The Kinks

[Ultra]

The Kinks



I know at least one fan of The Kinks on this forum. I feel this band deserves their own thread. The Kinks are a highly influential British Invasion band. I used to have The Village Green Preservation Society, but I sadly lost it years ago. The song I like the most from this band? I'm sure I'm like millions of others... You Really Got Me. That is easily their most well-known song universally.






Am I right on this? Weren't members or even all of them gay? I read this somewhere... but I'm not 100% sure on this. If so, they really really deserve their own thread on this forum.

[marshlander]

Got to admit I never heard that anyone in the band was gay! Ray Davies did cultivate a rather foppish stage personality at one time, but the band were also renowned for internal conflict, which sometimes manifested as outright fisticuffs. RD is one of the very few people in the world who wrote many songs I would love to have written. He has a unique way of looking at the world. You Really Got Me and Till The End of The Day are great songs that influenced the development of rock music, See My Friends was arguably the earliest example of an Indian crossover sound (well before The Beatles' Norwegian Wood) and their songs brought music hall and folk tradition bang up to date. Sunny Afternoon, Waterloo Sunset and Autumn Almanac also broke new ground in pop music. Those songs alone would have left an impressive enough heritage in popular music, but their catalogue extends so far beyond that. The lyrics of Lola, Dedicated Follower of Fashion and Harry Rag were strange and even sometimes shocking for those times. The Kinks were definitely English pop music at its best. Weirdly I had the unexpected privilege of meeting Jim Rodford (who played bass with them for about twenty years) a couple of years ago at a school reunion.

This Wikipedia entry says it all really:

The Kinks are recognized as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the 1960s.[1][2] Stephen Thomas Erlewine called The Kinks "one of the most influential bands of the British Invasion",[1] and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website states that "Ray Davies is almost indisputably rock's most literate, witty and insightful songwriter."[2] Artists influenced by The Kinks include punk rock groups such as the Ramones,[152] The Clash,[153] and The Jam, New Wave and heavy metal acts like The Pretenders and Van Halen, and Britpop groups such as Oasis, Blur, and Pulp.[1] Pete Townshend, guitarist with The Kinks' contemporaries The Who, was particularly influenced by the group's sound: "The Kinks were ... quintessentially English. I always think that Ray Davies should one day be poet laureate. He invented a new kind of poetry and a new kind of language for pop writing that influenced me from the very, very, very beginning."[154] Jon Savage wrote that The Kinks were an influence on late-1960s American psychedelic groups, "like the Doors, Love and Jefferson Airplane".[46] Musicologist Joe Harrington has described The Kinks' influence on the development of hard rock and heavy metal: "'You Really Got Me', 'All Day and All of the Night' and 'I Need You' were predecessors of the whole three-chord genre ... the Kinks did a lot to help turn rock 'n' roll (Jerry Lee Lewis) into rock (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, the Stooges)."[152]

[marshlander]

Just one of their songs I love to hear:

[marshlander]

Oooh, could post a zillion songs on this thread

[marshlander]

[marshlander]

[marshlander]

Sorry, I can't help myself. I know I've posted this before, but it is a stunning song - even given the crappy sound of this vid. Brings tears to my eyes every time ... I'm never really sure why. Something to do with the comic pathos, perhaps, or the harmonic sequence? Whatever, it's a damned near perfect pop song.

[Mr. Not So Lonely]

I just like the music dont care about internal struggle or crap like that

[Ultra]

Hehe, you're quite a fan of 'em Marshlander. I wish I still had that album of theirs. And yeah, I'm wrong. The Kinks are not gay. I think they just attract a gay audience... that may be it.

[Wintereis]

Love the kinks!!!!