The Kinks' diminishing importance over time?

I could see VGPS being a kind of template, both melody- and production-wise. The production is a little rough-sounding but I think it actually suits the songs well. When we were practicing over the weekend, one of the guys in the band said "I wonder what this album would have sounded like if they'd recorded it at Abbey Road." I replied "I don't."

That said, this band was on the radar of many bands through the 70s and 80s, prior to the use of any songs in commercials. They're almost up there with the Who in terms of a reference point or a lot of power-pop type bands. And the first time I ever heard Picture Book was via the Young Fresh Fellows, who covered it in '89.

 

I love that record ,one of their best and you don't need to be a Brit to know a great record

 

The problem was their albums after Lola were bloated, self-indulgent affairs (Preservation Act, Soap Opera, etc.) that didn't help their popularity at all. They seemed to get back on track with Sleepwalker. After that the push toward stadium rockers began. IMO, this was a good thing, and just in the nick of time for them.

 

maybe many, but I personally know TWO guys that any of those besides me. Admittedly my little corner of the universe is quite tiny.

Their popularity and influence have definitely waned, as neither of my young daughters have ever heard of them, much less know their music... except when a Van Halen cover comes up on the USB stick in the car and I tell them, thats an old Kinks song. Heh.

Singer songwriters probably revere Ray Davies and think he's ubber cool. I guess. I dont know.

I did see the Kinks live, sometime around One For the Road era.... Dave Davies lit that place up with his black les paul. I was floored by that, and had no idea that was coming, I sure didnt associate the Kinks with that really fiery hi calibre rock guitar work.

 

OK, since I was sucking my thumb and pooping my pants back then, I defer to your take. I'm still just boggled that two such incredible albums have been so criminally overlooked for so long.

 

And no 45 singles of note! They fell off my personal radar after Lola but nonetheless, all through the 70's (on FM stations here) one would hear their canon of classic singles from 1964 up through Lola. As if there was nothing after Lola.

 

Exactly! I saw them in 1980 and was totally shocked. Dave Davies was incredible - what a star! It was clear to me then, he was this unsung hero, responsible for a lot of the power of the Kinks. I also think he has been grossly overlooked and probably held down to a certain extent by his big brother Ray.

 

Yeah, this. They were omnipresent on rock radio from the late 70s through the mid-80s or so (at least where I lived). They were also the longest-lived of the classic British Invasion bands, staying together continuously until the mid-90s, after the Stones and the Who had already broken up (at least once each).

I'm not sure why that never translated into the same sort of legendary status as the Stones or the Who. Surely "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night" are as iconic as "My Generation" or "Satisfaction" (or, at least, any of the WhoStones' second-string hits) but they weren't able to capitalize on that.

They had union troubles that prevented them from touring in America for years, but I think it might have more to with the fact that in the late 60s and early 70s, when albums like Tommy, Who's Next, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street were coming out, they were making quirky concept albums. They had a big hit with "Lola", but they never delivered the sort of iconic "Classic Rock" track like "Baba O'Riley" or "Brown Sugar", in spite of recording plenty of rockers.

Even their late-70s hits tended to be quirky (e.g. "Superman") or more introspective/less rocking ("Misfits") and never really made it into heavy rotation on "Classic Rock" radio, even though their song "Rock & Roll Fantasy" is about a thousand times better than Bad Company's.

 

perhaps their music catalogue didnt age well, especially their 60s stuff.

My eldest daughter flirted with classic rock and often raided my record collection, but she didnt like the brit invasion sound, the twangy guitar thing turned her off, the reverb soaked everything.. she didnt like that sound... she said it sounded old.

the Beatles sure sounded like that but for some reason, younger kids continually keep discovering them, but not the Kinks.

 

Which Kinks are we talking about here? The English Kinks (60's) or the American Kinks (70's-80's)? They're really two different bands. I agree that in the UK the (English) Kinks are still hugely revered. There's a new musical on in London based on their 60's songs which is a hot ticket. 'Waterloo Sunset' is almost a national anthem. No problem with the Kinks' legacy in the UK. In North America it's different. They stopped making hits and stopped touring and were quickly forgotten.

 

Like Van Morrison with Wavelength and Into the Music, the Kinks on Arista got *tons* of airplay in the S.F. Bay Area in the late 70’s, dovetailing perfectly with all the “New Wave” stuff from the Cars, Elvis Costello, etc.

 

The Kinks remain more of a niche band, as in many ways they were even during their times of greater success. I certainly don't think they've diminished, despite remaining a lesser-known British band - Village Green and Something Else have continued to grow in stature, kind of like how Love's Forever Changes has continued to pick up a fairly small but very appreciative audience.

 

Well the interesting thing is there was always a strong Kinks undercurrent of fandom going on in the 70's. The DJ's clearly liked them and kept them in the limelight (talking FM radio here). The older guys at places I worked touted them, and they were influential to certain bands and artists. If you perused the cut out bins and went to record stores in say 1976, there were always cool Kinks compilation LPs, often imports, and most of their standard LP catalog remained in print. Or an employee was playing a Kinks album in-store (the one I recall most was Lola followed by Arthur). Take for example Village Green Preservation Society, one of their worst sellers that became by the 1990's one of their best. It remained in print all through the 70's, being available on every incarnation of Reprise label and pressing, although apparently it was a mild seller as they are all scarce. It was off my radar, I just flipped past it thinking it must not be a very good album.

 

I love Ray Davies, and all that he's done, and/but I totally agree with our TS on their diminishing importance. They've been inactive for so long that the next generation music fans haven't paid attention to them, I think.

Too bad. They're certainly worth it.

 

Here too. I just meant their two periods seemed very separate. I had younger friends who didn't link the two: "wow they did Lola?" type of responses.

 

Showbiz was a big FM hit. At least on the West Coast.

 

• Sleepwalker (1977)
• Misfits (1978)
• Low Budget (1979)
• Give the People What They Want (1981)
• State of Confusion (1983)
• Word of Mouth (1984

That's a pretty good run right there...

 

I think they've always been sort of a misfit (pun intended) in the context of the other big British invasion bands, partly due to their ban in the U.S. way back when, partly due to their distinctively Britishness, and partly due to their own uncertain identity and adapting to commercial interests, probably under some pressure by their label (Arista) at the time.

But yes, as the saying goes, "out of sight, out of mind." They have been off the radar for more than 2 decades (since their last album). That's a long time.

I know we all like to think that this music of ours will live forever. I think that is highly unlikely (even for the Beatles) as we see many of the highlights, like the Kinks, begin to vanish from everyone's consciousness in our own lifetimes.

 

The Beatles are my favorite group easily.
I go back and forth between the Kinks and the Who as my 2nd favorite.
As a songwriter Ray Davies is one of the greatest.
They also had a good amount of variety in their music.
They were a fun band live too.
Other bands like Zeppelin, the Stones, and Pink Floyd may have sold more, but I'll take the Kinks over any of them.

 

Unfortunately, it started a long time before they became inactive. I remember wandering by the Orpheum in Boston on the night of what must have been their last show there.

First off, consider the fact that they were playing the Orpheum around the same time that the Stones and the Who were filling football stadiums, in spite of the fact that the Kinks had been basically recording and touring continuously since they formed in the 60s.

Anyway, on that night, the road surface of Hamilton Place was littered with flyers that some fan had been handing out, imploring fans to support the Kinks lest they break up. Which they did, shortly thereafter.

So, long story short, they became inactive because they had dropped off the radar, not the other way around. How exactly that happened after their FM radio success in the late 70s and MTV success in the early 80s remains a mystery to me (although I floated some theories in another post).

 

(for me) Arthur was their crowning achievement, not sure how its looked at by the general public but I put it alongside the all-time greats of the stones/zep/the who etc. I think its that good

 

I think this is an excellent introduction to the Kinks.

At the time, I got this from Amazon.uk, much cheaper than any US source. It's still a relatively-expensive (as in full price) import here, which makes it harder to recommend to someone who's curious about the Kinks, and wants to buy a comp.

 

Kinks are my second the Byrd's my third. First is the same as yours

 

Look, they're the Kinks. They're not supposed to be on top of anything are they? Like the subjects of many of their best songs - "Dead End Street", "This Time Tomorrow", "God's Children" etc. - they will always be a bit out of step, ruminative, alienated, questioning, looked down, disregarded... and that's why they're so credible when singing about those subjects.

 

They're huge in England.