Twilight Zone (Golden Earring song)

"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]

"Twilight Zone"
Single by Golden Earring
from the album Cut
B-side	"King Dark"
Released	23 August 1982 (NL) [1]
Recorded	1982
Genre	Rock[2][3] pop rock[4] new wave[5]
Length	7:58 (album version) 4:47 (single version)
Label	21/Polygram
Songwriter(s)	George Kooymans
Producer(s)	Schell Schellekens
Audio sample
"Twilight Zone" file help

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.

Composition

Nic Renshaw, who writes a blog for KSM Guitars, describes the guitar riff at the beginning as an "eighth-note pulse" of B D E D B followed by a sixteenth note and dotted eighth-note, D and E, and another D which is an eighth note. Renshaw considers the "disruption" more interesting than an ordinary pattern, and it acts as a "set-up ... lining up a shot" so that at 3:10, "bassist Rinus Gerritsen knocks that shot out of the park."^[8]

Music video

The music video, directed by Dick Maas, features a storyline with lead singer Barry Hay as an espionage agent who is apprehended by three henchmen (played by the other members of the band).

The music video was one of the first to feature a cinematic storyline and dance choreography and was a hit on the fledgling MTV network (in somewhat edited form, as the original European cut was notable for a sequence featuring a topless woman), helping the song to become the second international hit for the band.^[9] Golden Earring followed the success with an extensive tour of the USA, Canada and Europe. MTV commissioned the band to shoot a movie of the final 'homecoming' concert of the tour in the Netherlands. The concert film, also directed by Dick Maas, included a brief introductory segment which was an extension of the Twilight Zone video; one writer described it as a "sharp looking video skit about spies or something", but criticized the actually 16mm concert footage as "grainy" and "washy yellow."^[10] The concert was released in 1984 as Live from The Twilight Zone along with an album of the concert titled Something Heavy Going Down: Live From The Twilight Zone, it aired on MTV and was published as video on VHS, Beta and Laserdisc.

The Cut album cover's image of the jack of diamonds playing card being shredded by a bullet is used in the video and represents the life of the rogue agent.

Track listing

7" single

Side A

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Twilight Zone" (video edit)	4:49

Side B

No.	Title	Length
1.	"King Dark"	3:35

12" single

Side A

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Twilight Zone" (album version)	7:58

Side B

No.	Title	Length
1.	"King Dark"	3:35

Personnel

• George Kooymans - co-lead vocals, lead guitar, backing vocals
• Barry Hay - co-lead vocals, rhythm guitar, spoken words (intro), backing vocals
• Rinus Gerritsen - bass guitar, keyboards
• Cesar Zuiderwijk - drums

Additional personnel

• Robert Jan Stips - synthesizer

Street choirs on hit tracks "Twilight Zone" & "The Devil Made Me Do It" (album Cut) by:

• Steve Clisby (American Gypsy) - backup vocals
• Omar Dupree (American Gypsy) - backup vocals
• Evert Nieuwstede (Urban Heroes) - backup vocals

Golden Earring thanking American Gypsy & Evert Nieuwstede on album Cut (inner sleeve-LP & booklet-CD)

Chart performance

Weekly charts Chart (1982–1983) Peak position Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[11] 5 Canada Top Singles (RPM) 13 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[12] 1 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[13] 2 US Billboard Hot 100[14] 10 US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[15] 1 US Cash Box Top 100[16] 16

Year-end charts Chart (1982) Position Belgium (Ultratop Flanders)[17] 52 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[18] 13 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[19] 20 Chart (1983) Position Canada Top Singles (RPM)[20] 93 US Billboard Hot 100[21] 19

In popular culture

The song has been featured in several films and series including End of Watch (2012), The Americans (2013), Ozark (TV series) (2022), and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024).

Cover versions

Music for The Twilight Zone pinball machine (1992) featured core elements from the song in many of its tracks.

William Shatner covered the song on his 2011 album, Seeking Major Tom.

Scoti*Slate included a cover on their album Good Fight in 2013.^[22]

See also

• List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 1982
• List of Billboard Mainstream Rock number-one songs of the 1980s

References

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.
8. Renshaw, Nic (August 14, 2020). "Bassline Breakdown: Golden Earring's 'Twilight Zone'". KSM Guitars. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
9. Luhrssen, David; Larson, Michael (24 February 2017). Encyclopedia of Classic Rock. ABC-CLIO. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-4408-3514-8.
10. Pratt, Douglas (1988). The Laser Video Disc Companion: A Guide to the Best (and Worst) Laser Video Discs. Zoetrope. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-918432-86-5. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
11. "Golden Earring – Twilight Zone" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
12. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 38, 1982" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
13. "Golden Earring – Twilight Zone" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
14. "Golden Earring Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
15. "Golden Earring Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
16. "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles – Week ending April 9, 1983". Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Cash Box magazine.
17. "Jaaroverzichten 1982". Ultratop. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
18. "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1982". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
19. "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1982". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
20. "Top Singles - Volume 39, No. 17, December 24 1983". Collectionscanada.gc.ca.
21. "Hot 100 Songs – Year-End 1983". Billboard. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
22. Albano, Karyn (10 February 2014). "Good Fight by Scoti*Slate". Modern Rock Review. Retrieved 25 January 2019.

External links

• Song review at AllMusic
• Golden Earring - Twilight Zone on YouTube