I
Het Goede Doel

About:

Henk Temmink; 7 december 1951
Henk Westbroek; 27 february 1952
Sander van Herk; 3 january 1956

Het Goede Doel ('The Good Cause') was founded in 1979 by Henk Temming and Sander van Herk. The two met when Van Herk had a parttime job at the Institute for Sonology. Earlier on, Van Herk pioneered in the student rockband Sigma. Temming pursueded his friend Henk Westbroek to join the band as vocalist. After some band changes the first single ‘In het leven’ ('In life') was released in 1982, without much success. The follow up single ‘Gijzelaar’ ('Hostage') got some attention as it was used in a documentary about a series of hostage drama’s in '77 commenced by the Mullucan minority in Holland. This led to a well received debut album and several more hits ‘België’, ‘Hou van mij’ and ‘Vriendschap’. The album reached platinum sales. Also in 1982 Temmink and Westbroek released a novelty hit under the name Henk & Henk for the Dutch Sinterklaas celebration.

In 1983 the follow up album ‘Tempo Doeloe’ was artistically more introvert and sold less copies. Still the single ‘Eenvoud’ was a succes. In december 1984 another novelty single ‘Eeuwige kerst’ ('Eternal Christmas') was released, this time around Christmas time. The single was sung by Anny Schilder (formerly a member of popular Dutch act BZN). In 1985 only the core line up of Goede Doel continued. This meant several difficulties in creating a third album that finally was released in 1986. By the time ‘Mooi en onverslijtbaar’ was in the shops the musical climate in Holland had changed again and the public wasn’t very perceptive anymore to Dutch languaged pop. The song ‘Nooduitgang’ ('Emergency exit') did become a hit a year later in a live version.

On request of the Colombine foundation, an initiative of Dutch performer Herman van Veen, the band created the album ‘Iedereen is anders’ in 1988. The album consisted of a collection of Dutch guest vocalists like Rob de Nijs, Ramses Shaffy, Richenel, Herman van Veen, René Froger and Belgian singer Johan Verminnen. Single of the album was ‘Alles kan een mens gelukkig maken’ ('Everything can make a person happy') and meant the breakthrough of singer René Froger (who would much later internationally appear as one of the Toppers at the 2009 ESC).

In 1989 Het Goede Doel undertook an intimate theatertour to support their ‘Souvenir’ album. Critics didn’t take kindly to the album and eventually it was the swansong of the band. Westbroek started a career as a radio DJ and politician in local politics. He continued to record and had a big hit with the song ‘Zelfs je naam is mooi’ ('Even your name is pretty'). Temmink and Van Herk continued their work as producers in their own Stu-stu-Studio. In December 2001 the band suddenly returned for two sold out reunion concerts to support a compilation album of their work. In 2007 Westbroek started working on a new album in the Stu-stu-studio. Eventually the album was released as a new Goede Doel album and released as a free download only on the internet. For 2010 a new album is announced.

On the web:

- The band lacks an own website but singer Henk Westbroek has one: http://www.henkwestbroek.nl/

If you like this, you probably like.. / european counterparts:

L'affaire Louis Trio (France)

Extrabreit (Germany) (much louder, same humour)

What do we think:

DB: 'The Good Cause' ('Goede Doel' in Dutch) is one of those bands gaining enormous popularity during the wave of Dutch languaged pop at the start of the eighties. At the time they were mostly associated with the student scene and considered a bit of a college band. As it turned out their songs were more timeless then people expected then and songs like 'Vriendschap', 'België', 'Hou van mij' and 'Nooduitgang' are just four of a list of Dutch pop-classics they wrote. Not the best singers in the world though. But if you listen to a personal favourite of mine, 'Iedereen is anders' superbelly sung by Richenel, you hear their craftmenship. Great song and in my opinion better then the hitsong sung by Froger.

PR: Great Dutch band, recorded some of the most memorable Dutch songs during the eighties. Even though the production sounds somewhat outdated now, the songs themselves have remained as powerfull as 25 years ago, also thanks to the great humurous yet sarcastic lyrics. If you are a fan of the eighthies and you are looking for great European albums from that decade, 'Belgium' and 'Mooi en onverslijtbaar'are highly recommended!

Albums:

♪♪♪♪ - België (Belgium) 1982

♪♪♪ - Tempo doeloe 1983

♪♪♪♪ - Mooi en onverslijtbaar (Pretty and indestructable) 1986

♪♪ - Live 1987

♪♪♪ - Iedereen is anders (Everyone is different) 1988 

- Souvenir 1989 

- Gekkenwerk (Madness) 2008

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♪♪♪♪♪ = outstanding album, an absolute must-have
♪♪♪♪ = great album, highly recomended
♪♪♪ = nice album
♪♪ = be careful, requires listening before buying
♪ = best to be avoided