Tales from the Land of Zider Zee – A Column by Johnny Mystery

Tales from the Land of Zider Zee.

Many of us remember or at least read about, the British Invasion. Hell, every time we log onto any social media site there’s a bombardment of pictures of The Beatles and The Stones. They and a slew of other bands from Jolly Ole England were responsible for putting The Brill Building and a host of American artists outta business for a good portion of the 60s. Some never came back. Lotsa jobs out there parking cars and pumping gas. Good thing, eh? But while all this was happening a movement was building in The Netherlands and nobody was looking. In fact, it qualifies more as a sneak attack, but the wizards of show biz called it; “The Dutch Invasion.” No help whatsoever from Ed Sullivan or even The Smothers Brothers, the lazy creeps! Who could believe that the country who gave us wooden shoes, tulips and windmills would make such a contribution to rock n roll, but they did, and influences continue today.

What follows is a summary of bands who became well known during The Dutch Invasion, but it is by no means a complete representation. The Netherlands produced some great talent, and you may be shocked at who hailed from Holland.

Let’s start with The Shocking Blue who formed in Hague around 1967. Out of all these groups, The Shocking Blue seems to have made the most lasting impression both in their heyday and all the way to present time. Their massive hit “Venus” was number one all over the world. Their lead singer Mariska Veres was considered the Dutch Grace Slick. Her powerful vocals put her way out front but in reality, she was quite shy, wore a dark wig and was uncomfortable giving interviews. She was still living at home with her parents when the band broke big in 1970.

Most of their other hits were contained to Europe and Japan but because their first album in the U.S was eventually available for 99 cents, tons of American kids learned and listened to some tunes that would be performed and covered by a variety of other artists over the next 40 years. Before Nirvana recorded their breakthrough album “Nevermind” they recorded their cover of “Love Buzz” on a single for SubPop records. If you have a copy, you’ve got a down payment on a Tesla. Congratulations….

Bananarama struck gold with their own rendition of “Venus” in 1986. It went to number one here in the USA. I was at a Fourth of July party In New Paltz NY about a year ago where I saw a group of teenagers cover “Send Me A Postcard.” All these songs were from the first US album, and they continue to be heard today.

Let’s talk about Focus. They started kicking around about 1969 without much luck until the keyboard player discovered he could yodel. He almost wishes he kept it to himself because the result was, they spent the rest of their career opening and closing the rest of their shows playing an instrumental they wrote called “Hocus Pocus.” They played it so fast the yodeling sounded like Slim Whitman on helium. They played it so fast because they couldn’t wait for it to be over. See, in reality, Focus was a really serious prog band and despised the little novelty hit they spawned into a top ten record. In fact, the keyboardist also played flute like Ian Anderson. Go figure. But as the record company says,”the bills must be payed.” They spent the rest of their years recording albums with names like”Hamburger Concherto” to not much fanfare, never quite reaching the prog fame of groups like Yes,King Crimson or even Tangerine Dream for that matter. One could say, they lost their focus….

And then there is Golden Earring. They started out as a “Freak Beat” band about 1965 and had a respectable amount of hits throughout Holland. By 1973, they had a massive hit called “Radar Love,” then nothing until MTV hit the airwaves when they hit again in 1983 with “Twilight Zone.” The video got massive rotation on MTV, which turned into healthy play on the “album-oriented rock” stations.  Good for them because they were a pretty interesting group. I suggest looking up some of their early freak beat records.

Around 1970, The George Baker Section hit big with “Little Green Bag.” I’ll leave it up to you to figure out the subject matter but it’s practically legal now sooooooo…. Anyway, it is a great one hit wonder, loaded with sophisticated 12-string riffs and some intersting hooks and melody. It’s bigger claim to fame these days is its inclusion in the soundtrack for ”Reservoir Dogs” in 1992. Regardless of what you think of Quintin Tarrentino, the cat knows how to place songs in films.

From Delft, Netherlands enters The Tee Set with another one hit wonder called, “Ma Belle Amie,” which in English should be “My Girl Amy.”

At least, if I remember my French correctly, that’s what it means. In fact, I hear a good amount of French in this song, but it’s mostly sung in English. Is French even a common language in Holland? What do I know, except it’s a pretty cool, almost bubble gummy tune. Never heard from them again after this.

Last but not least, is The Outsiders, one of the freakiest, freak beaters of them all. They never had a hit in the USA but they should have. For me, their best song is “Daddy Died On Saturday.” In a nutshell, this song is about a guy who poisons the father of a girl he’s in love with because dear old daddy-o refuses to let him marry his daughter. “He bought a poison sugar lump, from a cafe in the slums-placed it in the old man’s tea and waited patiently.” Not top 40 material but who even cares!!!!  Covered brilliantly by Troy,NY band, Thee Ummmmm about 15 years ago.

This just in: The all-girl garage band trio from Japan, The 5678’s will be performing at NO FUN on River Street in Troy this Summer. Word around the campfire is, the date will be August 24th. Run, don’t walk to the club and get your tix. Can’t wait for this one. Opening band will be, Sit And Spin from New Jersey. This will be one of the shows of the Summer and any more news about it will be reported right here.

That’s it for this ish, now go hit the bins!