According to some things I've read, the song "Twilight Zone" -- with the song's plot inspired by Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity -- even took the Twilight Zone title from the book, since the antagonist, Alexander Conklin, at one point talks about the "twilight zone" of drinking, how he used to drink and still would if he could "function in that twilight zone." I've never seen whatever interview or article that bit of info originally came from, though I have read an interview where George said he sometimes drank too much, so that line from the book might have resonated with him. But again, I haven't seen his exact statement quoted or any link to the article it was in. And the lyrics refer to "falling down a spiral" which seems to refer more to the Twilight Zone TV show's intro. Although that was really a rotating cone with concentric circles, it's often referred to as a spiral.
Re the Earring not doing US tours after a while -- they'd lost money on most of their US tours, ended up with debts that had to be paid out of money made doing shows in the Netherlands. That sort of thing happened more than most people realize, unless a band had brilliant management like Led Zeppelin's Peter Grant (who also managed Bad Company), management able to get more money out of promoters than they usually wanted to share.
And Golden Earring, especially Barry Hay, didn't like the censorship they ran into in the US. Some album artwork was changed. One scene in the "Twilight Zone" video had been censored. The video for "When The Lady Smiles" was censored/edited and then still rarely shown in the US, despite being popular enough in Europe that the band felt it had helped the single become a hit there. The video had upset enough people that when Hillary Clinton started to use "When The Lady Smiles" for her 2008 presidential campaign (Bill had used "Radar Love" for his 1992 campaign), she had to drop it.
To be honest, I don't like most of GE's music videos. I prefer to post TV appearances and videos from concerts. I think Barry Hay miscalculated on a number of the artistic decisions I've read that the band usually left to him (some of his lyrics, too, at times). Sometimes you can sell more records being outrageous, and other times you can end up finding out you've not only stepped onto thin ice but chopped a circle around yourself.
They still had an amazing run, despite all the problems they ran into. It's a shame their music isn't better known.
I'm so sorry about your friend with ALS. 47 is way too young to die. Ernie Wallengren was 50, also much too young. But it's a terrible disease to come down with at any age, and I can't imagine what it must be like to have been able to play guitar and perform on stage the way George Kooymans did, even in his 70s, and then lose that ability to a disease we don't have any cure for yet. So I keep praying for a cure to be discovered soon, for all the people with ALS.
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