Many Dutch people can sing songs like Can the lights be turned off and Ifshe is not there sing along word for word. But did you know that De Dijk hasonly reached the top five once in all those years? A bird’s-eye view of theevergreens, which the charts barely paid attention to at the time.
By Michiel Vos
De Dijk, who starts a series of farewell concerts on Friday evening in theAmsterdam Ziggo Dome, makes his debut in 1982 with the song Bleeding Heart.Today it is considered one of their most famous songs, but back then it didn’tmake much of an impression. The single didn’t even make it to the Top 40 atall.
Enter without knocking from 1985 suffered the same fate. The song does notmake it to the Top 40, but singer Huub van der Lubbe tells in 2000 _Penthouse_that the song still earns him enough money.
The singer wrote Enter without knocking about an affair he had during hismarriage, with a woman who suddenly came into his life and disappeared just assuddenly. His wife stayed and Van der Lubbe says that the relationship has notleft a bad aftertaste. “Not for the other person and not for my wife either.If only because – thanks to that song – we still eat well,” he jokes about it.
De vijf meest beluisterde nummers van De Dijk op Spotify
- 1. Als Ze Er Niet Is – 16 miljoen streams (5e plaats in Top 40) * 2. Ik Kan Het Niet Alleen – 15,4 miljoen streams (18e plaats in Top 40) * 3. Groot Hart – 8,2 miljoen streams (geen Top 40-notering) * 4. Mag Het Licht Uit – 8 miljoen streams (23e plaats in Top 40) * 5. Nergens Goed Voor – 6,8 miljoen streams (10e plaats in Top 40)
First Top 40 listing only in 1987
It was only in 1987 that De Dijk managed to reach the Top 40 for the firsttime with the song Can the lights be turned off. The number of the plate_Waking Up In A Strange World_ has been in the 500 most popular records of alltime almost every year since the beginning of the Top 2000 of Radio 2, but atthe time did not go beyond 23rd position in the weekly list. After five weeks,the song disappeared from the charts again.
On the same album is Dancing on the volcano to find, a song written abouttwo lovers who enjoy each other for a while before the world ends. Althoughthe song didn’t even make the Top 40, it now turns out to be one of De Dijk’smost beloved songs. In the most recent edition of the Top 2000, it is even theband’s highest ranking at 273rd place.
With the fifth album Nobody In Town released in 1989, the band becomes morepopular. However, that does not immediately result in a hit. The first single_I can not do it alone_ is one of the band’s most popular songs with fifteenmillion streams on Spotify, but it does not go further than eighteenth placein the charts. The single that comes out next, Good For Nowhere, is theband’s first top ten ranking. With 6.8 million streams on Spotify, it hasturned out to be a less timeless classic.
The title song Nobody In Town , on which Van der Lubbe sings, among otherthings, about a childhood friend who jumped to his death under the influenceof drugs, was never released as a single, but it has left its mark. With a291st place in the Top 2000 of 2021, the song has become the band’s secondmost loved song in that list and has become a fixture during their concerts.
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Biggest hit and number one albums
In 1994 De Dijk experienced its commercial peak with the release of the single_If she is not there_. The ode to Van der Lubbe’s wife Teuntje takes fifthplace in the Top 40 and is still in the higher regions of the Top 2000 everyyear. On Spotify, the song is the band’s most listened song, with sixteenmillion plays.
After that the band still manages to reach the Top 40 here and there, but itis mainly the albums that do well. In 2002 they achieved with Musicians Don’t Dance for the first time the highest position with a studio album. Also_Sharp The Scythe_ (2011) and Everyone ‘s Square (2014) top the album listfor a week.
The classics of the pop band will undoubtedly pass by during the farewellconcerts. De Dijk announced earlier this year to stop; for singer Van derLubbe the surprise was over. The band starts the concert series Friday eveningin the Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, where they play five shows. Then they tour theDutch pop stages to say their final goodbyes on December 17 in Paradiso, wherethey also gave their first performance in 1981.
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