"Twilight Zone" is a song by Belgian/Dutch

Eurodance Eurodance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of Hip-hop, rap, techno and Eurodisco. This genre of music is heavily influenced by the use ...

act 2 Unlimited, released in January 1992 by Byte Records as the second single from the act's debut studio album, '' Get Ready!'' (1992). The UK release of the single was the first 2 Unlimited single to include the vocals of Anita Doth, as they had not been featured on their breakthrough hit " Get Ready for This". However, Ray Slijngaard's rap verses were once again removed. The instrumental "Rave" version of the song sounds different from the original "Not Enough" version, with a more

hi-NRG Hi-NRG (pronounced "high energy") is a genre of uptempo disco or electronic dance music (EDM) that originated during the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a music genre, typified by its fast tempo, staccato hi-hat rhythms (and the four-on-the-flo ...

style with more bass and added cowbells. The music video was directed by David Betteridge. "Twilight Zone" was a commercial success in many European territories, topping the singles charts of Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands, and reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart. It was 2 Unlimited's biggest hit on the US

Hot Dance Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart, reaching number five, and it won an award in the category for Best Techno 12-inch Single on the 1993 WMC International Dance Music Awards.

Background and release

The song is written by Carlos Meire, June Rollocs, Jean-Paul De Coster, P. De Meyer and Phil Wilde, while De Coster and Wilde produced it. De Coster said in an interview with ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'', "The new single "Twilight Zone" is even more accessible than its predecessor. We call it ' happy house'. In fact, it all comes from the same origins. Just like

rock 'n' roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

, this music always evoluates." Wilde told ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' in 1994, "We mixed "Twilight Zone" on a pretty small DNR desk, which is Dutch. It was in-line with 20 channels, which gave you 20 inputs in the mix. Unfortunately, I needed about 70. It ended up taking five days to mix, but that was okay. It was a hit."

Critical reception

Victoria Thieberger from ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' wrote, "The track is propelled by a high-tech beat and dramatic changes in melody and attitude that make it sound like three songs tacked together, punctuated by an occasional "''whoo!''" rap in the vocal mix "gives it a harder edge, providing a central focus for the variations that spin around it. The end result is an entertaining

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

track of more than average complexity and a decided lyrical development from ' Get Ready for This'."

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' deemed it "a swirling

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

that is etched with sweet and tuneful pop/NRG nuances. Tough enough to please hardcore punters, though mainstreamers will find track palatable as well."

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from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

s ''RM'' Dance Update stated that Stock & Waterman's "Belgian" act "returns with another synth stabbed simplistic Mecca-aimed raver, jerkily galloping through". Siân Pattenden from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' viewed it as "an averagely bouncy rave tune."

Chart performance

"Twilight Zone" peaked at number one in Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands (2 weeks), and entered the top 10 in Austria (10), Belgium (5), Greece (2), Portugal (7), Spain (3), Sweden (9) and the United Kingdom, as well as on the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by ''Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately f ...

. In the UK, "Twilight Zone" peaked at number two during its third week on the UK Singles Chart, on 2 February 1992. It was held off the top spot by Wet Wet Wet's " Goodnight Girl". On the ''

'' Dance Singles chart, it peaked at number four. "Twilight Zone" was also a top-20 hit in Germany (20), Ireland (20) and Switzerland (15). Outside Europe, the single reached number one on Canada's ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' Dance/Urban chart, numbers five, 22 and 49 on the US ''

, Maxi-Singles Sales and

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

charts, and number eleven in Australia.

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Twilight Zone" was directed by British director David Betteridge. He had previously directed the video for the band's first hit, " Get Ready for This".

Appearances

The song has become a staple of

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teams, as many of them play an instrumental loop of the song during games. Its popularity in the NHL may have been inspired by Ray Slijngaard wearing a

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...

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in the music video. The St. Louis Blues play it at home games when the team goes on the power play. It has also been used in

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's "EA Trax" soundtrack. The song was remixed as "

Techno Syndrome ''Mortal Kombat: The Album'' is a soundtrack album by The Immortals (band), The Immortals (Praga Khan, Maurice "Praga Khan" Engelen and Olivier Adams), released in 1994 to accompany the home versions of the video game ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video ...

" by the Immortals, the main theme of the ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The original ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video game), Mortal Kombat'' arcade game spawned Lis ...

'' franchise. Immortals members Olivier Adams and Maurice Engelen have claimed the resemblance to be a coincidence, and that no legal action was taken.

Impact and legacy

"Twilight Zone" won an award in the category for Best Techno 12-inch Single on the 1993 WMC International Dance Music Awards. ''

'' magazine ranked it number 43 in their list of "The 100 Greatest Jock Jams of All Time" in February 2024.

Track listings

* 7-inch single # "Twilight Zone" (7-inch Vocal/Not Enough Version Edit) – 4:09 # "Twilight Zone" (7-inch Instrumental/Rave Version Edit) – 4:09 * 12-inch maxi # "Twilight Zone" (Rave Version) – 5:42 # "Twilight Zone" (Rapping Rave Version) – 5:40 # "Twilight Zone" (Rio & Le Jean Remix) – 4:41 * CD single, Australia # "Twilight Zone" (7-inch Instrumental) – 3:16 # "Twilight Zone" (7-inch Vocal) – 4:11 # "Twilight Zone" (Rave Version) – 5:43 (Note: Track 1 is the PWL 7-inch edit, which is based on the Rave Version but adds some of Anita's vocals, specifically her "This is the twilight zone" chorus from the vocal arrangements to give it a slight "verse-chorus-verse" arrangement.) * CD single, UK # "Twilight Zone" (7-inch Edit) – 3:18 # "Twilight Zone" (Rave Version) – 5:42 # "Twilight Zone" (Rapping Rave Version) – 5:40 * CD maxi # "Twilight Zone" (Rave Version) – 5:42 # "Twilight Zone" (Rapping Rave Version) – 5:40 # "Twilight Zone" (Not Enough Version) – 5:41 # "Twilight Zone" (Rio & Le Jean Remix) – 4:10 # "Twilight Zone" (7-inch Vocal/Not Enough Version Edit) – 4:10 # "Twilight Zone" (7-inch Instrumental/Rave Version Edit) – 4:09 * CD maxi, France # "Twilight Zone" (Radio Version) – 3:58 # "Twilight Zone" (Not Enough Version) – 5:40 # "Twilight Zone" (Rave Version) – 4:46 # "Twilight Zone" (Rio & Le Jean Remix) – 4:43

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

Millennium remixes

Following the bleak success of the " No Limit" single came the " Twilight Zone (Millennium Remixes)". It had the same success as its predecessor, although the remixes were more commercial and radio-friendly. It received good airplay in Europe but had very little success in the charts.

Track listings

* 12-inch single, Europe # "Twilight Zone" ( DJ Jean Club Mix) – 7:18 # "Twilight Zone" (DJ Jean Dub Mix) – 5:46 # "Twilight Zone" (Sharp 'Maniac' Mix) – 7:15 * CD single # "Twilight Zone" (DJ Jean Edit) – 3:15 # "Twilight Zone" (Delvino Remix Edit) – 3:35 * CD maxi # "Twilight Zone" (DJ Jean Edit) – 3:15 # "Twilight Zone" (DJ Jean Club Mix) – 7:18 # "Twilight Zone" (DJ Jean Dub Mix) – 5:46 # "Twilight Zone" (Sharp 'Maniac' Mix) – 7:15

References

{{Authority control 2 Unlimited songs 1991 songs 1992 singles Byte Records singles Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Mercury Records singles Music videos directed by David Betteridge Number-one singles in Finland Pete Waterman Entertainment singles Songs written by Phil Wilde