For much of the sixties, The Kinks would perhaps have been ranked fourth after The Beatles, the Stones and The Who in channeling the spirit of the times. That’s because they didn’t channel the spirit of the times. Ray Davies stood defiantly outside trends. But instead he was assembling a body of work that ultimately has proved the most influential from England in the 60s.
What is that legacy exactly?
First, they were not afraid to dwell on the past, to talk about the old times, to be backward looking in that most progressive of decades. As the tower blocks went up and the old districts got gentrified, someone up in north London was pointing out that a way of life was disappearing:
We are the skyscraper condemnation affiliates
God save Tudor houses, antique tables, and billiards
Preserving the old ways from being abused
Protecting the new ways for me and for you
What more can we do?
Second, Ray Davies legitimised singing in an English accent. He sang about English life, almost exclusively and its class system as well. Sunny Afternoon, Waterloo Sunset, Autumn Almanac, The Village Green Preservation Society. Jarvis Cocker, Damon Albarn of Blur fairly obviously followed suit, but then there’s Mick Jones of The Clash, Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys and Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks. And that’s before we get to Mark E Smith and Luke Haines of The Auteurs, but also female vocalists such as Allison Statton of Young Marble Giants and Sarah Nixey of Black Box Recorder.
As we’ve observed on the Proto-Punk episode previously, The Kinks weren’t like everybody else. More chaotic than the Stones, closer to the heart of everyday life in England than the Beatles, more musically innovative than The Who. They were the original nonconformists, not afraid to sing of homosexuality or introduce Indian elements to their music. Bad boys too, for what that’s worth, as a trail of destruction to hotel rooms and relationships with wives and girlfriends can attest.
Finally, it’s often said that The Kinks invented heavy metal with You Really Got Me. Dave Davies, who wrote the riff, disputes this. But he does acknowledge the first use of “power chords”. The invention of power pop is hardly a shabby legacy, as the music of Buzzcocks on this episode amply demonstrates.
Tracklist:
Waterloo sunset, The Kinks
Quarry, Wednesday
Do you remember Walter?, The Kinks
Hackensack, The Fountains of Wayne
See my friends, The Kinks
The 15th, Wire
Days, The Kinks
Let’s save Tony Orlando’s House, Yo La Tengo
All day and all of the night, The Kinks
What do I get? Buzzcocks
Set me free, The Kinks
Certainty, Temples
Starstruck, The Kinks
Starstruck, The Auteurs
Autumn almanac, The Kinks
Sunday Sunday, Blur