I found out this week that Golden Earring co-founder/guitarist/vocalist/composer George Kooymans died last week after battling ALS (or Lou Gehrig’s disease) for the last four years, so I’m tardy to the memorial, but now I feel compelled to say something about this turn of events–even if it’s in a stream-of-consciousness kind of way.

Like so many on the American side of the Atlantic, I’ve (close to) always been familiar with Golden Earring’s songs ‘Radar Love’ (Moontan, 1973) and ‘Twilight Zone’ (Cut, 1982), but, after hearing more of their oeuvre (I have their self-titled album–in its entirety–and a lot of their other songs on my iPod; in fact, Golden Earring songs take up a considerable amount of space thereon), I’ve come to appreciate their talent and how far it goes–even more so after seeing videos online of their performances. I’ll be honest: when watching those videos, I’ve paid extremely close attention to Kooymans’ guitar work, which was…the only word I can think of to describe it is phenomenal; I would like to add that Kooymans’ falsetto from early in his career would have blown Jordan Knight out of the water. I’m not a musician, and haven’t had any formal training in music, so I don’t know all of the mechanics, ins and outs, odds and ends, bits and bobs, etc., but the way the members of Golden Earring worked together…the sounds they produced individually blended so well, and what I’ve heard of their music…it just works, and I like the way most of their songs sound. They have become quite the cultural phenomenon in Europe–particularly in their native Netherlands–but I can just imagine what would have happened if they had gotten more of a foothold on this side of the Atlantic, but they do have what can only be described as a cult following in Anglo-America, so…

I’ve read some thinkpieces online this week which have talked about Kooymans’ life and career; the Google search link to one of them called Kooymans ‘the brain and the soul (translated from Dutch, ‘het brein en de ziel’) of Golden Earring,’ and a small paragraph from this piece described him as essentially the glue that held the band together–especially the current lineup of himself, bassist/keyboard player Rinus Gerritsen, vocalist/guitarist/flautist Barry Hay, and drummer Cesar Zuiderwijk–who’ve been together in that particular setup since the early 1970s.

For me–since I can (unfortunately) measure the last time I listened to Golden Earring in years (unless you count last night, when I watched videoclips of a couple of their songs online)–George Kooymans’ death is yet another example, and more proof, that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

Despite that, I just want to be one more voice in the world that thanks George Kooymans and Golden Earring for the awesome music and recorded performances, and leaving such a mark on the world.

Rust In Vrede (Rest In Peace), George Kooymans (1948-2025)