Golden Earring, the Dutch rock band that's been around as long as the Rolling Stones and whose biggest U.S. hits were “Radar Love” and “Twilight Zone” has officially called it quits. That decision was made in the wake of co-founder and guitarist George Kooymans' battle with ALS.
When the group formed in 1961 they were originally known as The Golden Earrings, and Kooymans was only 13-years old at the time. Many years and several lineups came and went, but the guitarist always remained an integral part of the band. He wrote "Twilight Zone" in 1982, which climbed to #10 in the U.S. and gave the band a major MTV video smash. Eight years earlier, during a previous rock era, his song-writing collaboration with longtime Golden Earring vocalist Barry Hay, "Radar Love," reached #13. Soon the band found itself on the road in America warming up for Aerosmith and others, but in recent years, Golden Earring's roadwork consisted of only European dates, especially in their native Holland.
Barry Hay told the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad: “We always said we would keep going until one of us fell over. I didn't expect George to be the first." It's understandable that the band would want to say goodbye to the fans with a series of farewell dates, but the pandemic and the state of Kooymans' health will prevent that. Hay commented, "We would have preferred a farewell tour, but unfortunately this is what it is. Our last performance appears to have been in Ahoy [The Netherlands] in 2019. That was a great show with family and friends, but we would have preferred it differently.”
Golden Earring have 25 studio albums out. Here's your required listening list: Moontan, Switch, and Cut.
l