Venus
Shocking Blue
Fronted by charming singer Mariska Veres, the group Shocking Blue from The Hague dominates the Dutch charts in the early seventies with their catchy beat songs. They become famous worldwide with Venus, the song that was covered by Tom Jones, Bananarama and others.
House Of The King
Focus
Holland's famous prog rock band Focus is still active today, but experience their international heydays in the seventies with songs like Hocus Pocus and House Of The King. In 1973 guitarist Jan Akkerman is even voted 'Best Guitarist in the World' in the British music polls.
Holy Holy Life
Golden Earring
Golden Earring are world famous for the ultimate road song Radar Love from 1973. But this The Hague based group have been a household name and constant factor in Dutch pop music ever since the early sixties. Early 2021 they have to break up, due to the illness of member George Kooymans, meaning the end of one of the longest existing rock bands in an unchanged line-up.
Saturday Night
Herman Brood & his Wild Romance
In the slipstream of the punk and new wave explosion of the late seventies, blues pianist Herman Brood reinvents himself, giving his own interpretation to primary rock 'n' roll music with a corresponding life style. When he feels worn out at the age of 54, he decides to take his own life. Watch young Brood & his Wild Romance fooling around in the studio of the Dutch weekly music chart TV programme Toppop.
Nobody's Wife
Anouk
Singer Anouk Teeuwe owns her first hit songs in the late nineties to members of Golden Earring. But she's 'nobody's wife' and grows out to become one of the most famous artists of the Netherlands, with her own songs full of feminine strength and independency. A role model for young Dutch singers.
In The Dutch Mountains
Nits
Frontman and main songwriter Henk Hofstede of the Amsterdam based group Nits likes to blend his Dutch roots with arty yet catchy pop music. Songs about Dutch mountains (that don't exist), Dutch culture and memories of his upbringing in suburban Amsterdam.
Deeper Shade Of Soul
Urban Dance Squad
The mixed quintet Urban Dance Squad are among the first bands that blend hiphop with drums and rock guitars, leading to their classic debut album Mental Floss For The Globe in 1989. During their first American tour the future members of Rage Against The Machine take notes.
Ice Queen
Within Temptation
During the first decades of the 21st century the Netherlands become the number one country for female-fronted symphonic and gothic metal bands like The Gathering, After Forever and Epica. The biggest standout and most successful exponent is Within Temptation. Fronted by power singer Sharon van Adel they know how to combine their bombastic fantasy-metal with catchy songs.
Calm After The Storm
The Common Linnets
Ilse DeLange and Waylon are both prominent Dutch country and pop singers with big followings. Together they form the super group The Common Linnets in 2014. They attend the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest with Calm After The Storm and almost win with a second place. Let's watch them during their intense performance at the finals in Copenhagen.
Witch Doctor
De Staat
Named after a modern classical piece by Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, the band De Staat from the city of Nijmegen take Europe by storm with their energetic modern rock - full of uplifting beats, inflammatory yells and sing along choruses. Ever since their award-winning video clip of Witch Doctor, during live-shows frontman Torre Florim hops from the stage into the crowd to imitate the choreography together.