The Outsiders-Dutch

THE OUTSIDERS (Dutch Band)

The Outsiders were a Dutch band from Amsterdam. Their period of greatest popularity in the Netherlands was from 1965–67, but they released records until 1969. In recent years their legacy has extended beyond the Netherlands, and the group is today recognized as distinctive progenitors of the garage rock genre. Unlike the many European bands influenced by The Beatles, The Outsiders took their cues from harder-edged British groups like The Pretty Things (who frequently toured the Netherlands) and The Rolling Stones. In November 1965, The Outsiders opened for Stones’ second Dutch concert. (More from Wikipedia)

Several years ago, I looked up the Wikipedia article on the Dutch band the Outsiders – one of the truly great rock bands of all time and maybe the very best from a non–English-speaking country – and happened to click over to their American contemporaries, also called the Outsiders, only to discover that there was just a stub (in other words, a few sentences with basic information like bandmembers’ names, major hit song, etc.).

(February 2010)

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The Index album is one of two LPs that I have gotten this year where the side listings are backwards, i.e., where Side 2 is on the left and Side 1 is on the right. The other is a live performance by another Dutch band, the Outsiders (not to be confused with the American band also called the Outsiders that hit with “Time Won’t Let Me”), called Afraid of the Dark. In that case, the sides were numbered correctly I guess; but Side 2 is essentially the same as the outstanding first side of their legendary first album, The Outsiders (even including the introduction to the band in the Dutch language), and the album just seems better when it is played with the second side first. This was a run-through rather than the blistering live tracks given on the first album, but that one hasn’t yet emerged from my recovery of the record albums from Katrina, so I am delighted to have this one available for playing.

(March 2011)

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I was first introduced to the raw 1960’s sounds of Dutch rock when I was fortunate enough to find a copy of a compilation album called Searching in the Wilderness in about 1987 in a fondly remembered basement-level New York record store called Underground Records in the Village. (There was at least one and maybe two other record stores in that same space over the years). Though much of the early output from Dutch bands was heavily influenced by Merseybeat sounds almost to the point of aping them, that was most definitely not true of two of the tracks on that album: “Chunk of Steel”, an early single by Golden Earring; and “For Another Man” by the Motions, which included the future bandleader of Shocking Blue, Robbie van Leeuwen. Wilderness was also my first introduction to other excellent Dutch bands, like the Outsiders (not the American band called the Outsiders that is best known for “Time Won’t Let Me”) and Cuby & the Blizzards.

(January 2013)

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As I have mentioned many times before, I am a major fan of Dutch rock music from both the 1960’s and 1970’s. Some of the bands have non-English names, like Ekseption (which is not the Dutch word for “exception” as I had always assumed), Groep 1850 (also known as Group 1850) and Bintangs (which means “stars” in Arabic, I’m told) – the latter band being a future UARB (as it turns out, I waited too long; Bintangs have a nice Wikipedia article now) – but most have English names (or just initials) and perform in English also, with some of the biggest being Golden Earring, Shocking Blue, Focus, Q65, and the Outsiders.

(April 2013)

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An overview of the Loons was published in the San Diego Reader in 2015 upon the release of Inside Out Your Mind; eight other articles about the band had been published previously by this alternative weekly. The article lists the “genre” for the Loons as noise/experimental and punk and describes the “full scope of their sound” as “Beatlesque vibes reincarnated in the form of post-punk fervency”. Influences are listed in the article as the Pretty Things, the Seeds, the Yardbirds, the Monks, the 13th Floor Elevators, MC5, the Misunderstood, and the Dutch band the Outsiders.

(June 2017)

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The Tell-Tale Hearts also toured in 1994 to promote High Tide (Big Noses & Pizza Faces). Further reunions took place in 2004 and 2007. An article written by Bart Mendoza of the Shambles for sdnews.com for the 2007 reunion says of the band: “Mixing Vox keyboard-driven rhythm and blues with fuzzed-out rock, the group’s live shows were incendiary, championing an authentic ’60s sound and taking their cues from such legendary acts as the Pretty Things and [the Dutch band] the Outsiders. While the group has been overlooked locally in recent years, their impact worldwide, particularly in Europe and Japan, continues undiminished. The band is cited regularly as an influence on today’s rockers. Numerous acts have covered the Tell-Tale Hearts’ music, including Spain’s Agentes Secretos, Australia’s Shutdown ’66, England’s Diaboliks, and Japan’s Young Pennsylvanians.”

(September 2017)