First, why are your hands wet?
Second, you've been driving all night. It's now 4:30 in the morning and you are just now shifting gears? Dude, your transmission...never mind.
Four things I bet you didn't know about Golden Earring.
1. They're from the Netherlands.2. Between 1965 and 2003, the band released 24 studio albums--and you thought all they ever sang was Radar Love and that When the Bullet Hits the Bone song. (I know I did.)
3. Their first #1 hit in the Netherlands was titled Dong Dong Diki Digi Dong.
4. Formed in 1961 and still performing with the same core lineup, they are considered the longest continuously performing band in rock and roll history. WFK? (I think I just coined that acronym--can you figure it out?)
BTW, that's Brenda Lee pictured above--coming on strong.
It's a fickle hellcat, rock and roll classicism. Why did the song Radar Love enter into that relatively small pantheon of songs deemed worthy of ad nauseum play on classic rock stations across America while millions of other perfectly fine songs do not? MTV surely had a lot to do with it in this case. But Radar Love came out in '73--eight years before the network launched. Makes one ponder. Anyway, today the Rockmocker salutes Golden Earring, who, it turns out is not a one-hit (or even two-hit) wonder after all--not in the global rockosphere, at least. Still rockin' after 48 years. Kind of hard to mock, actually.
Who's up for a little Tuesday morning (pre-MTV) Radar Love ?
(If nothing else, watch the first 16 seconds. Really, classic.)
Got a burning question for a classic rocker?
Send it to the Rockmocker and you might see it posted here.
Even though I've never heard it, "Dong Dong Diki Digi Dong" is now my favorite song. I hope it will be sung at my funeral. Not any time soon.
ReplyDelete"Radar Love" is one of the great driving songs of all time. I can't say I like the guy's voice, but I love the song.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love this idea for a blog, to which I was turned on by the glorious Beth Bass. See mine for a recent piece on Andy Pratt, another one-hit wonder who sort of isn't, really. But sort of is.
GDR, Anonymous! That's God Damned Right.
ReplyDelete