ColumnAry: Alive and Kicking

Saturday, September 03, 2011

Alive and Kicking

Alive and Kicking.

Golden Earring:

This year the Dutch Rock Band Golden Earring from Den Hague exists already for 50 years, which is most probably a world record for a band. This milestone (50 years Alive and Kicking) reminds me of the fantastic performances and albums they made. The members George Kooymans, Barry Hay, Rinus Gerritsen and Cesar Zuiderwijk managed to be 'the Stones of the lowlands'. The breakthrough came with their hits Back Home launched in 1970 after their tour in the States and Radar Love in 1974. Not only these but also other hits were fabulous such as Another 45 Miles, Yellow And Blue, Eight Miles High, Long Blond Animal, She Flies On Strange Wings, Long Blond Animal, When The Lady Smiles and Twilight Zone are some of my many favourites. They toured together with Janis Joplin, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Santana and The Who. In 1992 Bill Clinton chose Radar Love for his campaign and Hillary chose When The Lady Smiles for her campaign for the US presidency of 2008. The video for this song, shot by Dick Maas (movie The Elevator), was controversial. In one scene, a man attempts to rape a nun. This particular scene was quickly removed from the video (the full cut was only shown after midnight). Eelco Gelling from Cuby & The Blizzards, another favourite blues band of mine, shortly joined the band and the Dutch Rock singer Anouk was actually discovered by Barry Hay. After 50 years The Earring is still Alive and Kicking.

The Earring: 50 years Alive and Kicking

The Wall of Dolls period: George, Cesar, Rinus, Barry

Not all favourites of mine are still alive and kicking: Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones, Syd Barrett and Richard Wright from Pink Floyd, John Lennon and George Harrison from the Beatles, Sandy Denny from the Folk Rock band Fairport Convention and Jim Morrison from The Doors.