Golden Earring Forever!

1990 - By year's end the band left Fred Haayens Jaws label and signed a contract for Columbia, a sub-label by Sony. Golden Earring had secured a record deal with Columbia Records, who had been recently acquired by Sony. This was a major breakthrough for the Dutch quartet because it had been nearly 10 years since the group had recorded on a major record label. The band considered such a major label was necessary for a possibly re-entry on the American market. The news of Golden Earring signing with CBS/Sony made fans even more anxious to hear the new material.

Iron Maiden bass player Steve Harris was influenced by and still a great fan of Golden Earring! Steve Harris's love of Golden Earring had led to a solid friendship between him and Rinus Gerritsen. While touring in Europe, Harris tried to catch a Golden Earring show whenever possible. He had also been an avid collector of Golden Earring material for many years and this passion for his Dutch idols resulted in an Iron Maiden cover of Kill Me (Ce Soir) in 1990. It was also common for Harris's heavy metal band to break into extended jams of Radar Love during rehearsals. Iron Maiden released on September 10, 1990 their Kill Me (Ce Soir) cover on cd-maxisingle Holy smoke. There is also a great 12inch picture disc Holy Smoke (1990 EMI 12 EMPD 153). The Holy Smoke cdsingle was also released in Japan as a Single Picture CD in 1990 by Toshiba EMI (Label number TOCP-6449)

Golden Earring was seen in concert in Ahoy on September 29, 1990. They did a show with two other bands (Het Goede Doel & VOF De Kunst). It was a sponsored concert and called the Libresse Action Concert. 8000 tickets could be won at a special promotion for Libresse products.

Barry Hay became a father for the first time. His daughter Isabella Maria Hay was born October 06, 1990. Her second name Maria referred to Barry's mother who was also named Maria. Although not married to girlfriend Sandra Bastiaan at the time, this event and his involvement with Dutch cartoon narration consumed a substantial portion of Barry's time.

Barry Hay also sang a duet with female singer Wilma Driessen. During the Dutch World Press Gala 1990 they performed the song Barcelona. The Dutch narration part of dog Charlie for the "Alle Honden Gaan Naar De Hemel" cartoon movie is done by Barry.

George Kooymans did the production of The Wolfbanes single Out On Me with b-side Even When You're Gone (HKM label, label number HKM 145.711-7)

Meanwhile Cesar Zuiderwijk began extensive work on yet another percussion concept; an "invisible" drum set. By autumn, recording sessions for the next album commenced, but all of the extraordinary activities during 1990 prevented its release that year. However, the group did not fail to continue its annual tour which, in 1990, included Holland, Belgium, Germany and (Switzerland?).

Julya Loko performed with her band and a 6 track minicd produced by George Kooymans called Lo'ko She-bang! was released as well as 2 singles called Time Changes and Angel.

Radar Love once more bounced back onto the scene during 1990, this time a dance version performed by the German band Oh Well making it into the UK charts. The song was released on vinyl and cd in different countries and in several versions.

Lex 'n Daisy did release a Back Home (hip hop version) cover in The Netherlands on single (PWL Records, label number PWS 015) and cdsingle Back Home\Cool\Touch My Body (PWL Records 1990)

In 1990 Radar Love covers were released by:
1990 Canada: Bryan Adams - MTV (tv show, fan video & mc)
1990 Canada: Oh Well - Radar Love (cassette single)
1990 Germany: Ben Liebrand - Grandmix 1986 (Never released 7cdbox)
1990 Germany: Scholle and his Friends - Ausverkauft (Klingeln zwecklos!) (CD)
1990 Indonesia: James Last - James Last Band (mc)
1990 Italy: Oh Well - Radar Love / The Cross - Power to love (Jukebox 7" single)
1990 UK: Oh Well - Radar Love (7" single)
1990/1999 UK & Germany: Ian Stuart Donaldson - Slay the Beast (lp 1990\cd 1999)
1990 USA: Tom Foolery - Impact (CD)
1990 USA: The Founding Fathers - Live at Hell Park (lp)
1990 USA: Buzz Kilman & all Blues Band - Family Album (VA) (cd\mc)
1990 USA: Mad Hatter - Tundra (lp)
1990 USA: The Space Lady - Recorded Live in San Francisco (CD)
1990 Worldwide: Oh Well - 1st Album (lp\mc\cd)
1990 Worldwide: Oh Well - Radar Love (7" single\12"\cdsingle)

In 1990 a Back Home cover was released by:
1990 Netherlands: Lex 'n Daisy - Back Home (7"\Cdsingle)

In 1990 a Kill Me (Ce Soir) cover was released by:
1990 UK\Japan: Iron Maiden - Holy Smoke (7"\Cdsingle\12" picture disc)

In 1990 a Now I Have cover was released by:
1996 Netherlands: The Kliek - Behind Bars (LP)

1991 - The first record for their new record company Sony was the much heavier sounding Bloody Buccaneers, which was presented to the press in the Amsterdam Scheepvaartmuseum on April 22. The single Going To The Run (released April 1991) is a sensitive ode by Barry Hay to a deceased Hells Angel biker friend (Ed Wijnhof, who was a member of the Gouda Black Harley motor chapter) who drove himself dead against an Amsterdam tram. Barry Hay attended his funeral and placed a bottle of Jack Daniels in the coffin. After this tragic death, other Angels like Hells Angels leader Paulus strongly suggested Hay should write a song about his biker friend Ed. It brought the band in the Dutch top 3 again. No Dutch band had ever done this 25 years after their first single! The single was released in several versions. The first version of the vinyl single released had a purple background for the cover but was soon afterwards replaced with an orange one. The cdsingle was released in two formats. A 3inch two track cdsingle in both purple and orange cardboard sleeves and a 5inch three track cd-maxisingle in both color versions. This maxi-cd contained 2 bonustracks called Time warp and Steamroller (Label number Columbia 656802 2). The 3inch format cdsingle was soon abandonned and these cdsingles are now kind of collectors items. The 12inch Going To The Run vinyl maxisingle is only released in an orange cover version.

The accompanying black and white video, which portrayed the former biker on his Harley in Los Angeles, helped boost the single to a number 3 position in the Dutch charts. Several shots for the video clip for Going To The Run were shot in the USA at the start of April 1991. When George Kooymans arrived at the Los Angeles airport he was surprised to be recognized by a fan. It was only 2 minutes after his arrival when he heard: "Hey, aren't you George Kooymans from Golden Earring?" This time the video director is Paul de Nooyer. He had done a clip for the Urban Dance Squad before and George has seen it. George was enthusiastic about the final result and so Paul de Nooyer was asked to do their clip for Going To The Run as well.

On April 30, 1991 the band did an in store signing session for the Bloody Buccaneers album at Utrecht in the Muziek Staffhorst store in the afternoon. In the evening they performed at a feesttent in Voorthuizen.

On April 17, 1991 Additional (Golden Earring band) shots for the Going To The Run videoclip were taken at Flashlight company building in Utrecht.

On May 03, 1991 Golden Earring was broadcasted on tv again with two songs: Making Love To Yourself and Going To The Run. This was at the "Geen C te hoog" tv broadcast. This show was recorded on April 16, 1991 at the Plantage studio Amsterdam. Also a drum demonstration with his inflatable drumkit by Cesar was broadcasted.

The band toured extensively and the 1991 Bloody Buccaneers tour included dates in East and West Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and once again Holland. On many shows in Germany the German band "Jesus Messerschmitt" was their support act. As the year came to a close, Golden Earring fans received one more surprise when the song The Devil Made Me Do It appeared in the Al Pacino film "Frankie and Johnny" and was included on the film's soundtrack album the following year. The band was rewarded for it's achievements in the Dutch music industry with their own Golden Earring street in a neighbourhood in the city of Almere, Holland. After the opening of the street they performed live that evening at a free concert for citizens of Almere and a lot of fans.

The band's footprints in concrete were placed on the Sony Original Star Boulevard in Scheveningen on April 22, 1991. Later on this Star boulevard (which was started in 1989) was taken out and stored in a city warehouse in Rotterdam. From 1997 on the tiles with footsteps were on display in a Rotterdam street. Sony didn't sponsor the Star boulevard anymore and from then on the Dutch "Walk Of Fame" foundation took care of all tiles and they are now on display at the "Schiedamse Dijk" in Rotterdam. Golden Earring also made some prints for the "Walk Of Fame" foundation and are the only artists with two sets of prints on display!

Due to the renewed media attention and a well selling album the band started to earn money again and had organised their financial handling in a different way. Finally the road ahead was found after years of business troubles and hassles!

The Bloody Buccaneers album was the last one which was released on vinyl. Sony closed it's vinyl production line and the album was pressed in a limited amount on vinyl only. The first edition of the Bloody Buccaneers cd was released in a limited edition of 3000 copies which had an extra promotional 5-inch cdsingle with three acoustic live tracks on it. These tracks were Mad Love Is Coming, In A Bad Mood and Twilight Zone live from the "Leidsekade live" KRO radio session. (Recorded acoustic live September 01, 1991) Label Columbia, label number SAMPCD 1563. This short acoustic session was in a very hot KRO studio and so the band played in short pants for about 50 visitors!

on July 01, 1991 there was the official release of the Temporary Madness single.

On September 18, Rinus Gerritsen became father again of daughter Natousch Gerritsen.

There were also the single releases of Temporary Madness (Release August 1991, highest chart position 26) and Pouring My Heart Out Again (Release November 1991, highest chart position: tipparade only) Pouring My Heart Out Again was released on vinyl as well. The single came out in a limited edition of 2000 copies as a single double pack: Pouring My Heart Out Again with b-side Planet Blue and a second (promo) single with When The Lady Smiles (live)\Back Home (live) from the Enschede Campus festival concert on August 25, 1991. This second single was the first Dutch Golden Earring promo vinyl single and for promotion only. (Release info: Columbia COL 6575450) The 4 tracks were also available on a maxi-cdsingle which was released in an edition of 3000 copies. (Columbia COL 657545-2)

George Kooymans did perform the song "Kom van dat dak af" in a TV-show on New-Years Eve 1991. In the fancircuit this song circulates on MP3 as well as some of the songs performed on the Los Vast performances George did at the end of the Eighties.

In 1991 the very first full "Ugly Papas" cd called Papa rules, ok? was recorded at the studio of George Kooymans in Rijkevorsel. This cd was in the same line of their first gigs and EP Facin' the crap, with "very loud, decadent rock'n'roll mingled in with psychedelics, R&B, metal and experiment". Humo adjudged is thus : "Ugly Papas play the blues as it occurs them naturally : not in the conventional way, not within the lines that the woke up this morning-experts prescribe." The cd itself was released in 1992.

Granth and Forsyth released their album Country Love Songs Vol. 2 in 1991 (Dino label, label number DNCD 1262 29) after their success with the first album. This record became gold and platinum status. On this album the song "Stay" can be found which George Kooymans wrote on Koelewijn´s request and even played acoustic guitar on the track.

In 1991 the German Zounds label release a sampler cd with a fine inlay with pictures of the German Bloody Buccaneers tour.

Barry Hay participated in the Dutch synchronised version of the Don Bluth movie "Rock A Doodle". The Dutch spoken version is called Hanekam de rocker and Barry did his voice. Even George Kooymans can be heard in this movie. A dvd version of this movie is released in 2001.

Barry did co-write the song Shameful for the band "Tambourine". The cd was released on the Polydor label in 1991.

The 1991 soundtrack to the film Frankie & Johnny (starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer) included a Golden Earring track: The Devil Made Me Do It.

In 1991, Cesar Zuiderwijk formed a music school called Cesar Zuiderwijks Music Station in The Hague where he began conducting courses in percussion.

In 1991 Radar Love covers were released by:
1991 Italy: White Lion - When the Lion Cries (bootleg 2cd)
1991-2001 Italy & US: R.E.M. - In the Year 2525 \ Covering them \ Covering 'Em (Several bootleg cd's)
1991/2002 USA: White Lion - Escape from Brooklyn (video\dvd)
1991 USA: Small time Dave & the Windy City Groove - Live (mc)

1992 - In February of 1992, Barry Hay flew to Las Vegas to marry his very own "Long Blond Animal," Dutch model Sandra Bastiaan. Barry's friend Henk Schiffmacher was also present at the Little White Chapel where the wedding ceremony took place. Barry Hay requested Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" to be played on the organ. Funny detail is that his little daughter Bella tried to play along on the organ as well which sounded awfull of course. That same month, two new Golden Earring compilation cd's called The Complete Single Collection Volumes 1 and 2, were issued in Holland on the Arcade label. These cd's were sold separately but together in a limited edition cardboard box as well.

February 1992 also marked the release of maxi-cdsingle Making Love To Yourself. This single was also pressed on vinyl (with b-side In A Bad Mood) and became the last pressed official vinyl single released by Golden Earring in the Netherlands. (Columbia - 657 809 7) Both tracks are from the album Bloody Buccaneers. From now on all single releases were on cd only! Making Love To Yourself became the fourth single taken from the same Golden Earring album (Bloody Buccaneers) when the song was extracted for release on single in the Netherlands. Never before in the bands history there were four singles released from a sole Golden Earring album!

On August 30, 1992 a planned concert in Sint Lievens-Houtem (Belgium) Open Air had to be cancelled due to heavy rain on unprotected (uncovered) stage.

At last drummer Cesar Zuiderwijk made a dream come true in September 1992 by conducting an orchestra of 1000 drummers playing a piece called "1000 drummers op de Maas" in the Rotterdam harbour on river De nieuwe Maas. All drummers were placed on five floating pontoons in the river. The event started with an intro by drummer Jim Killpatrick, followed by a video intro from Dave Weckl, recorded on the Rotterdam music fair the same day. Then Cesar used his wellknown "drum jacket" with the "1000 drummers" event as well. He was lifted and hanging above the audience by a huge harbour crane while he did a drumsolo on his "jacket" but this time it was a diver wetsuit. Cesar conducted all drummers while playing. The drummers themselves were divided in four sections and each section wore their own colour t-shirt (green, blue, red and white i believe). Another fine piece of work was the use of a huge inflatable drumkit which was played by Cesar. One of the men who gave a drumsolo was Fred van Vloten. One of the best drummer of the Netherlands. Sadly he died on January 20, 2007. At the end of the show the immense group of drummers were joined by the members of Golden Earring and during a short performance they performed Radar Love all together. Of course there were also fireworks in the sky.

The event was captured on film by seventeen camera's and directed by Egbert van Hees. Over 11 kilometers of cables were used and 300 microphones and Europes largest soundmixer. 1,4 million of watts were used for the lighting of the event so even lights from France had to be flown in and 2 video walls were placed. The week before the event was hindered by bad weather conditions. Heavy rainfall were there for days. The drummers could set up their drumkits on the day before the concert. The event was the closing to a festive week. The cause for the 1000 drummers op de Maas event was the celebration of the 60th year of excistance of the Rotterdam harbour company (Gemeentelijk Havenbedrijf Rotterdam), the 90 year excistance of the VVV Rotterdam and 30 years of Rotterdam being the worlds largest harbour. The 1000 drummers event took 2 years of intensive preparation!

There was also another cdsingle release called Radar Love on the Magnum label, backed with the songs Bloody Buccaneers and Joe. (Magnum 658025-2) The single was also released on vinyl.

During the last years Golden Earring did several acoustic radio-performances. Then the idea was raised by Rinus to record such a performance for an acoustic live cd, George had a negative feeling about this but complied in the end. And so they recorded an acoustic show for a select audience of friends and selected fans (September 07, 08 and 09, 1992). First meant as in between release to meet the demand from their record company, it was also recorded for Veronica TV at the Amsterdam Grand Café de Kroon. The recordings led to an acoustic live CD called ‘The Naked Truth. Being released at the moment the unplugged rage was on it's top the album became Golden Earrings greatest commercial succes ever since the Moontan album (1973). Later on it was also released on VHS. From the album ‘I Can’t Sleep Without You’ was released November 1992 on cdsingle (with bonustracks Back Home and Just A Little Bit Of Peace In My Heart both acoustic live, not available on the album) It's a rare 3-track CDmaxi single from the Golden Earring printed in Europe in 1992 on the Columbia label, label number COL 6588022). This cdsingle reached chart position 21 in Holland. In Spain a one track promo vinyl single of I Can't Sleep Without You was released on the CBS\Sony label.

The cover of the Naked Truth album showed a guitar decorated with a naked girl tattoo. This decoration was painted by Henk Schiffmacher, the well known Dutch tattoo artist. The guitar was already in the possesion of Barry Hay and was standing in his living room. Barry had the artistic idea for the concept and it worked out well. Many years later the "Guitar concept" was used again for the Naked II (1997) and Naked III covers (2005). Only a few weeks prior to the Naked Truth recordings George Kooymans bought 4 Taylor acoustic guitars at the Casa Benelly shop in The Hague. Over the years he bought several more Taylor guitars over there and in 2004 he received a limited edition Taylor 612ce with special inlay designed by Henk Schiffmacher out of the hands of Casa Benelly shop owner Ben van der Sman.

In November 1992 Golden Earring performed I Can't Sleep Without You acoustic live for the first time at Dutch TV at the Ursul de Geer TV-show on RTL4 channel. In the same show was also an interview to be seen by the very clumsy interviewer Ursul de Geer. He said Barry was almost 50 (44 at that time) and stupid questions about sex, drugs and rock and roll gave the band clearly an uneasy feeling. The tv broadcast was meant as a promotion for the just released acoustic live album Naked truth and their new single I Can't Sleep Without You.

I Can't Sleep Without You was also release as a cassette single in The Netherlands.

George co-produced the cd Slowburn for Flavium. He was also one of the guest musicians on the album. George also contributed to the cd Voorjaar by Henk Westbroek. From Q65 the Afghanistan album (with Barry and Rinus contributing is now released on cd. (Pseudonym Records)

The duo Golden & Carillo released their cd A Fire In New Town in 1992 in Europe on Silenz Records. The album was produced by George Kooymans and recorded and mixed at George his Ringside studio. Frank Carillo became a personal friend of George and in the future they would do more things together.

George Kooymans did wrote the music for the song Vuur En Vlam with the lyrics by Rob Chrispijn for the Kinderen voor Kinderen 13 release in 1992. A video from this songs is now on Youtube and shows the children Rabiaâ Hassing and Marijn de Jong singing the song "Vuur En vlam". The actors seen are Erik van Muiswinkel, Sylvia Millecam and Henk Westbroek.

In 1992 The Clarks released a cd-single with former Golden Earring singer Frans Krassenburg which contained a medley of Golden Earring songs. (Tracks: 1. Golden Medley (Please Go\That Day\Sound Of The Screaming Day(Gerritsen/Kooymans)(4.38) 2. My Valentine (Koopman/Hara) (2.55) Released on the Indisc label 1992, label number DICD 8409)

Another wellknown Dutch singer called Peter Koelewijn released in 1992 another sampler-2CD called "Het Allerbeste Van Peter Koelewijn" by demand from Arcade Records (Arcade 01725062). Peter wrote three new songs for this album called: IJskoud, Het Heilig Vuur and Papa´s Slapen Liever ´s Nachts. Golden Earring members George Kooymans, Cesar Zuiderwijk and Rinus Gerritsen played along on the Het Heilig Vuur track. The recordings were made at the Fendal Sound Studio at Loenen aan de Vecht and recorded by Hans van Vondelen.

Henk Westbroek did release a single (7') Waar Ze Loopt Te Wandelen by Henk Westbroek with George Kooymans on backing vocals in the Netherlands in 1992 (Columbia label 657980-7). This single (George Kooymans is co-writer of the track) is taken from his first solo album called "Voorjaar".

The Ugly Papa's, a West-Flamish group did tour at the end of 1991 and records the first full-Ugly Papa's-cd Papa Rules at the studio from George Kooymans, Rijkevorsel, Belgium. (Released 1992 on the Indisc label)

In 1992 the cd version of the Q65 "Afghanistan" album which was released. The original album on which Rinus Gerritsen played along was released on vinyl in 1970. Besides a silver compact disc there is a limited gold version release as well with a changed cover.

At the end of 1992 the first book ever about Golden Earring was published. It's called Haags(ch)e Bluf, written by pop magazine Oor journalist Pieter Franssen. This book is written in Dutch, contains a lot of photo's and is nowadays hard to find.

In 1992 Radar Love covers were released by:
1992 Canada: Lexy Jones - Follow the Line (mc)
1992 France: Bryan Adams (live 21 juli 1992 Lyon concert)
1992 Netherlands: Jigger Bigger Band - Sóóó Lekker! (CD)
1992 Netherlands: Centerfold - The Best of (CD)
1992 UK: Matchbox - Rockabilly Rebel (CD)
1992 Switserland: Ain't Dead Yet - Alive MCMXCII (cd\mc)

1993 - Since 1993 the band did theatre tours for Mojo Theater concert promotors and reached older fans again which didn't feel good anymore during the heavily amplified electric performances. The first theatre tour was appropiately called "Naked truth theatre tour". The band developed an effective way of playing: during the week Golden Earring did one or two shows in the theatres, while on Friday and Saturday a younger audience was served with electric shows. The band is still popular, noticing the fact concerts are sold out months in advance. Plugged or unplugged, it's a party every time, for the audience as well for the band itself. During the concerts Golden Earring presents about 35 years of their rock history and hits like Radar Love, Just a little bit of peace in my heart and Twilight Zone are sung along word by word by their fanatic fans.

During January 1993 the Belgium band The Scabs recorded and mixed their album Inbetweenies at George Kooymans Lagune studio in Rijkevorsel, Belgium. George and Milly Kooymans are thanked in the album liner notes.

Meanwhile Golden Earring stayed away from events like tributes and back-to-the-60 festivals as they found themselves still alive and kicking and not to be connected with these kinds of events. The Naked truth cd sales exceeded more than 300.000 copies sold and made it Golden Earrings best sold cd ever. The Naked truth recordings were released on VHS now as well and sold very good also. ‘Another 45 miles (Acoustic live) was released on cdsingle with bonustracks in March 1993. Highest chart position was 25.

The band performed in front of 300.000 people on the Scheveningen beach with a combined acoustic and electric show which was broadcasted live on June 12, 1993 for Veronica television again. From this second beach concert another cdsingle ‘As Long As The Wind Blows (live)’ was released in November 1993 which reached position 34 only. It contained also Please Go and Sound Of The Screaming Day in the medley. The maxi cdsingle had also Murdock 9-6182 as extra bonustrack. (Columbia label 659719-1) Just before the concert Martijn Verhaas from Hilversum received an exclusive leather jacket with a Naked Truth logo print and a mini-disc player out of the hands of the Golden Earring members. Martijn won his price with the "Roepie-Roepie" radio game which was played during the Veronica Beach day on Veronica radio. A photo from this event was printed in the Veronica magazine (Earring deelt jack uit)

On October 06, 1993 after their acoustic concert in Bussum at 't Spant the band received a second platinum cd for their Naked Truth album.

In 1993 an ultra rare one-sided Spanish promo vinyl single was released from ‘I Can't Sleep Without You’. This rare single was only issued for airplay and promotion on Spanish radio stations and very few copies of this pressing are known. (less than 100 copies it seemed). The single was issued in a generic CBS SLEEVE. (A side: I Can't Sleep Without You (3'27). B-side: This side does not play. Label CBS\Sony, catalogue number: ARIC 198. This single is the last Golden Earring single released on vinyl in Spain!

Barry Hay presented an episode (part 2) of the NCRV television program "De geschiedenis van de Nederlandse Popmuziek". You see Barry comment on some facts in the series and give some facts about the Earrings as well. Views from The Hague can be seen at the Passage shopping mall, the Kurhaus hotel square, the dunes near Scheveningen Beach, music store Servaas and Scheveningen Harbour. Parts of the Daddy Buy Me A Girl and I've Just Lost Somebody video's could be seen as well.

In 1993 in Germany a 3 track maxi-cdsingle was released on the Arcade label called ‘When The Lady Smiles’. (Label number 880006 -2) This cdsingle wasn't released anywhere else. It contained the tracks When The Lady Smiles, Radar Love (The 7-inch single version with 5.01 minute length and non-album track) and Back Home. This Germany only maxi-cdsingle was released to promote the best of Cd "Golden Earring - Greatest hits" on the Arcade label over there. Layout of both maxi-cdsingle and cd is the same.

George Kooymans produced an album again: Livewire by Sjako! The cd was recorded in George's home studio in Belgium. From this album also two cdsingles produced by George Kooymans were released. They are titled: I Wish (edit version) and I Won't Quit Now (edit version).

Golden and Carillo released in 1993 4-track cd-maxisingle Gravy Train. Produced by George Kooymans and mixed at his studio.

Sleeze Beez did release another Back Home cover as a b-side on their 1993 cdsingle I Don't Want To Live Without You. (Red Bullet label). Back Home was recorded during their concert on February 14, 1993.

The Radar Love song's longevity would be sustained with its inclusion on the soundtrack to the hit comedy movie 'Wayne's World 2'. It can be found on the movie soundtrack of Wayne's world 2. (Release Nov 16, 1993 in the USA).

A jazz version of Radar Love can be found on the 1993 cd "Shocking You" by singer Mariska Veres. She was accompagnied by the Shocking Jazz Quintet. The cd was released on the Red Bullet label (Holland,1993) and has label number RB 66.62

In 1993 Radar Love covers were released by:
1993 Germany: R.E.M. - Funtime (bootleg cd)
1993 Germany: Warehouse Cowboyz - Live at Rock am Silberteich (promo cd)
1993 Germany: Sweety Glitter - Come on... Come on... (CD)
1993 Netherlands & Russia: Mariska Veres Shocking Jazz Quintet - Shocking You! (cd\Rusland cd 1997)
1993/1994 Netherlands\US: Alex Bollard & the London Starlight Orchestra (2cd)
1993 Netherlands: Long Tall Ernie - Made in Holland (Medley)
1993 USA: Partner - Partner (cd\mc)
1993 USA: The Pressure Boys - Complete Recordings 1981-1988 (2cd)

In 1993 a Back Home cover was released by:
1993 Netherlands: Sleeze Beez - I Don't Want To Live Without You (Back Home b-side cd-single)

1994 - Around August record company Sony mentioned the fact they wanted to release a new Golden Earring album around November. At that time a lot of theatre performances were played and a lot of electric gigs still booked and to be played. Normally spoken this record could not have been made in three months. But under pressure the band performed at it best. The two musical faces of the band (theatre\live) can also be admired on the album ‘Face it. For this album the band tried out a new approach. Face it was recorded before a small audience of friends and family at George's garage in Rijkevorsel, Belgium. Just one day before the actual recordings the band was still rehearsing the songs and Barry even didn't knew all the lyrics! So sometimes they were read from large lyric sheets while the songs were played. As was the case with the previous studio effort Bloody Buccaneers, John Sonneveld assisted Golden Earring with the production of the Face It cd, which was written and recorded entirely in the course of three months.

Recorded with three sets a day for a small audience near their own homestudio, there was only pressure to perform but eventual mistakes could be easily edited out afterwards, different to an actual live recording where one take is made. Sometimes things were played different as earlier agreed but left within the songs because it sounded very well. Other pieces were edited with some extra percussion or so. A fine impression of the Face It recordings with producer John Solleveld can be seen on the vhs video tape ‘Making Face It’. You see the band rehearsing at Barry's house (Space Ship), in the basement of Cesar's house in his Music Station, Liquid Soul) and later on you also hear the discussions about a song being developed while sitting at the terrace beside George his house. George mentioned he wanted to sing a song because it didn't sound right the way Barry sang it! According to an interview Barry gave, Face It sounds in a mature way. Due to the about 100 theatre shows the band already gave, their skills improved especially playing in a very subtile way as being done at the acoustic shows. You see Golden Earring technician Peter Snel preparing the mixing table by soldering it piece by piece as George explains how Bloody Buccaneers was recorded in the same way earlier on, only this time for the Face It recordings the band will play in front of an audience to capture their live sound for a studio album. During the time of Bloody Buccaneers George mentioned the weather conditions were different as there was snow all around and Rinus having a pneumonia had to walk around the house to get in to the mixing room. Another fine detail is Cesar bringing in a large piece for his drumkit, which provokes George in a humorous way as he walked into the recording room and sees it. The Face It album logo was designed by their good friend and wellknown Dutch tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher and a part of the logo was painted on the garage wall by him as well. The Face It video isn't available on dvd, but in the fancircuit the video circulates as two single video files which can be played on a pc or dvd player.

The selections on Face It consist of many different musical styles and contain significant keyboard contributions from Rinus Gerritsen, much like 1969's On The Double album. Rinus can also be heard playing harp once again on his Minute by minute composition, which sounds somewhat like a "Who's Next" track. Pedal steel guitar is featured on the country-flavored I can't do without your kiss and a bandoneon (South American accordion) is even included on the "tango" The unforgettable dream. Face It even contains a kind of tango like song called The Unforgettable Dream. On the Making Face It video you can even find a campfire version of the song, which is added as a bonustrack on a cdsingle.

Face It is a result of the acoustic touring that Golden Earring had been doing around the time of this 1994 album's release. Recorded live at guitarist George Kooymans's home studio, the album has a spontaneity and a hand-crafted touch that had been missing from the group's output since the mid-'80s. However, the fact that Face It was recorded live in the studio doesn't mean the album is lacking in polish; the songs are tightly arranged and work in a number of big production touches like string sections, backup vocalists, and unexpected instruments like the accordion. The result is an album that manages to sound lush and lively at the same time. Highlights include "Hold me now," a spirited power ballad built on a rousing chorus that is given an extra punch by soaring strings and "The unforgettable dream" a mid-tempo tune with a beguiling, Spanish-flavored melody and plenty of tasty acoustic guitar. The band also throws in plenty of full-tilt rockers like "Liquid Soul", a drum-driven tune that allowed Cesar Zuiderwijk to show off his percussive prowess, and the barnstorming finale "Legalize telepathy". The one real problem with Face It is that it settled for being good instead of reaching for greatness; its songs are well-written and given spirited performances, but none of them leaped out of the speakers with the instantly accessible hooks of "Radar Love" or "Twilight Zone". As a result, Face It didn't win Golden Earring any new fans, but remained a solid, energetic release that kept the group's fan base happy.

This year another theatre tour was done due to the huge success of the first one. The new tour was called "Unplugged Volume. 2"

The song Johnny Make Believe is released on both 2-track and cd-maxi single. The 2-track cdsingle contained the Johnny Make Believe and Minute By Minute tracks (Columbia label 661150 1)

On August 21, 1994 Golden Earring would have performed at the Parkpop festival for the second time in their career but due to a infected throat from George the band had to cancel their performance at the last minute and fans could read this sad news at the gates of the park where the festival was held! The Scene replaced Golden Earring and had an enthousiastic crowd in front of the stage.

The single ‘Hold Me Now’ became a hit in Holland and was released October 1994 (Position 11). B-side ‘Livin With Me (Ain't That Easy)’ is a bonustrack. (Sony Music, Columbia label 6607611)

Golden and Carillo released in 1994 another 2track cdsingle called If I Needed Someone. In 1994 a second Golden and Carillo cd called Toxic Emotion cd was released, produced by George Kooymans again and with George on several songs.

In 1994 V.O.F. De Kunst (Featuring Barry Hay) released a cd with children's songs. From this album titled "De Griezel cd" a single was released titled "Monsters Te Koop". This single featured Barry Hay on vocals. Bass player Ocki Klootwijk from this band is a personal friend of Barry. Later on he replaced Rinus Gerritsen temporarily several times when he was injured due to a traffic accident (1999) and illness (2004). (Griezel cd: Weton Wesgram WXPCD16141)

In 1994 Radar Love covers were released by:
1994 Canada & US, Countdown Singers - Today's Movie Hits (3cd box)
1994 Germany Birdie - Live (CD)
1994 Germany & Danmark Napalm Suckers - Painium for Prosperity (CD)
1994 Germany Restless - Neutron Dance (12")
1994 Germany Revival Group - Covers+ (CD)
1994 Germany, UK, Japan Restless - Beat my Drum (lp\mc\cd)
1994 Netherlands Arthur Ebeling & Peer Wassenaar - Rare Liefde (Nederlandse tekst, radioshow)
1994 Netherlands & UK, Gruppo Sportivo - Mission a Paris (EP)
1994 Netherlands Long Tall Ernie - My Golden Years of Rock & Roll (CD)
1994 UK Total Accuracy - Guitar Heroes (CD)

1995 - Early 1995 2 cdsingles were released but both didn't made it to the popcharts as they only reached the tipparade. (‘Johnny Make Believe’ was released January 1995 and ‘Angel’ was released April 1995). Angel was supplied with a Face it tattoo included as a bonus for the fans.

The February edition of the Dutch Penthouse Magazine has an interview with George Kooymans called "Dope, dames, dood & doorgaan. Het rock 'n' roll hart van George Kooymans".

In April Barry Hay suffered of Pneumonia and several shows had to be cancelled. Just when everything went well, a few weeks later trouble started again. Barry's voice was gone and again several shows in May were cancelled.

When the writing of new songs didn't led to the wanted outcome, the Earring decided to release an album with song covers only which was titled Lovesweat. This was one wish theye had had right from the very start and was granted when they made "Lovesweat" with songs from other artists who had inspired them over the years. The band used to perform live with some of those artists (In the Sixties you would perform for four hours in one evening, so a band needed plenty of songs). On Lovesweat (released thirty years after their single debute!) they performed songs by Janis Joplin, Bob Seger and Eric Burdon to name a few. Recordings started around September after a few rehearsals. Most songs were recorded in one take and later on only voice and keyboard overdubs were added. The recordings were spread over a few months and meanwhile the Earring still did play two, three times a week also. Making ‘Love Sweat’ therefore gave Golden Earring a lot of pleasure. They played the Dylan song ‘This Wheel’s On Fire’ in 1969 on their first American tour. Their version is based on the one by Julie Driscoll & Brian Auger & Trinity, though. Some songs were recorded but appeared as bonustracks on cdsingles (So You Wanna Be A Rock 'n Roll Star/L.A. Woman & Try A Little Tenderness) When Barry sung I Was Young it contained the line "My father was a soldier" and this is actually true as Barry's father was in the British army. The songs on it's own were outstanding covers with an Earring touch but the cd sales were not that high. Special attention should be paid to the orchestral arrangement, written by Robert-Jan Stips; he had already proved his skill at this on albums such as ‘Switch’ and ‘To The Hilt’. The contract with Sony had come to an end, we couldn’t come to an agreement on an extension, so we went into negotiations with another candidate and it became CNR again. Therefor Lovesweat was the last cd Golden Earring made for Sony records.

On June 29, 1995 Barry Hay joined female singer Anouk on stage during her performance at the local Zeeheldenfestival in Barry Hay's The Hague neighbourhood.

George Kooymans introduced Anouk in 1995 to his friend guitarist and songwriter Frank Carillo. Soon afterwards Frank Carillo wrote two songs for Anouks debute album (which was released in 1997 and went instantanely triple platinum) The debut album itself was produced by George Kooymans and Barry Hay. The two songs Frank Carillo wrote are Time is a Jailor and Pictures on your skin (From which Anouk once seemed to have said to a fan she regretted to record and release the song)

Golden Earring performed at the Parkpop festival again on June 25, 1995 (The Hague, Holland) where 400.000 visitors attended and broke another record! An offer was made for a kind of Oldies Goldies tour together with Deep Purple but the Earring kindly turned down the offer and kept on going their own way. Which meant playing a few times a week and don't do any other sidesteps...

On December 17, 1995 the band recorded on a sunday afternoon in Hilversum (at the old KRO building) for the Leidsekade live Radio show again (250st recording) and all the people attending the recordings received a limited edition t-shirt. The band played some songs from their newest (cover)album Lovesweat. The broadcasted songs were Who Do You Love, This Wheel's On Fire, Turn The Page, Johnny Make Believe, I Can't Sleep Without You and Try A Little Tenderness. The single bonus tracks Time Warp, Steamroller, Madame Zou Zou and Livin' With Me (Ain't That Easy) were also broadcasted but not live.

On December 22, 1995 the #402 issue of the Goldmine magazine was published in the USA. This issue featured a large item about Golden Earring and it's discography.

In 1995 Barry Hay took a musical diversion by featuring as guest vocalist on the cd-single Sail Away To Avalon by Ayreon (New band project by former Vengeance member Arjen Lucassen.) This cd single with radio edit version became a collectors item as it was only released in a small number of 500 copies (Transmission label TMS-003). The full length cd track can be found on the Ayreon album The Final Experiment.

Barry Hay also cooperated with VOF de kunst for their single Monsters te koop. Barry sang a duet for it with Nol Havens. This single was also released on the cd Monster hits. (Both releases on the Columbia label)

Also in 1995 Barry wrote the Dutch lyrics for the song Boys Of Summer. This Dutch version (Called "Als Sneeuw Voor De Zon") is on the first solo album by Bert Heerink called Stilte Na De Storm. Bert Heerink was the singer of the wellknown Dutch hard rock band Vandenberg. His solo album consisted of well known pop and rock tracks translated and sung in Dutch.

In 1995 Barry Hay co-operated also with female singer Julya Lo'ko on her cd called Colour Me Forever. On this cd Barry Hay co-wrote the tracks I'll Never Get Over You - A Gift From Eddy and Understood (Both written by Erwin van Ligten\Julya Loko\Barry Hay) This cd was released on the Brigadoon label (label number BIS 015)

The North American band for Colombo The Godz released on November 07, 1995 another 'Candy's Going Bad' live version on their Greatest Hits Live cd. This show was recorded live at Alrosa Villa in Columbus (USA) for a reunion with former members: Glen Cataline, Mark Chatfield, & Eric Moore. This cd is released on the High Chief Record Label #1002-2. The cd contains over 70 minutes of music.

In 1995 a Candy's Going Bad cover was released by:
1995 USA: The Godz - Greatest Hits Live (cd High Chief Record Label #1002-2, release November 07, 1995)

In 1995 Radar Love covers were released by:
1995 Canada Critical Mass - Radar Love (cdsingle)
1995 Germany Party Blues in Bb - Greatest Hits (CD)
1995 Japan Skin - Absolutely live at the Borderline (CD)
1995 Japan Skin - Absolutely live at the Borderline (promo cd)
1995 Netherlands Frits - Dankzij de Dijken (CD)
1995 Netherlands (Partyband) de Bietenbouwers - 50 jaar (CD)
1995 Netherlands De Stadse Bloazers - Een mooie berg herrie (CD)
1995 UK The Richard Head Band - Pick of the Dicks (CD)
1995 UK Skin - Take me down to the River (cdsingle)
1995 UK Skin - Take me down to the River (promo cdsingle)
1995 UK Skin - Absolutely live at the Borderline (promo cd)
1995 UK Snake Corps - 3rd Cup Sessions (CD)
1995 USA The League of Decency - Swing, Soul, & Rock 'n Roll (CD)
1995 USA Tribe 8 - Roadkill café (ep)

In 1995 a live Candy's Going Bad cover was released by:
1995 USA The Godz - Greatest Hits Live (CD, on High Chief Records #1002-2)

1996 - Due to the low sales of the studio album Face It and cover album Lovesweat the band left Sony's Columbia label. On May 30, 1996 Golden Earring signed up for CNR, where they have been signed before in the early eighties and had large successes with that company. ‘This Wheel’s On Fire’ was released on cdsingle on the Columbia label in February 1996 but only reached the Tipparade again like several other cdsingles before.... This Wheel's On Fire" 3 track CD single was issued by Columbia/Sony Music Holland in 1996. The front graphics of the cd single featured a photo of each of the band members with the title of the CD printed over them. The inside has a color photo of Golden Earring, a photo of the "Lovesweat" album, a track listing and production, writing and record company information. The CD comes in a slimline jewel box. Track listing: 1- This Wheel's On Fire/2- My Little Red Book/3- So You Want To Be A Rock'n'Roll Star- L.A. Woman Label - Columbia - 662831 2.

Golden Earring recorded the song Another 45 Miles acoustic live on January 11, 1996 for the KRO tv program Maan bij nacht (hosted by Manuela Kemp). The actual tv broadcast was on January 19, 1996 with an additional interview.

On February 13, 1996 Golden Earring did play live at the Paradiso in Amsterdam with the Metropole orchestra conducted by Dick Bakker. This concert was broadcasted on Dutch tv. or was it Feb. 12? The ornate surroundings of one of the city’s oldest concert venues complete with radiant light from the hall’s stained glass windows did provide the band with the perfect setting for several rip-roaring renditions of their songs from the most recent album Lovesweat, as well as more familiar staples. It's all about performing live. The live show is always better than the recorded music as it shows Golden Earrings drive to play at their best in front of an audience. What I love the most about the performance that it showcases all of what this new album project is about.

In May 1996 Golden Earring signed a new record deal at CNR\Arcade Records.

Golden Earring joined their fans at the Fanclub day'96 at Musis Sacrum in Arnhem, Holland. (Happy Mothers Day, May 12 1996) About 1600 fans enjoyed an afternoon and early evening of Golden Earring. A great day was put together with exibitions of all kinds of Earring displays (video's, pictures, records, CD's, golden records and CD's). There was an exhibition of rare Golden Earring items like album cover prints and parts of Rinus bass guitar as well. All four band members signed autographs for an hour. A Dutch disc jockey and friend of the band called Alfred Lagarde played many Earring songs, including the top 10, as chosen by members of the Fanclub. There was also a lottery where nice Golden Earring items could be won. The lottery tickets showed a picture of Golden Earring. Highlight of the day was the actual concert by Golden Earring in the evening. The support act was done by Golden Earring crew members who performed several songs. For the occasion George, Rinus, Barry and Cesar brought former Earring member (74-76) Robert-Jan Stips (keyboard) and long time guest musician Bertus Borgers (saxophone) on stage again. The band played for almost 90 minutes. The "unusual" set included songs such as Holy Holy Life, Candy's Going Bad, Are You Receiving Me, The Vanilla Queen, Ce Soir, Sleepwalking, Leather, Future, Going To The Run, Slow Down, Money and I Can't Sleep Without You. The live tracks Leather, Vanilla queen, Are You Receiving Me from this fanclub day have been released on cdsingles later on. (The Devil Made Me Do It (1998), Paradise In Distress and Whisper In A Crowd later (both 1999)) Just a great day for real Golden Earring fans!

June 1996 a second single from the Sony Lovesweat album was released called ‘Gotta See Jane’ with additional track "Try A Little Tenderness" (Otis Redding) (Columbia 17-663224-17) This is the last single for Sony Records but also without hit success in the charts.

In 1996 the first real Golden Earring cd bootleg appeared. It's called Lowland Gods and due to it's cover the suggestion is made this is a Japanese bootleg, but all tracks are taken from Dutch tv- and radioshows so this is not the case. It's a Dutch release with a fine inlay and good sound quality. Apart from this release many bootlegs are known on tape which now become available on cd-r in the swapping circuit. They were given fantastic names, sometimes relating to the band or tracks like She hurts me with Leather.

The band performed in 1996 for the "Terug naar de kust" TV Show and played Who Do You Love, Gotta See Jane and Slow Down (featuring Raymond van het Groenewoud).

The August edition of the USA Modern Drummer magazine has an article about drummers around the world and Cesar Zuiderwijk is also in the article!

On October 13, 1996 Bruce Willis performed Radar Love live together with Golden Earring members Barry Hay, Cesar Zuiderwijk and Rinus Gerritsen at the opening of the Amsterdam Planet Hollywood. At some point during the song Barry forgot some of the words!

Somewhere in the mid-nineties Golden Earring started to use their "own plectrums". Both Barry and George had a plectrum with on the one side the bandname in tattoo logo and on the other side their name: George Kooymans or Barry Hay.

Barry Hay and George Kooymans wrote the song Mood Indigo for new singer Anouk. The song is released on 4track cdsingle (co-produced and co-written by George Kooymans and Barry Hay, tracks: Mood indigo 4.30, Home is in my Head, 4.00, Mood indigo acoustic 4.37) Later on they produced her first album as well. Anouk was taken on tour with Golden Earring as their new support act.

In 1996 a Chunk Of Steel cover was released by:
1996 USA: The Timebeings - It's about time (CD)

In 1996 Radar Love covers were released by:
1996 Belgium: Clouseau ('t Es Tjij Nie) - Live (mc fan bootleg tape)
1996 Canada: Bob & Dean Twisted Tunes - Photo Radar Sucks! (CD)
1996 France: The Hamburg Rock Band - Hard Rock (Shaped picture EP)
1996 Germany: Powerage - Motorcycle Dreams Live (CD)
1996 Germany: Take Five - Cover quer Beat (CD)
1996 France: Nine Pound Hammer - Ain't nothin' to do (7" single)
1996 Netherlands: Catch 22 - Live! (CD)
1996/1998 Netherlands: Crowded House - Live at the Kroon (promo gig 1996\tv show 1998)
1996 Netherlands: the Nits - Live in Apeldoorn (medium unknown)
1996 Netherlands: Nummerke Tweije - Ge makt wa mee.... (CD)
1996 Netherlands: Patti Smith - 2 Meter Sessies/Live (tvshow\concert August 02, 1996, Amsterdam)
1996 Netherlands: Bruce Willis & Band - Planet Hollywood Amsterdam (live)
1996 UK: Andy Lloyd - (the Acoustic) Cruising Collection (CD)
1996 UK: Restless - The very Best of (lp\cd)
1996 USA: Rockaholics - Under Cover (mc)
1996 USA: The Stanford Band - Mirth Control (CD)
1996 USA: Tribe 8 - Let there be Singles (VA) (2cd)
1996 USA: Widespread Panic - Live at the Aragon Ballroom (mc fan bootleg tape)

1997 - This year opened with the first release on the CNR label: ‘Naked II’, another acoustic live recording. Partially thanks to the presence of Ruud van Dulkenraad, an expert we had known since he interviewed us for Muziek Expres magazine in 1965 (!). Ruud didn’t want to wait long for a new project and with great power of persuasion was able to get the band members enthusiastic for ‘Naked II’. After a few years of performing acoustic live in the Dutch theatres, there were so many songs in the repertoire that were not on ‘The Naked Truth’, that a recording of a performance in Luxor Rotterdam was justified. An extra studio track ‘Burning Stuntman’ was added as a joke, edited in as a kind of interlude tune between the first and last part of the show. The Naked II album can be compared with the highly succesfull acoustic album The Naked Truth. ‘Burning Stuntman’ was released on single and premiered on national radio 3FM on August 9, 1997. It became radio 3FM Megahit which gave a lot of airplay and the single reached the chart position 19. The clip for Burning Stuntman was made by director Dick Maas again, at the First Floor Features set in Almere, Holland. Barry played the role of the Great Alonso and became almost a burning stuntman, but as bad luck followed him his matches failed to do their work and Barry left his car desillusionated and suddenly the car exploded after all... A fine video clip!

The 4 Strack maxi-cdsingle Burning Stuntman contained the tracks Burning Stuntman, Bombay, When I Was Young (live) and This Wheel's On Fire (Live) The liner note have a misprint in it (weel's instead of wheel's) Released in 1997 on CNR Music label, label number 2003405

The new cd Naked II was released on September 19, 1997 and contained also their version of the song Mood Indigo which Barry and George wrote earlier for Anouk. The Naked II cd was presented in Het Paard, The Hague, Holland, the very first time the Earring performed in this well known location in their hometown. A select number of fans and listeners to Radio 3FM had the opportunity to attend the live broadcasted show on October 04, 1997 which was the end of a Golden Earring week on national radio. Several fans from abroad (Amongst them Dan Lynch & John Scarpelli from the USA) witnessed a great show and to Dan's surprise Will & Mercy was performed live especially for him! At the end the band received a golden record from Jan Cremer, wellknown Dutch writer and friend to the band. In the weeks before TROS Radio on 3FM broadcasted 6 parts of the Golden Earring story in their program ‘Poster’.

The cover of the naked II album showed a guitar again decorated with two naked girls. The decoration was painted by Henk Schiffmacher again. Barry first had the artistic idea for this concept for the Naked Truth album. So it was obvious for the sequel Naked II this concept was used again but with two girls this time.

Meanwhile Dutch singer Anouk (discovered by Barry Hay) was performing well on the national stages. Anouk is a blond female singer whom Barry Hay met in his neighbourhood at the local Zeeheldenfestival 1995. George Kooymans and Barry Hay delivered several compositions for her debute cd which made it an international success. They also wrote her first single ‘Mood indigo’, which track was later on used for another Golden Earring album also.

On July 19, 1997 U2 played on their second show at the Kuip (Feyenoord Stadium) in Rotterdam a karaoke version of Radar Love at a concert from their Popmart Tour. From this show a U2 Bootleg (2cd) called 2nd night in Rotterdam excists. On disc 1, track 12 is The Edge singing Golden Earring's "Radar Love." You can hear the instruments and the vocals very clearly. You can only hear the audience between certain songs and also during the melody of some of the "softer-sounding" songs. This song is on more (compilation)U@ bootleg discs released. From the first night (July 18th, 1997) another bootleg is known. That one is called Popdream believer (1st night in Europe). It has the same track listing as the earlier mentioned 2cd and also has a bonustrack: Radar Love (karaoke) recorded live at the Werchter festival, Belgium on July 25, 1997

On September 20, 1997 NCRV tv broadcasted a 50 minute live-performance from the concert the band gave on April 14, 1997 at the Luxor theatre, Rotterdam, Holland. (Also available on VHS and DVD ‘Naked II’)

The Naked II Theater tour premièred on September 30, 1997 at the Agnietenhof, Tiel.

On October 14, 1997 Anouk's debute album "Together alone" was presented to the press in Utrecht at the Stairway to heaven rockcafé in Utrecht. Barry Hay and George Kooymans were probably there as well. They were the producers of the album and wrote several songs for the album.

The Dutch Penthouse magazine had a large interview with Golden Earring titled "Veel sex, veel drugs & ... Golden Earring, het gouden interview" in their December 1997 issue.

In 1997 a No Need To Worry cover was released by:
1997 The Waist Coats - The Surfisticated Sounds Of The Waist Coats (LP\CD)

In 1997 Radar Love covers were released by:
1997 Canada\USA: Countdown Singers - The Best of Today's Movie Hits (4CD box)
1997 Canada: Mercedes Band - L'heure Jean-Marc Parent Vol.2 (CD\MC)
1997 Germany: Booster - Affrocke! LIVE (CD)
1997 Germany: Skil - The Sound of a Legend (cdsingle)
1997 Germany: Zydeco Playboys - Deutsch (Promo CD)
1997 Ireland: U2 - Catholic Blues (bootleg 2CD)
1997 Netherlands: Thunder - Live Paradiso, Amsterdam, March 13, 1997 (concert)
1997 Netherlands: Thunder - Live Bospop Festival Weert, Nederland, June 21, 1997 (concert, bootleg CD)
1997 Netherlands: U2 - 2nd Night in Rotterdam, March 21, 1997 (concert, bootleg 2CD)
1997 Netherlands: U2 - Popdream Believer (1st Night in Europe) March 21, 1997 (concert, bootleg 2CD)
1997 Spain: Thunder - Live at La Sala, Madrid, Spain March 21, 1997 (concert)
1997 UK: The Alarm - Out of the Cupboard and into the Real World (fan bootleg cd)
1997 UK: The Hamburg Rock Band - The Best Ever Rock Covers (CD)
1997 UK: Jive Bunny & the Mastermixers - Pop back in time to the 70's (CD)
1997 UK: The Hamburg Rock Band - Cover me (CD)
1997 USA: Blitz Dynette - The World walks on by (CD)
1997 USA: Dr. Crunch - Let's play Doctor (MC)
1997 USA\Japan: Pax - Dark Rose (CD)
1997 USA\Canada: The Starlite Orchestra and Singers - Today's Movie Hits (4CD)
1997 USA: Under Suspicion & the Suicide Horns - Guilty! (CD)
1997 Switserland: Schweizer Armeespiel - Funk, Rock, Latin, Rhythm (CD)
1997 Worldwide: White Lion - The Best of White Lion (CD)

1998 - On January 1, 1998 a close friend of the band called Alfred Lagarde died suddenly at the age of 49. He was a famous Radio Veronica DJ and lived on the other side of the same street Barry lived (Barentszstraat, The Hague). So Golden Earring performed at the Big Al Tribute in Den Haag on January 07, 1998 at the Asta Theatre, The Hague with many other artists like Mothers Finest. They played several songs like Johnny Make Believe, Going To The Run (with alternative lyrics) and Radar Love (With Ad vandenberg on guitar). All with the motto "Cry tomorrow, party now" as Barry said before performing Johnny Make Believe. Alfred Lagarde was like a big brother to Barry Hay.

In January 1998 Barry Hay was present at the press presentation of Arrow Classic Rock Station. This radio station got an ether frequency and was now ready to reach much more listeners. It also became available on the The Hague cable radio system. Barry watched while world champion Darts Raymond van Barneveld threw his darts at the improvised bull (the hole of a vinyl lp!) Arrow frequently plays Golden Earring songs.

The Top 100 of all times was broadcasted on April 10, 1998 (Goede vrijdag) by Radio Veronica from 8-18 hr. Golden Earring was present with two tracks on position 51 Twilight Zone and Radar Love on position 08.

Cesar Zuiderwijk was seen on April 26, 1998 during the broadcast of Villa Achterwerk program (VPRO) with an interview about his schapedoes dog.

The acoustic version of ‘The Devil Made Me Do It’ was released as the new single. The band members are all fifty years old now (Rinus 52), but nobody thinks about quitting this band. On the contrary: in the beginning of 1998 Golden Earring's booking agency had no more space for extra gigs in 1998 and 1999 as both acoustic and electric shows are booked on a large scale. The band was ready to enter their 5th decennium of their career! Succes was still there and was well illustrated by the fact the bandmembers get a platinum cd for their album Naked II and golden cd’s for Bloody Buccaneers and The complete naked truth. Rumours said there would be another album released March 1999. Working title was ‘Paradise In Distress. Some working titles for tracks on this album were "The Fighter", "Paradise In Distress" and "Whispers in a crowd". The last two songs are played acoustic live since October 1998 and also electric since November 1998.

The The Devil Made Me Do It cd maxi single contained the following tracks: The Devil Made Me Do It (Single version)\Holy holy life\Kill me (Ce soir)\The Devil Made Me Do It (Album version) CNR MUSIC label 2003608 ARC 311)

In 1998 Radar Love covers were released by:
1998 Canada: the Starlite Singers - Hollywood Movie Hits (12cd)
1998 Germany: Final Virus - Break out Now (CD)
1998 Germany: Final Virus - Off Road Tracks Vol.6 (VA) (CD)
1998 Germany: Jet Bumpers - Punk Chartbusters Vol.3 (Various Artists) (CD)
1998 Germany: Sun's & Noses - 100% Pure (CD)
1998 Japan: Thunder - Live Citta Club, Kawasaki, Japan, 4 juli 1998 (concert)
1998 Netherlands: Brian Christopher - Live (CD)
1998 Netherlands: Hofkapel de Smulnarren - Vieren, vieren en nog eens Vieren (CD)
1998 Netherlands: Nightfall - Rialen 41 (CD)
1998 Netherlands\USA\Canada: Omen - Escape to Nowhere (CD)
1998 Spain: Lobos Negros - Rockabilly Freak Out Radio (CD)
1998 UK: Jive Bunny & the Mastermixers - Pop back to the 70's (CD)
1998 UK: Mazique - Radar Love (7" single\12")
1998 UK: Roswell Invaders - Roswell Invaders (CD)
1998 USA: Cocktail Nuts - Cocktail Nuts (CD)
1998 USA: Nine Pound Hammer - Live at the Vera (2lp\cd)
1998 USA: Rockslide - Live on Main Street (CD)
1998 USA: Road Trip - Rockin' Radio Favorites (CD)
1998 USA: The Stanford Band - Greatest Hits 1970-1998 (2cd)
1998 South Africa: Langarm Sangers - All Time Top 20'S Volume 1 (CD)
1998 Switzerland: Killer Machine - Born to be Wild (CD)

George Kooymans did produce the band Catch 22 in 1998. This is the band of Peter Koelewijns son Joep. George knows him since his youth and wanted to do the production. The album is called Voices and released on the Mercury label (label number Mercury 534498). George phoned up some well known musicians like Ton Dijkman, Manuel Hugas, Nico Brandsen, Jeroen de Rijk and a choir (with singers Lisa Boray and Blanche Ellis) and recorded the album in his own studio in Rijkevorsel, Belgium. The engineer and co-producer was John Sonneveld, wellknown from several Golden Earring recordings. The first single of the album is called I hear voices and is a composition by George Kooymans and Frank Carillo. George and Frank also wrote another song for the cd called Maybe roses will never die. They can be heard on both songs on guitar.

1999 - January 1999 Sony released two minidiscs by Golden Earring: The Naked Truth (Columbia 4726198) en Face It (Columbia 4776508) in the Nice Price Classix serie, so they can be bought at cheaper price.

On January 09, 1999 Golden Earring did perform at Wateringen (Velohal) again with support act Billy The Kid and a completely sold out venue. Before the show there were some problems with Rinus bass unit which produced an annoying hum. Technician Peter Snel did some checking and got the unit repaired in time with some soldering.

The first single release (February 1999) also named 'Paradise In Distress’ became Golden Earring's 46th hit single in the Dutch charts (Highest position 24). Another fine videoclip was made. This time by Sonia Hermann-Dolz, friend of Golden Earring's lighting designer and technician Marcus Muzea. The footage shot in black and white, was made in a church in Oudenbosch, Holland. Lots of famous and well known characters were seen in the clip, even a dancing Russian president Jeltsin!

Meanwhile the band got an Edison Music Award for it's complete works on March 04, 1999. The tv recordings for this event were on March 04 and the actual broadcast was on March 05 on RTL 4 tv station. During an acoustic concert in Roosendaal on February 10, 1999 the band was robbed as someone broke in into their dressing room. Telephone's, a video camera, car keys and a wallet with money and credit cards were stolen. Most cars were still at the parking lodge but Barry's car was stolen and later that night found totally wrecked on the side of a road. He then bought a new car: a Saab 9-3 Viggen cabriolet. He is the first Dutch owner of this car which was produced in a limited edition and quantity. Barry received his car during a presentation at Saab Haeghstad, Leidschendam.

In the week of March 13, 1999 Golden Earring entered the Rabo top 40 this week at position 29 with Paradise In Distress. Confirmed cd-release date was March 25. The 4 track cdsingle contained the tracks Paradise In Distress, Fluid conduction, Leather (Live) and Are you receiving me (Live)and was released on the CNR Music Arcade label.

On March 23, 1999 the new studio album Paradise In Distress was presented to the press at the Oscars beach pavillion in Scheveningen. This place is not far from the Pier where it all started way back in 1965. Friends, relatives, lots of journalists (even from Germany!) were attending and the Earring performed a small set live. The band received the first copies of their new album out of the hands of TROS DJ Daniel Dekker, a long time admirer of the band as well. He was asked to to dos by Golden Earring's record company.

On March 25, 1999 the band released the bombastic and heavy produced 29th album ‘Paradise In Distress’. (On Arcade/CNR-Music Holland label). A concept album about a gambling addict. Paradise In Distress" did sound totally different for the ear of an experienced Earring fan. For me, it was one of the most "postmodernistic" albums in the whole 1990s decade. The lyrics of all the 14 songs are put together by a main theme - distress, betting, fortune, sick love,loss... continue the list yourself... But it's definitely a would-be rock opera,and the band regarded this cd as such as well. A good production, but no really big hits on it. The cd was also released in Germany on the ZYX label, but this pressing is nowadays hard to find. The Dutch version was released in in two versions. A limited edition digipack and the regular jewelbox release.

A new compilation cd was released on March 26, 1999 Universal Music released another sampler called Please Go - Golden Earrings. The front side of the inlay has a picture of the Earrings and this sampler carried 16 tracks.

From the end of March 1999 on the album was promoted on television with a commercial for the new cd "Paradise In Distress". It showed a flying devil (the one that's on the cdcover) and fragments of the Paradise In Distress videoclip. On Dutch Radio 3 FM there were some contests about Golden Earring to promote the new album. Arrow Classic Rock Radio did a Golden Earring Weekend last weekend of March.

Around March 1999 the setlist was changed at electric gigs. They now added "Evil love chain" live to the set. The setlist at the Kruisland and at the Zwolle gig was: Evil lovechain, Clearnight moonlight, Another 45 miles, Heartbeat, Long Blond Animal, Liquid Soul, Save your skin, Paradise In Distress, Burning Stuntman, Whisper In A Crowd, Going To The Run, Johnny Make Believe, When The Lady Smiles, Twilight Zone, Radar Love and the two encores Can't sleep without you, Legalize telepathy.

March: In a new Dutch magazine called "Cigarz" there was an interview with Barry Hay. Barry Hay can be seen on the cover smoking a cigar

On April 10 Golden Earring has been interviewed in "De plantage". Afterwards you could ask them questions online. It came to light that the solo records by Barry Hay and George Kooymans will be released on cd soon (Only parrots, frogs and angels and Solo). In May a documentary will be published about Golden Earring, made by Rogier van der Ploeg. They will play more new songs live, The Fighter and Take my hand, Close my eyes will be on the new setlists soon. But on April 21, 1999 it became clear the releases of the soloalbums on cd had to be postponed due to manufacturing problems.

On April 11, 1999 Golden Earring was seen in the Vpro tvshow De Plantage on Nederland 3 for an interview and they play 3 songs live. (One night without you, Paradise In Distress and Another 45 Miles.) The re-broadcast is on April 13, 1999.

On April 20, 1999 Radio 3 FM organized an auction to help Kosovo (former Jugoslavia). One of the items on auction was a signed Golden Earring guitar. The final auction price was 15.000 Dutch guilders!

Barry Hay became father again, his (second) daughter Gina Louise was born May 06, 1999 in The Hague. The second name is called after Barry's mother. But the concert at Grootegast on May 12 had to be cancelled because Barry's daughter was admitted at the Juliana Childrens hospital in The Hague and needed severe care he wanted to be with his baby.

Both George Kooymans first solo project Jojo and Barry Hay's Only Parrots Frogs And Angels were finally released on cd on May 07, 1999 on the Lost and found label from Universal Music. These solo albums are real collectors items on vinyl and hard to get. So these releases were a gift from heaven to Golden Earring fans and collectors. Pity is that most of the original artwork is not on the cd-inlay.

On May 17, 1999 Golden Earring were the guests at the Barend and Van Dorp tv show on RTL4, a Dutch television channel.

In May the earlier released compilation cd Please Go did show up in a new release with a black cd label print instead of the earlier red one from the first release.

On June 05, 1999 Golden Earring performed "One Night Without You" on "De show van je leven" on tv. They even brought the background singers with them again.

Around May 1999 the band announced to take a sabbatical year in 2000. The same month on May 30 Rinus Gerritsen got seriously injured by a traffic accident while biking through the Hague. He was taken to the Westeinde trauma centre by ambulance and suffered from a fractured pelvis after being hit by a city bus. Ocki Klootwijk was his temporary replacement. As always the show had to go on! (Or to speak with Golden Earring: Don't stop the show!) Coincidence or not but on the same ward Rinus was, another musician was in hospital as well. Well known mouth harp player John Lagrand was suffering from a broken leg and they both were on the same room. John played a solo on two songs of the Golden Earring album No promises no debts. (Snotlove In Spain and Tiger Bay)

So when Golden Earring performed on Sunday July 11, 1999 for the first time electric live on the Luxembourgean open-air festival Rock Um Knuedler at Place Guillaume II in the centre of Luxemburg City the band played with Ocki Klootwijk as well. He is a friend of the band and did his job okay. He also did all shows during the next two months as long as Rinus was recovering. A motley bunch of Dutch and international fans coloured the city of Luxemburg where Golden Earring played this setlist: Evil lovechain, Paradise In Distress, Long Blond Animal, Liquid Soul, Going To The Run, Johnny Make Believe, When The Lady Smiles, Burning stuntman, Twilight Zone, Radar Love (incl. drumsolo by Cesar) and the two encores Can't sleep without you and Legalize telepathy. Golden Earring came to Luxembourg by airplane and when the speaker of the day at this festival reported the landing of the band on the airport, a wave of joy, relieve and great expectations touched the heart of every individual in the crowd. Well, again it's one of those days to remember and to recall every now and then.

One day earlier on Saturday July 10, 1999 Golden Earring played at the Bospop Festival these songs in this order: Evil Lovechain, Paradise In Distress, Long Blond Animal, Johnny Make Believe, Going To The Run, Burning Stuntman, When The Lady Smiles, Twilight Zone, Radar Love (incl. drumsolo by Cesar) and the two encores Can't sleep Without You and Legalize Telepathy.

Due to the recovery of Rinus in hospital another single was postponed for some time but released on July 30 finally. It was called Whisper In A Crowd, a fine ballad with George Kooymans on vocals. The clip for it was composed out of video footage shot in the USA from people living over there and overdubs of the Earring members. This way Rinus didn't had to be filmed but a clip could be made.... TMF (The Music Factory, a Dutch Music TV station), announced Whisper In A Crowd was their super video of the week, starting Saturday July 31, 1999. This meant the video was shown more than regularly and provided a lot of airplay for Golden Earring. However this didn't led to succces. The single didn't make it to the hit charts as it only reached the Tip Parade on August 14, 1999 at position 19. The cd single had a single only bonustrack called The Vanilla Queen (live recorded on May 12, 1996 at fanclubday, Arnhem) as b-side with guest musicians Robert Jan Stips (keyboards) and Bertus Borgers (saxophone).

During the summer of 1999 Cesar Zuiderwijk went to the Pavarotti Music Center in Mostar (former Yugoslavia) for Warchild. "Music goes beyond frontlines and etnical separations. In the world of music there are no houses shot into pieces. With drumming I can add a little, because drumming is the rhytm of the heart. The rhytm of life," said Golden Earring drummer Cesar Zuiderwijk. He visited the Pavarotti Music Centre in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina. War Child funds a musical therapeutic program. At different schools and a psychiatric clinic Cesar gave joyful drumworkshops together with musicteacher and drummer Dennis van Hoorn. Bosnian drumteachers were tought classes in educational- and drumtechniques. Most of the drumworkshops cumulated into flashing drumsessions where everybody could express themselves. Cesar also donated a brand new Pearl drumset to the Music Centre. On his return he promised to be an Ambassador for Warchild's feast for peace.

The band performed a special concert in the garden from chef cook Henk Savelbergs restaurant (Voorburg, Holland). (Henk Savelberg is a friend of the band and gives Cesar cooking lessons while Cesar gives Henk drumming lessons in return)

The band played for the "Vrienden van Amstel Live" tv program at Den Helder but still with Ocki Klootwijk on bass as Rinus was recovering from his traffic accident. They performed the songs Twilight Zone, Paradise In Distress (with Manuela Kemp on backing vocals) and Whisper In A Crowd.

After the vacation break Rinus was back on bass again on August 14, 1999 (but Ocki Klootwijk was on standby in case Rinus could go on). But this same day misfortune struck again for the band: after their concert in Heeg (Friesland province) Cesar fell of the dressing room stairs and he broke three ribs. The concert at Klarenbeek (Belgium) next day had to be cancelled but the next concert one week later on August 20 (Lage Mierde concert) he was already present again. After using some painkillers and a special bandage applied by a physiotherapist from The Hague soccer club FC Den Haag. But this bandage made breathing very hard as it was fit tight so Cesar decided to play next week again and removed the bandage after one day. Of course he felt his hurt ribs when drumming but he was able to complete his task, with a painkiller in reach.

At the end of september the setlist was changed again! In Amsterdam, Paradiso, they added some songs from the Paradise In Distress album. The songs were: Take my hand, close my eyes and The fighter.

On September 29, 1999 during the Dutch Film festival in Utrecht a rockumentairy about Golden Earring premièred. ‘Don't Stop The Show’ has been made by cineast Rogier van der Ploeg and composed out of old and new concert recordings, interviews and archive material. For more than thirty years The Golden Earring have been around in the music business. Starting out as 'The Golden Earrings' in the 1960's, they grew out to be an international phenomena. This documentary shows their whole musical career, from their first recording to their acoustic performances of today. Interviews with old bandmembers, family, roadies, as well as famous musicians from all over the world, are being interchanged with stage performances. And the particular archive material tells a story of it's own! From September 30, 1999 on this 108 minute long Golden Earring documentary was shown in several cinemas across Holland. Reviews were positive, but the documentary left the cinema's soon. Years later it was released on dvd as well.

Before the Earring started their sabbatical the millenium ended with the live recording of their ‘Last Blast Of The Century show’. For the second time in their career a Golden Earring live album was recorded in the Groenoordhallen, Leiden Holland. (December 19, 1999) During this concert the band performed also less known material and special guests like saxofonist Bertus Borgers and former member Robert Jan Stips played along. Besides those special guests a horn section and backing singers were added to the band line-up. For this occasion the stage lighting setup was extended and also in the back of the hall there were enhancements made by their lighting designer Marcus Muzea. The show ended with the premiere of a new song called Last Blast Of The Century (The song the whole show was named after). But due to problems with Georges microphone the song had to be editted in the studio again at postproduction later on. This song is a hidden ghost track on the double cd release from the concert. If you look closely at last shots on the vhs and dvd you can see the fireworks at the end of the show started a small fire in front of the audience, but this was quickly put out by security people.

For fans it's interesting to know the DVD and cd issue are different. The cd version of the Last Blast concert was recorded in Beverwijk, Wateringen, Tilburg en Volendam. Only the title track on the cd van deze cd is actually recorded in Leiden during that show. The dvd version of The Last Blast Century is recorded in Leiden at the Groenoordhallen.

In 1999 George Kooymans contributed to the "De Hemel" album from singer Henk Westbroek. He can be heard on vocals on the song "Ik Zou Weg Kunnen Lopen" which was co-written by him. This album was released on cd on the Dino label (Label number DNCD 99679)

Another cover version of Dong-Dong-Di-Ki-Di-Gi-Dong was released. This time by the band A La Carte again with a 1999 remix version of 3.02 minutes long from their earlier recorded track. (On Cd Best Of A La Carte)

In 1999 a Dong-Dong-Di-Ki-Di-Gi-Dong cover was released by:
1999 Germany: A La Carte - Cd Best Of A La Carte (With Dong-Dong-Di-Ki-Di-Gi-Dong 1999 remix version 3.02 minutes)

In 1999 Radar Love covers were released by:
1999 Canada: Leather Messiah - Dance to the Edge (CD)
1999 Germany: Arnie und Bert - Orginal Deutschmachern (Radio Bremen demo cd)
1999 Germany: Chronicle - Short Cuts (bootleg CD)
1999 Germany: Clayton - On stage (CD)
1999 Germany: Final Virus - Radar Love (Promo cdsingle)
1999 Germany: Fireball - No Friendly Fire (CD)
1999 Germany: Full Circle - On the Top (CD)
1999 Germany: Dorian Gray - Coverrock (Private pressing CD)
1999 Germany: Hardbeats - Radar Love (CD)
1999 Germany: Midlife Crisis - Antenne Ruhr 18 Rock Songs (VA) (CD)
1999 Germany: New Sensation - Now and T(h)en (CD)
1999 Germany: Sweetheart - Live (Private pressing CD)
1999 Germany: X-Traktor - Only Rock 'n' Roll (CD)
1999 Finland & Germany: Demolition 23 feat. Michael Monroe - Live at Tampere 1995 (Video\DVD 2004)
1999 Netherlands: Billy The Kid - De Vrienden van Amstel Live (tv show, video recording)
1999 Netherlands: The Clarks - Live Repertoire (CD)
1999 Netherlands: Fiesta Servessa - Schudden voor Gebruik (CD)
1999 Netherlands: Helmut - Lotti Lalala Live (Dutch TV show recording a capella version)
1999 Netherlands: De Knolle oet Grolle - 40 (CD, instrumental version)
1999 Netherlands: De Kornuiten - Dinthermezzo (CD)
1999 Netherlands: Kaaj Gaaaf! - Millennium Proef (CD)
1999 Netherlands: Metropole Orchestra - A Bridge in Time Orchestra release (CD)
1999 Netherlands: De Ölie Tappers - Dwars deur de Muur (Private pressing CD)
1999 Netherlands: Volumia! - De Vrienden van Amstel Live March 21, 1997 (TV show)
1999 Netherlands: De Wallenkraaiers - Brand new C-Day (CD)
1999 Spain: Bloque - En Directo (CD)
1999 UK: New Model Army - All Of This (The "live" rarities) (CDbox)
1999 USA: Skrewdriver - Undercover (CD)
1999 USA: Sticky Pistil - Hi-Fi Superfly (CD)

Official Golden Earring website.

All additional info gathered by Golden Earring Digital Archive website\Casper's Golden Earring Research.

Thanks to all Golden Earring fans around the world who sent in their updates and corrections.

To be continued!

LAST UPDATE: March 21 2021

This is a Fan site and has no direct connection with the band Golden Earring.

It's intention is to act like a library that covers and references the history of the band for fan enjoyment.

© 2003-2023 Casper Roos\Golden Earring Research, Zoetermeer, Holland. All rights reserved.