The underappreciated genius of The Kinks
The Kinks are a name that should be up there with the greatest of the British invasion bands of the 1960s such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones but are often overlooked when people mention Britain's great contribution to popular music. They are by no means an obscure band that no one has heard of but don't get half of the recognition they deserve for their contribution to British popular music and are ridiculously underrated outside of England.
They did have their fair share of chart hits in their prime, in 1964 You Really Got Me hit number 1 in the UK and their single Sunny Afternoon reached number 1 and was sitting happily at the top end of the UK charts in the summer of 1966 when England won the world cup. Many of their singles have iconic riffs that are instantly recognisable to any music fan but something that always goes unnoticed is the amount of talent possessed by both of the Davies brothers. Dave Davies was an outstanding guitar player and was only 17 when he slit his guitar amplifier to create the distorted sound for the iconic riff on You Really Got Me. His brother Ray has always had the ability to write songs which rooms full of people can sing along to but were also unlike anything you have ever heard before.
However there are many factors as to why the Kinks were never as big as they should have been. Arguably the biggest of these is their USA ban which lasted from 1965 to 1969 which was perhaps the most important point of their career, whilst the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were playing to crowds of hysterical teenage girls in America and expanding their fan bases, the Kinks however were unable to tour america and perhaps missed out on the opportunity to be as big as the other great British bands of the 1960s due to failing to promote their music to the biggest and most important musical market. It is not known for sure why this us touring ban occurred but it can be believed it was as a result of perceived 'anti-social' behaviour and in-band fighting. The best example of this was an on-stage fight which broke out between Dave Davies and drummer Mick Avory which saw Davies knocked out leading to the concert being cut short and Avory fleeing the scene. This saw them branded as drunken hooligans which would have been a hard brand to sell up against the squeaky clean mop-topped public image the Beatles obtained at the time. This touring ban contributed to the Kinks music style becoming definitively English and setting the tone for the Britpop genre of the 1990s which would have struggled without the Kinks influence.
The Kinks have their share of great albums but none of which come up strong against other great 1960s albums and the Kinks would struggle to find themselves in the top 50 of a list of the best albums ever released. Whilst Face To Face is a good album it only really stands out for its singles Sunny Afternoon and Dead End Street and when comparing it to other albums released in 1966 such as the Beatles' revolver, The Beach Boys' pet sounds and Dylan's Blonde on Blonde it isn't hard to see why they were never quite as successful on the albums front. However if we look at singles the Kinks always delivered outstanding songs and even when they were not chart topping they were innovative and influential. The eastern inspired See My Friends drew from Indian music even before George Harrison picked up a sitar on Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown). Waterloo Sunset is easily up there with some of the best lyrics ever written as their simplicity paint a perfect picture of the Kinks home city of London.
With a career spanning decades filled with iconic singles and a sibling rivalry that makes even the Gallagher brothers look angelic, the Kinks are one of rocks most unique and influential bands and their contribution to music will live on forever even if it is never as acclaimed as that of the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.
They did have their fair share of chart hits in their prime, in 1964 You Really Got Me hit number 1 in the UK and their single Sunny Afternoon reached number 1 and was sitting happily at the top end of the UK charts in the summer of 1966 when England won the world cup. Many of their singles have iconic riffs that are instantly recognisable to any music fan but something that always goes unnoticed is the amount of talent possessed by both of the Davies brothers. Dave Davies was an outstanding guitar player and was only 17 when he slit his guitar amplifier to create the distorted sound for the iconic riff on You Really Got Me. His brother Ray has always had the ability to write songs which rooms full of people can sing along to but were also unlike anything you have ever heard before.
However there are many factors as to why the Kinks were never as big as they should have been. Arguably the biggest of these is their USA ban which lasted from 1965 to 1969 which was perhaps the most important point of their career, whilst the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were playing to crowds of hysterical teenage girls in America and expanding their fan bases, the Kinks however were unable to tour america and perhaps missed out on the opportunity to be as big as the other great British bands of the 1960s due to failing to promote their music to the biggest and most important musical market. It is not known for sure why this us touring ban occurred but it can be believed it was as a result of perceived 'anti-social' behaviour and in-band fighting. The best example of this was an on-stage fight which broke out between Dave Davies and drummer Mick Avory which saw Davies knocked out leading to the concert being cut short and Avory fleeing the scene. This saw them branded as drunken hooligans which would have been a hard brand to sell up against the squeaky clean mop-topped public image the Beatles obtained at the time. This touring ban contributed to the Kinks music style becoming definitively English and setting the tone for the Britpop genre of the 1990s which would have struggled without the Kinks influence.
The Kinks have their share of great albums but none of which come up strong against other great 1960s albums and the Kinks would struggle to find themselves in the top 50 of a list of the best albums ever released. Whilst Face To Face is a good album it only really stands out for its singles Sunny Afternoon and Dead End Street and when comparing it to other albums released in 1966 such as the Beatles' revolver, The Beach Boys' pet sounds and Dylan's Blonde on Blonde it isn't hard to see why they were never quite as successful on the albums front. However if we look at singles the Kinks always delivered outstanding songs and even when they were not chart topping they were innovative and influential. The eastern inspired See My Friends drew from Indian music even before George Harrison picked up a sitar on Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown). Waterloo Sunset is easily up there with some of the best lyrics ever written as their simplicity paint a perfect picture of the Kinks home city of London.
With a career spanning decades filled with iconic singles and a sibling rivalry that makes even the Gallagher brothers look angelic, the Kinks are one of rocks most unique and influential bands and their contribution to music will live on forever even if it is never as acclaimed as that of the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.
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