"Twilight Zone" is a

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

hit by

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

band

Golden Earring Golden Earring (originally known as The Tornados) was a Dutch rock band, founded in 1961 in The Hague as The Golden Earrings. They achieved worldwide fame with their international hit songs "Radar Love" in 1973, which went to number one on th ...

. It was written by the band's guitarist

George Kooymans George Jan Kooymans (born 11 March 1948, The Hague, Netherlands) is a Dutch guitarist and vocalist. He is best known for his work with the Dutch group Golden Earring. Kooymans wrote "Twilight Zone (Golden Earring song), Twilight Zone", the group's ...

, who drew inspiration from the book '' The Bourne Identity''. "Twilight Zone" appears on their 1982 album ''

Cut Cut may refer to: Common uses * The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely-directed force ** A type of wound ** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past ** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment ** Cut (ea ...

'' and pays tribute to the 1960s television series ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...

''. It spent more than half a year (27 weeks) on the U.S. 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. 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 A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

' ''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 A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompanime ...

at the beginning as an "

eighth-note 180px, Figure 1. An eighth note with stem extending up, an eighth note with stem extending down, and an eighth rest. 180px, Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together. An eighth note (American) or a quaver (British) is a musical note play ...

pulse In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the nec ...

" of B D E D B followed by a

sixteenth note Figure 1. A 16th note with stem facing up, a 16th note with stem facing down, and a 16th rest. Figure 2. Four 16th notes beamed together. In music, a 1/16, sixteenth note (American) or semiquaver (British) is a note played for half the dura ...

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 Ritus Gerritsen knocks that shot out of the park."

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

, directed by

Dick Maas Dirk Herman Willem Maas (Dick) (born 15 April 1951) is a Dutch film director, screenwriter, film producer and film composer. Maas achieved fame after the success of his music videos for the Dutch band Golden Earring, including " Twilight Zone" an ...

, features a storyline with lead singer Barry Hay as an

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

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 MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

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. Golden Earring followed the success with an extensive tour of the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. MTV commissioned the band to shoot a movie of the final 'homecoming' concert of the tour in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. 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." 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 Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

diamonds Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...

being shredded by a bullet is used in the video and represents the life of the rogue agent.

Track listing

;7" single ;12" single

Personnel

- co-lead vocals,

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

* Barry Hay - co-lead vocals,

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

, spoken words (intro), backing vocals *

Rinus Gerritsen Marinus Gerritsen (born 9 August 1946 in The Hague) is a Dutch bassist. Best known for being founding member of Dutch group Golden Earring, he is also a producer of artists like Herman Brood. Steve Harris of Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Cesar Zuiderwijk Cornelis Johannes "Cesar" Zuiderwijk, (born 18 July 1948) is a Dutch drummer. He is best known as the drummer of the Dutch rock band Golden Earring from 1970 until their retirement in 2021. Biography When Zuiderwijk was twelve he started play ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Additional personnel

Robert Jan Stips Robert Jan Stips is a Dutch musician born in The Hague, 4 February 1950. He initially found fame as a keyboard player, arranger, and producer with the group Supersister. This led to an invitation to join Golden Earring, one of the most succes ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

Music for ''

'' pinball machine (1992) featured core elements from the song in many of its tracks.

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

covered the song on his 2011 album, ''

Seeking Major Tom ''Seeking Major Tom'' is the fourth studio album by William Shatner. It was released October 11, 2011 in the US by Cleopatra Records. Production The album features many noted musicians, including Patrick Kennison, Sheryl Crow, John Wetton, Patr ...

''. Scoti*Slate included a cover on their album ''Good Fight'' in 2013.

References

External links

Song review A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

* {{Authority control 1982 singles 1982 songs Dutch new wave songs Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Golden Earring songs PolyGram singles Songs written by George Kooymans The Twilight Zone