Twilight Zone (Golden Earring song)
"Twilight Zone" is a 1982 hit by Dutch band Golden Earring. It was written by the band's guitarist George Kooymans, who got the inspiration from a book by Robert Ludlum, "The Bourne Identity". "Twilight Zone" appears on their 1982 album "Cut" and pays tribute to the 1960s television series "The Twilight Zone". 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' "New Wave Hits of the '80s" series. The music video was featured on Volume One of  the VHS companion compilation. Music video. The music video, directed by Dick Maas, features a storyline with lead singer Barry Hay as an espionage 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 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, Canada and Europe. MTV commissioned the band to shoot a movie of the final 'homecoming' concert of the tour in the Netherlands. 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 of diamonds playing card being shredded by a bullet is used in the video and represents the life of the rogue agent. Cover versions. Music for "The Twilight Zone" pinball machine (1992) featured core elements from the song in many of its tracks. William Shatner covered the song on his 2011 album, "Seeking Major Tom". Scoti*Slate included a cover on their album "Good Fight" in 2013. Twilight Zone (Golden Earring song