Kinks

Formed: Muswell Hill, London, England... 1963 by brothers RAY and DAVE DAVIES, who recruited PETER QUAIFE from The RAVENS. With help from managers Robert Wace and Grenville Collins, they met Larry Page who gave them the name KINKS late '63. He also arranged demos, which were soon heard by American SHELTALMY, securing them a deal with 'Pye' early '64. Two singles flopped, but the third, 'YOU REALLY GOT ME', stormed the top spot in the UK, soon breaking into US Top 10. With its scuzzy, propulsive guitar riff, the song is oft cited as one of the first real "heavy rock" records, although it's debatable whether RAY DAVIES would admit to inspiring a multitude of poodle-maned Van Halen soundalikes. A top selling eponymous Ip followed, as did a series of Top 10 sixties singles, including two more UK No.l's, TIRED OF WAITING FOR YOU' and 'SUNNY AFTERNOON'. As ray's songwriting developed, the band moved to a quieter, more reflective sound, his camp, semi-detached vocals complementing the wry observations and quintessential Englishness of the lyrical themes. Come 1967, when every band worth their weight in spiked sugarcubes were looking towards the 'East', Davies looked no further than his proverbial back garden. 'SOMETHING ELSE', with its heartfelt eulogies to a mythical England past, still stands as the Kinks' greatest moment, the aching melancholy of 'WATERLOO SUNSET' its crowning glory. Davies' nostalgic bent continued on 1968's *THE KINKS ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY', an enchanting concept album that reached ever further into a faded history of rural simplicity. It also included the KINKS' sole dalliance with psychedelia, 'WICKED ANNABELLA, a Brothers Grimm-like fairytale come nightmare fantasy. DAVIES' lyrical obsessions were given centre stage once more on •ARTHUR (OR THE DECLINE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE)' (1969) wherein the rosy hue of the past was contrasted with the grey decline of modem day Britain. The mood lightened somewhat with 1970's surprise No.2 hit single, 'LOLA', a tongue in cheek tribute to a male cross-dresser and the standout track from the subsequent album, 'LOLA VERSUS POWERMAN AND THE MONEYGOROUND PART 1'. 1971's 'MUSWELL HILLBILLIES' echoed 'VILLAGE green's collection of storybook vignettes although the band were beginning to lose their focus and the hits were about to dry up. 'SUPERSONIC ROCKETSHIP' went top 20 in 1972 but the follow-up, 'CELLULOID HEROES', failed to chart. Both songs were taken from the album, 'EVERYBODY'S IN SHOWBIZ', and were high points in an otherwise unremarkable affair. The remainder of the 70's saw the KINKS become bogged down in ill-advised concept albums and self-parody although while the band were virtually ignored in the UK, they still had a sizeable following in America, hitting the US Top 30 with the patchy 'SLEEPWALKER' album in 1977. With the release of the harder rocking 'LOW BUDGET' a couple of years later, the band were embraced fully by the US rock fraternity and hitched a lucrative ride on the stadium rock circuit as well as gaining a sizeable piece of chart action. While the early 80's albums, 'GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT' and 'STATE OF CONFUSION' were competent albeit largely uninspired, the Americans lapped them up and the band even found themselves back in the UK Top 20 with the classic 'COME DANCING' single. Throughout the 80's the band once again descended into inconsistency and commercial wilderness, their live shows being the sole factor in keeping the KINKS' spirit intact. Fast forward to 1995 and BLUR were riding high on the 'Britpop' wave with their heavily KINKS-influenced 'Parklife' album. Overrated and trailing in the KINKS shadows, the album's success nevertheless gave Blur mainman DAMON ALBORN the opportunity to express his admiration for his hero RAY DAVIES and perform a poignant TV duet with the great man on 'WATERLOO SUNSET'. The renewed interest also resulted in a TV documentary on the KINKS and a solo tour by Ray, not to mention autobiographies by both RAY and DAVE. • Trivia: RAY produced 1969 Ip 'Turtle Soup' for The TURTLES. He was married on the 12th December '64 to Rasa Dicpetri, but later divorced her (see KINKS biography by Johnny Rogan). In 1981, he divorced his second wife Yvonne. (RAY had a relationship with CHRISSIE HYNDE of The PRETENDERS for three years). She gave him a daughter, Natalie, in February '83, although they separated when she started dating JIM KERR (of SIMPLE MINDS). In 1986, RAY appeared in the film musical, 'Absolute Beginners'.

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