I was a fool to think Golden Earring showed up with Radar Love in the early 1970s.

They actually date back to the early 1960s. In fact, Barry Hay wasn’t even the original lead-singer. He came onboard in 1967. It’s weird to not hear Hay sing on a Golden Earring song even if that song is from a very different period. They weren’t even Golden Earring then. They were originally called The Golden Earrings. They had a pop-sound during this time.

The only thing weirder to me than not hearing Hay sing a Golden Earring song, is hearing him dial back the power of his voice to sing this kind of song. I’m well aware that This Is Spinal Tap (1984) already covered this kind thing, but it’s no less strange to me to come across this. It’s up there with listening to Bon Scott singing in the Australian pop-group The Valentines.

Then there’s the video for the song.

Hay looks more like he does from the 1980s onward,

When The Lady Smiles (1984)

in the 1960s,

than he did during the 1970s.

Radar Love (1974)

I guess that was just a phase.

The video is very 1960s–much like Radar Love is to the 1970s. It’s one of those videos that essentially turns a band into silent comedians, complete with mud wrestling.

That sequence goes on for quite awhile.

My personal favorite part of the video is when Hay pops out of the water playing an invisible flute.

I also like when one of the members of the band reaches out to turn the camera as a way to create a spin transition. It’s a nice little thing.

Along with Hay’s vocals sounding wrong, this video would not tell you that they would go on to do something like Clear Nite, Moonlight.

Speaking of that video, I made error when writing about it. I missed the obvious foreshadowing of the violent end in the form of the “So Little Time” license plate at the start of the video.

Clear Nite, Moonlight (1984)

To put that correction in a new post, is the main reason I did this post on another Golden Earring video. It’s also a fun video, regardless of my reason for doing it today.

The reason I put the date of release as 1967 is because according to Wikipedia, this was a single that was released in 1967 separate from any of their albums. That explains why Hay is here, but not on the album that they released in 1967, Winter-Harvest.

Enjoy!