Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Travel Tunes - Week 9

Tim is picking this week's Travel Tune...

Golden Earring is a Dutch band from the 60’s and 70’s. Formed in 1961, they’re still around today, doing shows. My pick for this week’s travel tunes is their big 1973 hit “Radar Love.” Singer Barry Hay almost sounds pre-David Lee Roth in this song, a bit bluesy and urgent. A song with lyrics about driving all night hits home with me since we do a lot of driving on our trips. One trip in particular crosses my mind, our first trip to New York when our flight was delayed and we drove from midnight to 4 in the morning from New Hampshire to Connecticut.

“Radar Love” is what most people remember them for here in the U.S., but they are not a one-hit wonder. It took awhile, but they charted here again with the excellent “Twilight Zone” in 1982. A tragic fire at a concert in New Jersey in 1984 and MTV’s refusal to play their latest video (featuring nudity and mature subject matter) caused the band to pull back to Europe. They have not played a gig in North America since.

It’s also a go-to song for producers who like to use it as a background song for driving, much like Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild.”   Showing that the boys...men by this time...still have it, the performance below is from 2006.  The band pretty much look like the old men I see each Sunday in the donut shop, but lead singer Hay is a little more middle aged looking  Still sound great, though.  So, let me present to you, “Radar Love” boy The Hague’s Gelden Earring.

-Tim
Picture courtesy of Wikimedia
Barry Hay under CC-BY license




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