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55 albums · 1966–2024

Music of the Netherlands, from Ramses Shaffy, Shocking Blue, Golden Earring and Focus to Doe Maar, Within Temptation, Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Nederhop and today

· 3 min read · by 1001 Albums

The Netherlands' popular music took off in the sixties along two paths at once: the Dutch-language kleinkunst and chanson of Ramses Shaffy in Amsterdam and Boudewijn de Groot in Haarlem, and the English-singing Nederbeat, blues and rock that grew up around the clubs and radio stations of The Hague and Drenthe. Cuby + Blizzards recorded the blues on a farmhouse floor in Grolloo, and from The Hague Shocking Blue sent Venus to the top of the American charts and Golden Earring followed with Radar Love on Moontan. In the early seventies Dutch bands built a progressive and symphonic rock scene of their own with Supersister's Canterbury-tinged Present From Nancy, Focus's Moving Waves, Earth and Fire's Song of the Marching Children and Kayak's See See the Sun, before Herman Brood & His Wild Romance brought fast pub rock and new wave back to the clubs on Shpritsz.

Around 1980 the language turned back to Dutch. While the squatters' collective The Ex launched anarcho-punk in Amsterdam and Nijmegen's Clan of Xymox carried dark wave to the 4AD label, André Hazes sang the Amsterdam levenslied with Gewoon André, Doe Maar set off a nationwide craze with the ska-tinged Nederpop of Doris Day en andere Stukken, and Het Goede Doel, Klein Orkest, the Frank Boeijen Groep and Amsterdam's De Dijk made Dutch the everyday voice of pop and soul, alongside the English art pop of The Nits, the rap-rock crossover of Urban Dance Squad and the nineties guitar rock and pop of Bettie Serveert, Anouk, Acda en de Munnik, BLØF and Krezip. At the heavy end, The Gathering, Ayreon, Within Temptation and Epica made Dutch symphonic and progressive metal heard worldwide, while 2 Unlimited and Vengaboys ruled nineties Eurodance, Tiësto, Armin van Buuren and Ferry Corsten turned Dutch trance into a global stadium sound, followed by Noisia's drum and bass and the EDM of Afrojack and Martin Garrix. Since Osdorp Posse's Vlijmscherp in 1993, Nederhop has grown from De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig, Opgezwolle, Fresku and Typhoon to Lil' Kleine, Boef and Ronnie Flex, alongside the home-recorded pop of Spinvis, Caro Emerald's retro swing, the rock of De Staat and Kensington, the Anatolian psychedelia of Amsterdam's Altın Gün, the Eurovision winner Duncan Laurence, and Eefje de Visser, Goldband, Joost and Froukje today.

The list gathers 55 records from 1966 to 2024, one by each artist; the classical tradition of the Concertgebouw and the early music ensembles of Gustav Leonhardt, Frans Brüggen and Ton Koopman, the improvised jazz around Willem Breuker, Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink, and the regional dialect scenes from Limburg to Friesland would each need a list of their own. About 45 hours of music, 5 days of a few records each.

By genre

Rock 26%Pop 21%Electronic 15%Other 38%
  • Rock 26%
  • Pop 21%
  • Electronic 15%
  • Other 38%

The genres named most: nederpop, nederhop, pop rock, hip hop, pop, progressive rock.

The colours of the covers

A stripe for each cover, in the colour Tidal picks from it, sorted by hue; the greys at the end.

Where the music comes from

Music from 1 country: Netherlands 55. The deeper the colour, the more albums: one, two to four, five to nine, ten and more.

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s

More lists

Lists of Countries first, then others; all of them on the blog. The blog.