Twilight Zone (Golden Earring song)

"Twilight Zone"
Single by Golden Earring
from the album Cut
B-side"King Dark"
Released23 August 1982 (NL) [1]
Recorded1982
Genre
Length7:58 (album version)
4:47 (single version)
Label21/Polygram
Songwriter(s)George Kooymans
Producer(s)Schell Schellekens
Audio sample
"Twilight Zone"

"Twilight Zone" is a 1982 hit by Dutch band Golden Earring. It was written by the band's guitarist George Kooymans, who drew inspiration from the spy thriller book The Bourne Identity rather than the 1960s mystery television series The Twilight Zone.[6] The song "Twilight Zone" appears on Golden Earring's 1982 album Cut. It spent 27 weeks on the US Pop charts. It was the group's sole Top 10 Pop single on the US Billboard Hot 100 (the song reached #16 on the Cashbox chart) and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Top Album Tracks chart, the band's only No. 1 hit in America.[7]

Lead vocals are divided between Kooymans and Barry Hay. Each sings lead for one half of the first verse (first Kooymans, then Hay), and Hay sings lead for the second verse with backing by Kooymans and provides the spoken lines in the introduction and first verse. Kooymans sings lead on the choruses, backed by Hay.

In the 1990s, the song was included on a volume of Rhino Records' New Wave Hits of the '80s series. The music video was featured on Volume One of the VHS companion compilation.

  1. ^ "Golden Earring singles".
  2. ^ Reed, Ryan (23 August 2022). "When Golden Earring Returned to US Chart With 'Twilight Zone'". Ultimate Classic Rock.
  3. ^ "Cut - Golden Earring". AllMusic.
  4. ^ "Old music: Golden Earring – Twilight Zone | Music | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. 13 December 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  5. ^ Luhrssen, David; Larson, Michael (2017). Encyclopedia of Classic Rock. Bloomsbury. p. 146. ISBN 9781440835148.
  6. ^ "Golden Earring - Twilight Zone". 6 March 2024.
  7. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2010). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits',' 9th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 259.