Robbed hit of the week 6/25/18 - 2 Unlimited's "Twilight Zone"...
from the album Get Ready! (1992)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #49
This week's "robbed hit" comes from the Dutch techo-dance act 2 Unlimited, who were put together by Belgian producers Jean-Paul DeCoster and Phil Wilde in the early 1990s in Amsterdam. Jean-Paul and Phil had first recorded under the moniker Bizz Nizz, and reached #7 in the UK and #10 in Germany with the single "Don't Miss The Party Line" in 1990. Recruiting rapper Ray Slijngaard, who brought in singer Anita Doth, they created 2 Unlimited, and recorded an older song of DeCoster and Wilde's, "Get Ready For This". Released as a single, it was a big international hit, going to #2 in the UK, Spain and Australia, and reaching #14 on the American dance chart in Billboard. However, it would be their second release, "Twilight Zone", that got American radio buzzing. With an unforgettable synth hook that sounded classical yet banging at the same time, it would be one of the first rave successes in the U.S...
While "Twilight Zone" made it all the way to #5 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart, the song stalled right above the halfway point on their Hot 100 pop tally. Internationally the record topped the charts in The Netherlands and Finland, and reached the top ten in the UK (#2), Ireland (#2), Greece (#2), Spain (#3), Belgium (#5), Portugal (#7), Sweden (#9), and Austria (#10). It did do respectably in Canada, rising to #15.
On the strength of the buzz from "Twilight Zone", "Get Ready For This!" was released as the follow-up in American, where in initially stopped down at #76, before re-emerging on the American pop chart where it hit the top-40 in 1994.
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The British version of the record did not have Slijngaard on it, only Anita...
Here's the duo appearing on Dutch TV in 1992 to promote the single...
...and the "Rave Version" that helped it make the top five on the dance chart...
and lastly, live in 2010...
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