJ-only promo (listed as "Promotional Copy--Not For Sale) as well on 21 Records (label number T1 112 DJ) When The Lady Smiles (4:37)\When The Lady Smiles (4:37).

When touring the United States in 1984, Golden Earring played the Great Arena of Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey on May 11, 1984 and were in the midst of their concert when the fire at the nearby Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure began on the opposite side of the theme park, killing eight teenagers. The Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure was a haunted house attraction at Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park. Eight teenage visitors were trapped and killed when the structure was destroyed by fire. A teenager ignited his cigarette lighter in the dark rooms and it ignited the polyurethane padding on the walls. There were no emergency lighting, no fire extinguishers, no emergency exits, and no fire sprinklers. Six Flags Great Adventure and its parent company Six Flags were subsequently indicted for aggravated manslaughter, accused of recklessly causing the deaths by taking inadequate precautions against a fire. In the subsequent trial, the prosecution argued that repeated warnings by safety consultants to install sprinklers or smoke alarms had been ignored. The defendants denied any culpability, and contended that the fire was arson and that no precautions would have saved lives. The trial jury found the defendants not guilty....

Another single was Clear Night, Moonlight which was released April 1984 and reached highest chart position 11. It was accompagnied by a fine clip from Dick Maas with the band in leather jackets riding an American oldtimer through the night. ("Don't you go turning my dream into a nightmare"). The b-side is called Fist In Glove. In Germany the single was released as well but on the Metronome label.

The next single N.E.W.S. was released in June 1984 but only made it into the Dutch Tipparade. There was a fine but somewhat experimental clip by cineast Paul de Nooyer to promote it. It contained a lot of effects and it's different to any other previous clip from the band. Several shots were made of the band and it's members, but the post production of the clip was done when the band was on tour in the USA. This probably explained the use of masks! Around the release of this single the band returned from the USA. This USA tour was shut off with a positive bank account this time!

In the USA the NBC Radio show The Source broadcasted several live tracks. The broadcast dates were June 01, 02 & 03, 1984. This radio show was also released on 2lp with label number NBC 84-20.

On June 23, 1984 the band is recorded live in concert at the Groenoordhal Leiden, Holland for the MTV Network. This concert was recorded shortly after their return from an extensive USA tour which took Golden Earring coast to coast in the US and as far away as Hawaii. The recordings are the base for the later that year to be released album Something Heavy Going Down (Live from the Twilight Zone) which is another high quality live recording. Tracks recorded are: I'll Make It All Up To You, Enough is enough, Mission Impossible, When The Lady Smiles, Future, Long Blond Animal, N.E.W.S., The Devil Made Me Do It, Radar Love and Twilight Zone. The band is really at their best and played an inspired concert. Frontman and leadsinger Barry played with the audience and carried around a portable radio cassette recorder during the songs N.E.W.S. which was thrown into the audience at the end of the song. But lead guitarist George Kooymans is at excellent level and sometimes really into the music. (In the "Future" song intro you can see this pretty good, but also in Twilight Zone during the minute long instrumental part.) He also played some fine solo's in The Devil Made Me Do It and Twilight Zone for example. Bass player Rinus Gerritsen and drummer Cesar Zuiderwijk provided the solid base for the songs as always. They get their share of recognition during their solo's in Radar Love. Watch Cesar use his drumkit with electronic delay effects and his digital drum jacket and you know what I'm talking about! The jacket gag was soon afterwards copied by Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac for example! Several visual aspects were added to the show. Check out the "driving simulation" in the middle of Radar Love and watch Barry having fun with Rinus when he put his arm around his head and grinned. Small details but they show how professional the band became after their long stay abroad. In Twilight Zone the Taurus moog bass pedals can be heard pretty clear in the surround mixes. This show was finally released on dvd in 2005 by Red Bullet called Live from the Twilight Zone and features an interesting teaser and the complete concert filmed for MTV America, who commisioned this special. As a fan you need to have this dvd in your collection!

In 1984 former Earth and Fire singer Jerney Kaagman recorded another single called My Mystery Man. For the videoclip Barry Hay wrote the script together with Myrna van Gilst, Erwin Steen and Jerney Kaagman. On November 21, 1984 the recordings for a videoclip started and lasted 3 days. The video was shot in nightclub Picadilly in Amsterdam and Barry Hay was present at at least one day of the video shoot. On the official Earth and Fire site a picture can be seen of Barry and Jerney together.

In December 1984 ‘Something Heavy Going Down’ was released and only a minor hit in Holland as it highest chart position was 33 only. Another videoclip by Paul de Nooyer promoted the single. Barry carried a large ghetto-blaster around and again the clip made a futuristic impression due to the efforts of Paul de Nooyer. The clip was probably seen by U2 later on as U2's Pop market tour showed some resemblance with this clip... In Germany the single was released as well but on the Metronome label.

In 1984 a Golden Earring picture disc was released. This album is a compilation of live tracks. The title is "Golden Earring - Live and pictured". It's an exclusive picture disc, released in a plastic cover, manufactured under license from Polydor BV - Holland and a limited edition. Label is Polydor, with label number PD 83006. Tracks side A: Weekend love, Buddy Joe, Back home, Just Like Vince Taylor. Tracks side B: Candy´s going bad, She flies on strange wings, Radar Love.

Later this year the live recorded album ‘Something Heavy Going Down (Live from the Twilight Zone)’ was released. This album was recorded at the Groenoordhallen, Leiden, Holland for the MTV Music Network and had also one studio recorded song on it. The album was also released on laserdisc and vhs in the United States. The title song became a small hit and was also released on a 12-inch record, remixed by Ben Liebrand. The concert was broadcasted on December 28 by Veronica Countdown.

When Cesar's mother was very ill Cesar had a girlfriend (Marianne) who looked after him. One day she told him he would soon become a father. In 1984 his son Casper was born.

In 1984 Radar Love covers were released by:
1984 Finland: Pate Mustajärvi - NYT! (lp\mc\cd)
1984 USA: Radar - Radar (mc)

1985 - On January 05, 1985 Golden Earring contributed to the Europe-A-GoGo tv broadcast as the Dutch representative for the European broadcast union. 11 European countries contributed to this 5,5 hour broadcast in which was switched to several countries for their national artists. The program was presented from Brussels by Ray Cookes. The Dutch part of the broadcast came from Paradiso, Amsterdam. The organisation from Brussels did switch two times to the Netherlands and broadcasted around 1.40 hr. 2 songs live from Golden Earring: When The Lady Smiles and Twilight Zone. Later on another switch was made (around 2.45 hr) to Holland and this time Radar Love was shown including a great drumsolo by Cesar Zuiderwijk. He did the solo using the drum-jacket with electronic drumpads on the inside connected to a drumcomputer. Another Dutch contribution was from the Time Bandits.

In March 1985 Cesar Zuiderwijk did some promotional activities again for Pearl drums, who endorses him. He toured across the country in March 1985 at several music shops. He did this before and would do so many times again in the upcoming years. Clinic dates: March 2, Dan Smit (Maastricht), March 21. Reynen (Roermond), March 25 McMusic (Arnhem), March 26. Tonika (Groningen), March 27 Big Obe (Zwolle) and March 28 (Just Music) Leiden. Two clinics at Staffhorst and Schreeven, but dates unknown to me. For May 1985 a Belgian promo clinic trip was planned.

On June 30, 1985 the George Kooymans band played at the fifth edition of the Parkpop Festival The Hague. Over 100.000 people attended Europe's largest free festival. George opened the program on stage 1. (Main stage)

Cesar Zuiderwijk released together with keyboard player Jasper van 't Hof a mainly instrumental solo album under the name of ‘Labyrinth’, on which female singer Julia Lo’ko did the guest vocals for several (3) songs. At first the album should be completely instrumental but at the last moment 3 vocal tracks were added. Two of them became singles. Give me back my feelings (1985, 21 Records, labelnumber 21.039) and Help me out (1986, 21 Records, labelnumber 21.041 with George on guitar). The album became a small success; it was also performed live on stage during a short tour in The Netherlands and recorded with the Metropole Orchestra by Veronica TV for tv-broadcast. The song ‘Help me out’ was released on single and even got a position in the American Top 100. Jasper van 't Hof came in contact with Cesar Zuiderwijk through Robert Jan Stips. (former Golden Earring member)

In April 1985 Golden Earring was awarded with an Edison award again for their NEWS album. But dark clouds were hanging over the band. Dutch taxes claimed one million guilders from the band still to be paid. The police raided the bandmembers houses and searched for traces the bandmembers should be richer than they actually were. The Golden Earring business company is located in Liechtenstein and the band differed with the taxes as they thought only their salaries had to be paid taxes for and not the total income as they were a foreign company.... So the band went to court to settle things. After ten years the band thought about bringing back their financial company to Holland again and make thing less more complicated financially. In the end (after two years of financial struggling!) they had to pay 60.000 guilders taxes instead of the first asked million.

On August 08 1985 Cesar Zuiderwijk and Rinus Gerritsen opened their own music store called RockPalace at the Torenstraat 35a, The Hague. In 1994 the store was added to the Key Music group and re-located to the other side of the street in a much bigger and more convenient building. The current location is Torenstraat 132a Den Haag. On October 24 the store celebrated it's 30 year anniversary with a music session in which both Rinus Gerritsen and Cesar Zuiderwijk took part.

On Augustus 10, 1985 the populair radio- and television program LosVast (NCRV) is broadcasted live for the very first time from stadion De Kuip in Rotterdam. One of the highlights was the performance of George Kooymans singing Just A Little Bit Of Peace In My Heart.

On August 24, 1985 Cesar's side project Labyrinth gave a concert at De Doelen (Rotterdam, Holland) with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Rogier van Otterloo. The concert was broadcasted on January 16, 1986 by Veronica broadcasting cooperation.

During Summer 1985 the rehearsels and preparations for the recordings of a new album started as kind of a routine for the band who tried to deliver a new album every year in the past. However this didn't went as wanted as the material wasn't ready and what was on the shelve didn't fit together for an album. The bandmembers decided to take a break from it and all did their own thing. Some time later they started to rehearse again once a week and due to the relaxt athmosphere things became more of an end product for their 21st album called The Hole. After a few months of working this way the band had enough songs to record the album. They also made a videoclip for a song from the album called Quiet Eyes. The idea for this videoclip came from pop photographer Anton Corbijn and friend to the band. He insisted on having some well known Dutch artists like Sjef van Oekel in the short movie and so it went... The band had to wear glasses for three days because of the song title and even this wish from the producer of the clip was granted by the band.

While band members Cesar Zuiderwijk and Rinus Grritsen opened their own music store called Rock Palace at the Torenstraat 35a, The Hague on August 08 1985, the other band members George and Barry started their own record label called Ring Records. The idea for this label started way back in 1983 during their American tour. They met drummer Max Grace in the club of country singer Willy Nelson. He promised George and Barry to send them own song material with with his girlfriend Gay recorded songs. George and Barry were suprised by the quality of the songs and decided to release a single on their expenses. Therefor they started their own label Ring records with the idea to give starting talent a chance. The label was presented to the press on September 05, 1985 at Club Scaramouche, Hilversum, Holland. Barry and George played some songs as well with the Bertus Borgers Groove Express (including a cover of a Tom Waits song). Distribution of Ring Record label productions is done by Ariola.

George decided to extend his homestudio with mixing equipment as well. He is now able not only to record material but to mix as well and so reduce on the total productional costs of recordings.

Barry Hay and George Kooymans produced under the name "Circle Brothers" the band Boom Boom Mancini for their own Ring Records label. The single Red Skies\Viva Zapata was the first release on their label with label number 107 663. Besides this one 2 more singles were released and produced by them. Boom Boom Mancini was asked for a record deal after the band did already some shows as a support act for Golden Earring. Actually Rinus was the one who asked BBM to be their support act. Boom Boom Mancini already had some instrumental demo's ready at that time, but these had to be completed by the (later added ex- Urban heroes singer Evert Nieuwstede). The band is named after a famous, left handed American boxer. Another band which was asked to release a single on Ring Records was the Belgian band K13. This band toured also for some time as Golden Earrings support act. The name K13 stands for the name of a mental ward of a hospital in Gent, Belgium, the city where the band resided.

In 1985 Henkie and the (rest of the Golden Earring road) crew recorded a carnavalesque single called Tatoe, Tatoe, Tatoe. Henkie stands for Henk Vroomans, Cesars drumroadie for many years (but who sadly passed away in the nineties) and is to be seen on the single cover in the middle with his arms wide. The rest of the roadcrew joined him for the recordings of the single.

In 1985 Radar Love covers were released by:
1985 Peru: Pax - Exterminio (7" single)
1985 UK & USA: The Alarm - All Right Now (7" flexi single)
1985 USA: Code 3 - Live at the San Lorenzo River (mp3 download internet)
1985 USA: R.E.M. - Can't get there from here (bootleg 2lp)
1985 USA: Underground Soldier - Fun before Profit! (lp)

1986 - In the middle of the recordings of a new album Rinus suffered of a broken arm after a collision with a SRV-car (on November 27, 1985) As this arm was put into plaster to heal again Rinus continued to play on stage. He had the help of special stands and most of the time just played his floor based and foot operated bass synthesizer. The keyboard part in They Dance was played with a plastered arm during the recording of the song for the new Earring album. This lp The Hole was released in May 1986 but received with mixed feelings. The record has some excellent songs on it, like the singles Why Do I and Quiet Eyes, but the production (by Shell Schellekens again) was experienced as bombastic by many. However the album is much more guitar-oriented compared to the previous 2 studio albums but had no real hits on it. Save The Best For Later is a real rock song and is also live a much appreciated song. The the Hole album was also released in the USA on the 21 Records label. It even excists as a gold-stamped promo pressing (21 Records label 790514-1).

To accentuate the individual personalities the single "Quiet Eyes" was released on April 13, 1986 with four different covers. Each bandmember had his own cover. Of course this boosted the singles sales (to position number 9) but it could also be seen as a clever marketing trick! The cover photograpy of album and singles was done by Anton Corbijn. An upcoming Dutch photographer and friend to the band. He also was the producer of the Quiet Eyes videoclip. This was shot in black and white and also had the images in it used for the single covers. The clip had lots of friends of the band perform in it again. The most outstanding person however was "Sjef van Oekel", a wellknown tv-character performed by Dolf Brouwers and also living in The Hague. The clip was filmed at the old (and already closed) theatre Amicitia in the center of The Hague. The b-side to Quiet Eyes was the non album track "‘Gimme A Break’". This song was written for the (American) movie "Teachers" but not used for it after all.

The album was premiered on April 28, 1986 at Dutch national radio at the "Avondspits" program by DJ Frits Spits. Untill May 03, 1986 he broadcasted tracks in his daily radioshow.

On June 21, 1986 Golden Earring supported the charity action "Help Mexico uit de nood" organised by cabaretier Freek de Jonge. The event took place at the "Lange Voorhout", a street in the center of The Hague. Golden Earring played four songs on a very small stage: Twilight Zone, They Dance, Have A Heart and Jane Jane.

On July 18, 1986, (on Cesars birthday!) the band performed live at Scheveningen beach at a free concert in front of over 200.000 people attending. (This venue is only a kilometer away from the Pier at Scheveningen were it all started way back in 1965!) At Scheveningen beach first the Veronica strandrace was held. A motor bike event and races on the beach in front of the Scheveningen Boulevard. In the evening the beach was the place to be for a great Golden Earring concert. This free show (better known as first beach concert amongst fans) was broadcasted live by Veronica Television broadcasting company. And although the band was in a dip on the business side again, it was clear to the band they had a very faithful and dedicated following in their home country. Here's is a quote from an interview the band gave: "It was Cesar’s birthday. "The drinks are on me!" he yelled during the concert. A little reckless when there are 250.000 people present. We broke all the records, but the most important thing was the intense feeling it left us with; there was still music in the band!" Hours after the concert there were still traffic jams at all roads going outside the Hague.

Dutch music magazine "Oor" published a Golden Earring story in several parts.

On October 04, 1986 Cesar opened a drum and percussion shop in Amsterdam.

The single ‘Why Do I’ was released in July 1986 and only positioned in the Dutch Tipparade (on August 02, 1986). The text for the song was written in the night before the song was recorded. While Barry's vocals were recorded in one take and the band was satisfied with the results, producer Shell Schellekens wanted to record another take. But with a deadline for the album coming up the first take was erased by mistake so the second take had to be used, much to the regret of Barry Hay. The b-side ‘Gimme A Break (rock version)’ is a single only track but was also released on the 4 CD Box "The Devil Made Us Do It". It's a different version of the track which backed the single Quiet Eyes.

"Why Do I" was released in the USA on a 12" promo single on 21 Records label (PR 935). (A-side: Why Do I (vocal/new mix, 4:25)\B-side: Why Do I (vocal/new mix, 4:25) The 7" vinyl single was released in 2 versions: a clear vinyl promo pressing and one with a blue label.

The next single from the album The Hole was ‘They Dance (Edited re-recorded single version!)’ and released December 1986. It didn't make it into the charts either and had a position in the Dutch Tipparade only. The song They Dance is about people joining in the carnaval festivities at Rio de Janeiro. If you look closely to the single cover you see girls dancing!

Radar Love was covered by Centerfold. This Dutch girl-trio recorded the song in November 1986 and Barry Hay can be heard on the song. He also joined in for the recordings of the video clip.

Cesar Zuiderwijk gave a drum clinic at the Daisybell Music store in Assen on November 21, 1986. An ad fo this clinic was published in the Nieuwsblad van het Noorden newspaper on November 19, 1986.

On November 27, 1986 George and Milly Kooymans received their second child. A daughter was born this time, called Cassy.

From November on Barry started to do some gigs with the Bertus Borgers Groove Express. About 20 gigs were planned into the new year. Songs were tried out and rehearsed. That way the band could record them much more easily than just play them for the first time in the studio. This way of working should save on studio time. Amongst the songs played were also The road swallowed her name from the Seven Tears album and Did you really mean it. This track is on Barry's first solo album.

In 1986 Radar Love covers were released by:
1986 Australia: the Bronx - Streetfighter's (7"single)
1986 Netherlands, Japan, Germany: Centerfold - Radar Love (7"single\12")
1986/1998 Netherlands: Centerfold - Man's Ruin (lp\mc\cd re-issue 1998)
1986 UK: Def Leppard - Live at Donnington Park '86 (bootleg cd)
1986 UK & France: Deuce - Radar Love (7''single)
1986 UK: Ghost Dance - Heart Full of Soul (12")
1986 UK: Ghost Dance - Gathering Dust (lp)
1986 UK & Germany: The Pharaohs - Blue Egypt (lp 1986, cd 2000)
1986 USA: Ben Liebrand - Grand Medley 86 DJ Mix (12")
1986 USA: Sun City Girls - Midnight Cowboys from Ipanema (mc 1986\lp 1994\cd 1996)
1986 USA: White Flag - Feeding Frenzy (lp)

1987 - George Kooymans and Barry Hay in the meantime have set up their own Ring Records label, on which records by Boom Boom Mancini, Piu Piu and K13 were released. K13 is a band from Gent, Belgium. The two Earring members did their productional activities under the name of the ‘Circle Brothers’. The distribution was done by the Ariola record company and as a part of the deal the Ring records owners Barry Hay and George Kooymans had to release their own (second) solo albums on Ring Records also, which they did later this year. These solo albums were fine pieces of work, but commercially no succes at all.

On February 07, 1987 it was time for another Golden Earring fanclub day again. De Bonkelaar youth centre, Sliedrecht, Holland was the place to be. Video's were shown as well as the Eight miles high movie. All 4 members were attending and 2 shows were performed (afternoon and evening). Also there was a Golden Earring Top 10 by Golden Earring roadies Willem Reitsma and Louis van der Wetering.

George Kooymans did release his second solo album with the appropriate name "Solo" on March 23, 1987. (Ring Records label, label number 208 167) He also released several solo singles from this album like Lost For Love\The Devil Rides Again Tonight (March 09, 1987), The Beat Goes On\Again and World Of Our Own\All Things Are Light. Especially the last single is hard to find and a kind of collectors item. The b-side of this last single is a pre-version (or demo if you like) of a later Golden Earring song. The lp was promoted with a promotional sticker. On a white background the solo lp logo was printed and spread with the help of the fanclub. Members received a sticker sheet and the fans were asked to place the stickers all over Holland to promote the album as much as they could.... The cover design was by Koos O. and the photography for the album was done by Iris Dijke.

On April 10, 1987 the band posed for a photo shoot for the Levi's 501 sponsor poster before their Golden Earring show at Beverwijks Nieuwe Slof theatre. From then on the band was sponsored by Levi's for a while and promotional posters were used at shows. The band in return recieved some Levi's clothing to wear.

Barry Hay did release his second solo album "Victory of Bad Taste" on October 16, 1987 on the Ring Records label, distributed by Ariola. From this album 2 singles were released. The Tommy James cover ‘Draggin' the line’ by Barry Hay even didn't make it into the tipparade, let alone the hitparade. This first single release had a bonustrack on the b-side called ‘What kinda love’. A ferm rocker of 6.28 minutes length. The song didn't make it for the Victory of bad taste album release and is a non-album track only. Another bonustrack is the song "Going Blind" which is only available on cd, not on the lp. Later on (1988) another single was released called ‘Jezebel’ (In a special re-recorded single version!) These singles are hard to find and collectors items nowadays.

The album was recorded at George Kooymans Ringside studio in 34 days (every day from 13hr untill 01 hr.) The record was mastered at The Townhouse, London (1,5 day per mixed song) For Dragging the line the single was edited by Barry and Shell Schellekens. The durage is shorter and the sound is somewhat heavier. (This edit was done at the Catmusic studio's, Holland). Also on the album is Did you really mean it in a new version. This track is to be found on Barry's first solo album as well. Also a few covers were added to the album. I'd lie to you for your love from Frankie Miller was mainly covered beacuse of the fine text, which Barry would have loved to write himself, he admitted in an interview. Draggin' the line is and old hit from Tommy James. Firewater is a song written by Michael Smotherman, who is a friend of Barry. The song was on a cassette full of songs he wrote, but this song was never recorded. (Michael Smother man once recorded an own lp, but with no success. He has successively written songs for people like Ray Charles and Kenny Rogers.) The song "My favorite spot" was already on Barry's "song shelf" for a long time. While rehearsing the song drummer Ton Dijkman played a salsa rhythm and the band played along with it. Barry immediately said: "We keep this part in for the recordings" leaving the band astonished. Jezebel was written with John Self, a Belgian friend of Barry Hay. John sang him a simple melody and Barry tried to find a text for it. The text was turned down and changed. So the whole song was reconstructed in the end. (Other timing, different verses, different text). "Girl (is a best man's friend)" was made during rehearsels with a lot of jamming. As Barry really like the Temptations and Motown sound he wanted to do something like that as well. So different working methods were used to create the album.

The sleeve design was done by Richard Ottema from the "Puur elan" designers group, Rotterdam. He was mentioned to Barry Hay by a teacher from the Rotterdam Academy of Arts. The titel Victory Of Bad Taste comes from a slogan Barry used years ago during an USA tour. He used it to point out the food was not to eat or if people looked ridiculous. It also stands for "fake", for a lot of music which is bad. Therefor the title seemed suitable because it's so weird. And it would come in handy if people dislike the album. Barry would only have to say: what would you expect with such a title..... "Bad is also american slang for "great", Barry mentioned. All in all the title is kind of "tongue-in-cheek".

For the promotion of the album coin like pendants were made in a limited edition of 200 copies. 100 of these were given to journalists and representatives in the music industry as an promotional item. The other 100 were sold by the fanclub to fans to cover the costs of the issue.... I actually own such a coin pendant myself

During the summer George Kooymans performed solo during the Solo tour with a band. During one of these performances in Vlissingen on July 30, 1987 George Kooymans got hit by a can of beer thrown against his head out of the audience. He left the stage and refused to play on. YouTube video about the incident.

On May 09, 1987 a new single by George Kooymans called The Beat Goes On entered the Veronica Tipparade at position 28.

In 1987 Cesar Zuiderwijk became father again. This time his wife gave birth to a daughter named Selma.

In 1987 the band Just Colours released an EP with the same name which contained a Chunk Of Steel cover. (Carnaby Coral label)

In 1987 a Chunk Of Steel cover was released by:
1987 Just Colours - Just Colours (EP)

In 1987 Radar Love covers were released by:
1987 Nederland: Archie - Listen to what Archie Sez (lp 1987, cd 1998)
1987 UK: Buzzard - The Academy Record Collection Vol.1 (VA) (lp)

1988 - In times of less commercial succes two sampler-CD’s (‘The very best of’) are released by Arcade Records with their greatest hits and provided some revenues from the copyrights as these releases were sold very well. On March 26, 1988 the sampler album The Very Best Of - Golden Earring entered the national Album top 75 on position 33. From August on the band toured The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany with a repertoire consisting of old and new hits for their "Very best of" tour. As always all venues were sold out. The album is also available on vinyl 2lp "The very best of 1965 - 1988".

On March 05, 1988 the the second album "Wounded" by I've got the bullets (With female singer Frederique Spigt) was released. (LP CBS label 460634-1) It has been produced by George Kooymans and was recorded and mixed in his Ringside Studio (Rijkevorsel, Belgium). Wounded was released on cassette, lp and cd. The cd version contains three additional songs (CBS 460634). Despite the success of the album Wounded the first single I'm only wounded didn't reach any higher than the tipparade. The second single "Love scene" didn't even made it into the Tipparade. I've got the bullets split in 1990 after an intensive last tour. George also produced the Yada yada album by Herman Brood. From this cd several singles were released as well.

In Belgium a compilation single Just A Little Bit Of Peace In My Heart\Please Go was released on the Cherry records label (Chs 7896), apparently to promote the just released sampler cd's and double lp The Very best of Golden Earring on the Arcade label in Holland. The backside of the single cover has an add for the Very best of 1965-1988 double-lp sampler.

Barry released his second solo single called Jezebel. (Ariola label 109.672)

In the USA a 3 inch cdsingle called Vintage Gold was issued by MCA Records. In a unique approach to a new recording format, MCA Records' released a serie of 3inch cd's entitled Vintage Gold, which are mini-albums containing hits, rarities and new-to-CD tracks. Just as with their full-length compact disc releases, they have digitally remastered from best available masters - including in many instances the original masters - to present the CD consumer with the truest, clearest, brightest original sound. On this Golden Earring Vintage Gold cdsingle are 4 tracks. (1. Radar Love (1974 / 6.24). 2. Candy's Going Bad , single edit ( 1974/ 2.53). 3. Sleep Walkin (1976/ 3.36). 4. Babylon (1976/ 4.16).) Label is MCA Records with labelnumber MCAD-37292. This single is kind of a collectors item. Even if you find it, it's hard to find it complete with the original (plastic) longbox it came in (MCA Records MCAD 3729)

On July 09, Cesar played on the North Sea Jazz festival in the Hague. His show started on 16.15 in the afternoon and later on the same evening he performed with Golden Earring for their open air concert at Haaksbergen.

On August 20, 1988 former band member Sieb Warner met the band after 19 years for the first time after he left the band. Of course he was nervous because of the fact he was kind of thrown out of the band. At first Barry didn't recognise him, but Rinus did. He spoke with Rinus and Barry for several time and then they kissed and laughed and made up for good times sake. Sieb mentioned later on to his companion Jan Karstens at that moment he finally felt himself an (former) Earring member and could say goodbye to his former band.

On September 09, 1988 the band played in Den Bosch at the Brabant perspectief event. Some songs of their "Very Best Of Tour" concert were broadcasted live on television.

Following their "Very Best Of" Holland tour the band is booked in December 1988 for at least ten concerts in Germany and this tour is called "The Silver Jubilee tour". Concerts were played at Stuttgart, Hamburg and Berlin to name a few places.

In 1988 Barry Hay cooperated for the production of the Q65 single Let's Roll with Freddy Haayen for his Jaws record label (label number 551-7).

George Kooymans can be heard on the second (vinyl and cd)single Babies which was released from the 1988 Herman Brood cd Yada Yada. This cd\lp was produced by George Kooymans (LP: CBS 460746 1). The cdsingle Babies from this album has three bonustracks and George played the guitar on one of those tracks.

The Wolfbanes (called Flanders' best Las Vegas group by Belgian pop magazine Humo) released a single in 1988 called Together with you with B-side Mary Quant produced by George Kooymans. (HKM label, label number HKM 145.501-7)

In 1988 a Back Home cover was released by:
1988 Netherlands & USA: Claw Boys Claw - Hitkillers (lp Megadisc MD 7894 )

In 1988 Radar Love covers were released by:
1988 Australia: Def Leppard - Gods of War (Australian 2cd bootleg)
1988 Germany: Repression - Animal Raw (lp)
1988 Italy: Def Leppard - Tear it Down (Italian 2cd bootleg)
1988 Netherlands & USA: Pandemonium - The Kill (lp\mc)
1988 New Sealand: Beefhouse - In with a Grin (mc)
1988 Austria: Graf Hadik & die Flughunde - Live in Texas (lp)
1988 UK: Stumpus Maximus and the Good Ol' Boys - Release Me (12")
1988/1989 UK & Canada: Def Leppard - Rocket / Pour some Sugar on Me (cdsingle)
1988 UK: Mazique - Radar Love (7" vinyl single)
1988 USA: R.E.M. - The Pop Dream (bootleg cd)

1989 - On February 18, 1989 the Countdown All Stars single on which Barry Hay does a vocal part amongst many other Dutch musicians entered the Dutch Tipparade on position 23.

On March 07, 1989 the new single Turn The World Around was released on Jaws Records (Label number 559-7). This single was also released om vinyl maxi-single but in Germany only. (Prior single releases were both released on maxisingle in Holland as well as in Germany! The vinyl German maxisingle was released on the Virgin label (Virgin 612 328) and contains the tracks Turn The World Around, Say My Prayer (Alternative Version) and You Gun My Love. But for collectors more items were interesting. Both German and Holland pressings of the Turn The World Around singles had a misprint cover. The graphic layout which should be on the back of the cover is now on the frontside of the item. Later on a second print corrected this error. The German cdsingle comes in a jewelbox while the Dutch version has a cardboard cover. The German cdsingle has a misspelled band name on the back. (Golden Earrings)

The video for Turn The World Around was made by Dick Maas again. The clip itself was another piece of art and lots of famous characters can be seen. Barry Hay as the devil, but also angels, Jesus, Fidel Castro and many more all played by friends of the band as often before! In total 75 people were working on and for the clip besides the bandmembers! The clip was filmed at The Hague in a soon to be broken down "gashouder" (gas collecting device). The song itself is about the devil who asks Jesus to work together for once to save the world. Kind of Utopia: good and evil working together......

April 1989 saw the release of the lp Keeper Of The Flame on the Jaws label. This album was released in Germany on the Virgin Records label (209 946 630) and even released in Greece on another different label (Music box)! The title of the album pointed out Golden Earring didn't want to quit the scene. For the title the band was inspired by the Inca's who had there sun god and were servants to this source of energy. The Keeper Of The Flame is also the person who carries the flame at the Olympic games.

The album is presented to the national press on April 27, 1989 at the Amsterdam Roxy. CNR promotion put "De flame slaat in de pan" as the slogan for the presentation and after a speech from DJ Jack Spijkerman the band played 5 tracks live. Then Jack gave the first copies of their new album to the band. A day earlier on April 26, 1989 Golden Earring played live at Jack Spijkermans radioprogram "Steen en Been show".

Keeper Of The Flame was recorded at Ringside Studio Rijkevorsel, Belgium. Rinus Gerritsen played midiworks at home and Cesar Zuiderwijk used drum samples from the Simmons SDX drumcomputer. These samples were recorded at home and later on added in the studio. The cd was recorded with new digital techniques but made a sterile impression, also because of the used working method. But it certainly kept the fire burning due to the top-10 hit ‘Turn The World Around’. On this album Rinus contributed with the writing of two songs called Distant Love and One Shot Away From Paradise. This is peculiar as Rinus didn't wrote songs for a long time while in the sixties he was the main songwriter of the band together with George. This ended when Barry joined the band and took over gradually. On this album is also the track "One Word". Not many fans are aware of the fact the track "All Things Are Light" (The B-side of George's solo single "World Of Our Own") from 1987 is actually a demo version of "One Word"!

In Germany the album was promoted with a 4-track promo musicassette with the title 'Keeper Of The Flame' (A so called Vorabcassette zu ihrem persönlichen Gebrauch) The promo has four tracks: Turn The World Around, Circles, Too Much Woman and Can Do That.

Golden Earring played a very succesfull hometown concert at the Hague Parkpop festival in front of 300.000 visitors on June 25, 1989. The band played songs like When The Lady Smiles, Twilight Zone and Radar Love. The band announced their new single Distant love to be performed for the very first time. They even rehearsed the songs on the morning the festival took place. But at this moment of their career Golden Earring's financial state was in trouble. Even their concerts led to debts as their tour didn't make enough profits to cover all costs for equipment and personel...

On July 01, 1989 the band played at the Huizpop festival. Recordings were broadcasted live on national radio. This show circulates amongst fans as a bootleg called 3rd Live.

Golden Earring played some concerts for their Keeper Of The Flame tour 1989 in West Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well. But Golden Earring played for the first time in their career in the DDR (The former East Germany) at the Radrennbahn Weissensee on the 6th Berliner Rocksommer Festival at Berlin-Weißensee just a few months before the Berlin wall came down. On July 18, 1989 Golden Earring, Uriah Heep and Ten Years After were on the bill. A fine review can be found in the 10-1989 issue of the German Melodie und Rhythmus magazine.

The October issue of the Dutch Playboy magazine has an 7 page item about Barry Hay showing fashion with his girlfriend (at that time and later on wife) Sandra.

The second single from Keeper Of The Flame was Distant Love with b-side Nighthawks. (vinyl and 3track cdsingle)

Another single released is ‘Can Do That’. This Germany only single is very hard to find and has a cover identical to the Keeper Of The Flame album.

Arcade re-released the compilation album "The Very Best Of". The subtitle is changed to 1965-1989 and the newest single Turn The World Around was added while They Dance was taken off.

George Kooymans produced the album Where Is The World? by The Plastic Dolls. George also contributed on the album 'Homecoming' by Gé Reinders. The band White Lion made a Radar Love cover for their lp and cd Big Game. The song was also released on cdsingle and even a one track dj promo cdsingle was released.

Barry Hay was heard on the Countdown single project by the Countdown All Stars. Another project he gave a helping hand was the Vengeance lp Arabia. He seemed to have checked the lyrics for spelling errors and was thanked on the record cover for his help. (Vengeance guitarist Arjan Lucassen later on became famous with his Ayreon projects and even then Barry did the lead vocals on the track Sail Away To Avalon for the first Ayreon cd called The Final Fantasy.

In 1989 Radar Love covers were released by:
1989 Germany: Ian Stuart Donaldson - Radar Love (single)
1989 Germany: Dead Fish go Bananas - Modern Monster (lp)
1989 UK: White Lion - Radar Love (shaped picture disc for UK only)
1989 USA: Left End - Live at the Park Inn (fan video)
1989 USA: White Flag - Skate across America (lp)
1989 USA: White Lion - Radar Love (promo cdsingle)
1989 Worldwide: White Lion - Radar Love (7" single\12"\cdsingle)
1989 Worldwide: White Lion - Big Game (lp\mc\cd)

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