The Kinks are truly one of my favorite bands. I stumbled onto them thanks to a friend in high school. I remember thinking I was in on some great secret that the whole world must have missed out on when I listened to the Kinks. Truly, The Kinks are one of the more overlooked bands from England in the 1960’s. The Beetles took the world by storm just as The Kinks were releasing their music and they were often over looked.
Many times throughout The Kinks music career The Beetles seem to beat them to the punch by a matter of minutes or days. In the end though The Kinks produces an extensive list of records, more than a few number one hits, and possibly the world’s most popular drunk sink along song: Lola.
Ray Davies and Dave Davies, two English brothers, one with a voice and one with a guitar formed the Kinks in the mid 1960’s. There were only four members in the original band: Ray Davies, Dave Davies, Mick Avory, and Peter Quaif. Very similar to the their other famous foursome from England. Ray Davies was the lead singer for the Kinks. Dave Davies was on lead guitar. Peter Quaife was the bassist and Avory was the drummer. Early on they established themselves as a hard rocking bands. Their sound is as popular today as it ever was. They were a sign of their times and timless all at once.
My Top Ten Favorite Songs By The Kinks are:
1. You Really Got Me
2. Long Tall Sally
3. Dead End Street
4. Lola
5. Waterloo Sunset
6. All Day and All of the Night
7. Sunny Afternoon
8. Dead End Street
9. Well Respected Man
10. Wish I could Fly Like Superman
Dead End Street was an immediate hit in England once it was released. It carries on the kinks love of expressing their views on society and people through song. It is beautiful to read:
“What are we living for?
Two-room apartment on the second floor.
No money coming in,
Rent collector’s knocking, trying to get in.
We are strictly second-class,
We don’t understand
Why we should be on dead end street.
People are living on dead end street
I’m gonna die on dead end street.”
The words are sort of cool and groovy all at once. Very British. Very much of the times.
You can’t write an article about top ten songs by the Kinks and leave out Lola. I hear this song often on the jukebox in local bars. Drunken college boys, middle aged men with beer bellies, and even the ladies sing along with this hit. I am not sure anyone really listens to the words to many of these true blooded American men might be belting out “Lo Lo Lo Lo Lola.” I guess you know you really have a hit when people don’t even listen to the words and blindly sing along!
While many Kinks fans feel they were robbed by bigger more showy acts like the Beatles I have to disagree. Yes there are many times that The Kinks had an idea for a cover song or a movie or whatever and The Beatles magically beat them to it, but I think that is part of The Kink’s mystique. If they were overplayed, so well known, and well, everywhere, you could never discover them. I think this is why so many Kinks fans are so loyal; they feel like they are the number one fans who has discovered a great sound created just for them.
Anyway, The kinks produced record after record for over 30 years. The list is long, the hits are many, and the sound is distinctly their own.
