“Dutch?!” That was likely the reaction of most listeners around the world upon learning the origin of one of classic rock’s most Anglo-American-sounding bands, Golden Earring. The group, for the most part, wrote bombastic, bass-heavy songs that seemed tailor-made for fast cars driven on endless highways. Golden Earring is, in my estimation, one of the greatest rock bands of all time.
Yes, most listeners may know the group via just one of their biggest hits. Still, that doesn’t quite paint the whole picture. Let me try and add more detail to it, as I write about Golden Earring’s greatest songs.
Greatest 10 Songs by Golden Earring
10. “Back Home”
The fact of the matter is that Golden Earring fought a long war of attrition for success outside of the Netherlands. These efforts were hit or miss. That, I think, is the case with much of the self-titled 1970 album.
Still, “Back Home” reveals a confident band that was at this stage dropping cheerful pop formats working with bluesy hard-rock constructions. And, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more English-sounding Western European group at this point.
9. “Long Blond Animal”
You hardly ever hear it in George Kooymans’ singing. But, like with songs by Scorpions, it’s in the lyrics and song titles that you realise Golden Earring was not exactly a band from Detroit or London.
The title of “Long Blond Animal” was ridiculous in 1980 and is the same way now. Still, for driving rock n’ roll, the song is one more proof of Golden Earring’s hard-earned ability.
8. “Bombay”
If you know nothing about Golden Earring, I suppose, you can be excused for thinking that this is just a European group that got lucky on a couple of international hits.
In reality, the group’s musicians worked their butts off. Sometimes the effort accompanied great releases, other times it didn’t.
By 1976, the group had a core audience awaiting each new release. Most of them wanted to hear hard-rock, not progressive, psychedelic or artsy music with which the group had experimented.
“Bombay” is really one of the highlights of Golden Earring’s career. The playing and production across the track are just superb, even if the lyrics, predictably, are completely ridiculous.
7. “Just a Little Bit of Peace in My Heart”
No, I don’t reckon that this is quite the finished product. Recorded in 1969, “Just a Little Bit of Peace in my Heart” still finds Golden Earrings, as the group was known then, embracing American hippie culture and English guitar rock. Still, the melodies are there, the psychedelic elements work well, and you can hear the embers of what would be a great band.
6. “When the Lady Smiles”
The heart-warming thing about Golden Earring is that the band always tried its luck with new styles and trends regardless of results.
As it turns out, in 1984, not many wanted to hear the rock band talk about politics. “N.E.W.S.” is an uneven album.
However, “When the Lady Smiles” proves that the band can do one thing well: gritty, bluesy rock. You’ll just need to get over a line like “Her lips are warm and resourceful/When her fingertips go drawing circles.” I challenge you to find a worse classic rock lyric.
5. “Weekend Love”
Golden Earring was both blessed and cursed with being a terrifyingly sounding rock group. This carried on throughout the group’s numerous eras and incarnations.
This, however, means that lyrics and concepts are the last things the band considers. “Weekend Love” feels like a hastily assembled pop-rock number and an attempt to sound like the group’s spiritual older brothers in The Who. But how can you deny that easy-going groove or the vocal hook of the tune?
4. “Buddy Joe”
Music’s a universal language. And the 1972 audiences spoke and understood the language of driving rocking beats perfectly.
And while Golden Earring’s audiences also included English speakers, this did little to stop the moderate success of “Buddy Joe,” and its surprisingly enduring appeal.
Yes, by 1972, Golden Earring was one of the few groups still indulging in Indian-influenced psych-rock, but it all works on “Buddy Joe.”
3. “Twilight Zone”
“Twilight Zone” is simply one of the great radio rock songs. It’s also proof that, no matter how many albums it takes, it’s always worth waiting around for the greatness that Golden Earring might reveal.
“Twilight Zone” is the best of the band’s glossy, 1980s songs, and one of the few that has aged well!
2. “Another 45 Miles”
“Car music! That’s what you’re good at, and that’s what you should do!” I assume that this is precisely what management and fellow musicians advised the Dutch band to do.
“Another 45 Miles” showcases just how darn good Golden Earring could sound. And while this is a car song, it’s a surprising one, a psych-tinged acoustic singalong and one of the band’s finest songs in my opinion.
1. “Radar Love”
“Radar Love?! Are you going to surprise me with a glorious deep cut?” No, not when it comes to arguably one of the greatest rock songs of all time.
The glory of “Radar Love” stands in the fact that it’s a quintessentially rock n’ roll song. It features a truly superb bass line courtesy of Rinus Gerritsen, lyrics about facing the dangers of driving at night, and a wild dynamic that could be performed live every night.
It’s a gem, and you’d have to be a great band to create something so simple, yet powerful. “Radar Love” is Golden Earring’s well-earned, top musical moment.
