Were The Lovin' Spoonful the US equivalent of The Kinks?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Lord Rocker, Nov 24, 2021.

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  1. Lord Rocker

    Lord Rocker Forum Resident Thread Starter

    In that they were musically somewhat apart from other bands at the time having a very individual take on 60's pop and lyrically didn't rely on the usual clichés. Both bands songs had a wry, mature outlook on life/lives. Both bands are known for their hit singles as opposed to LPs. I'm sure they more common attributes.

    I wonder of they influenced each other?
     
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  2. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    I like The Lovin’ Spoonful but they are nowhere near the same league as The Kinks. So my answer would be no.
     
  3. Uuan

    Uuan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    Did those Lovers not get Ray to produce one of their albums. ?
     
  4. Lovecraft

    Lovecraft Forum Resident

    Location:
    Isle of Bute, UK
    Lovin Spoonful are fine but comparing them with the Kinks........well, just no, just no.
     
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  5. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Nope. That was the Turtles, who I think are more of a US Kinks.
     
  6. mesfen

    mesfen Senior Member

    Location:
    lawrence, ks usa
    Apples and oranges. I would call the Kinks a cerebral rock band; very reflective and observational lyrics mixed with British folk melodies ( at the beginning more American r&b and rock n roll. To me, lovin spoonful was a nice pop band with some interesting and varied singles (Nashville cats is marvelous).
     
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  7. Maggie

    Maggie like a walking, talking art show

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I agree, the Spoonful are way better than the Kinks

    I think any resemblance is coincidental. The Spoonful basically had three sets of influences: acoustic jug-band and country blues, and girl group pop and novelty records. Their music is a completely original fusion of those, electrified. John Sebastian's writing used a lot of cliches, it was just cliches of acoustic blues, which are largely unfamiliar to the general pop audience even today.

    There are also some indications particularly after their first album that the Spoonful were aiming for a folk-pop sound influenced by the Mamas & Papas and the Byrds.

    I don't really perceive a similarity tbh.
     
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  8. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Love both bands, but the Spoonful were only around for three years. I think there is some resemblance, by the way.
     
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  9. Uuan

    Uuan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
     
  10. Lord Rocker

    Lord Rocker Forum Resident Thread Starter

    It's not really about their similarities in regards their music sounding similar. It's more about their individuality at a time when most bands were stylistically quite linear. Both bands had a confidence to play around with genres and pull it off. The Lovin Spoonful rocked out just effectively as The Kinks too.

    Lyrically the Kinks portrayed elements of British life in a way that no other band was doing at the time and I think John Sebastian wrote about aspects of American life in a way that few other US bands did during the 60s.
     
  11. kundryishot

    kundryishot Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wales
    The Kinks were well known for their albums
     
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  12. Glenn Christense

    Glenn Christense Foremost Beatles expert... on my block

    I don’t really see a comparison between the two bands, but I’ll mention that many English bands liked the Lovin’ Spoonful including the Kinks.

    They had an influence, possibly because like @Maggie mentioned, their stylistic
    choices were a little different than the English band typical influences.

    And… The Spoonful didn’t sound like they were aping the British Invasion style.
     
  13. ralphb

    ralphb "First they came for..."

    Location:
    Brooklyn, New York
    Same here. The Spoonful were a wonderful band but nowhere near the Kinks.
     
  14. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    The Spoonful are surely one of the most underrated American pop bands of the era. But they're nothing like The Kinks.
     
  15. Dandelion1967

    Dandelion1967 My Favourite Parks Are Car Parks

    I love The Lovin' Spoonful, they had a brilliant run of great singles and "Hums" is one of my favourite albums of the 60s but The Kinks are one of the 20 greatest rock bands of all time.
     
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  16. Sear

    Sear Dad rocker

    Location:
    Tarragona (Spain)
    The Lovin Spoonful were a charming band but The Kinks are in another league. Not comparable
     
  17. apple-richard

    apple-richard *Overnight Sensation*

    Nor were the Spoonful anywhere near as good as The Turtles.
     
  18. GarySteel

    GarySteel Bastard of old

    Location:
    Molde, Norway
    I'm sure that you and a few other posters like them better, but some of us would, perhaps rightly, call this crazytalk :)
     
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2021
  19. JoeF.

    JoeF. Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    No way

    There weren't even the US equivalent of The Searchers.
     
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  20. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    I like all three bands, so these comparisons are making me queasy.
     
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  21. apple-richard

    apple-richard *Overnight Sensation*

    I like them all too. It's great we don't really have to choose and can play them whenever we want.
     
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  22. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Possibly not even the US equivalent of The Deviants.
     
  23. Lord Rocker

    Lord Rocker Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Not sure why this has turned into a band being 'better' than other band. It's about the shared qualities of just 2 bands. Did they share similar qualities in comparison to the majority of bands of the time?
     
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  24. Lord Rocker

    Lord Rocker Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Exactly! The Kinks from 65 onwards also were not aping US R&B, Elvis, Everly Bros, Dylan etc in the way that so many UK acts still were. I think both bands music has aged better because of this. I think it's easy to dismiss The Lovin Spoonful as lightweight but there's a similar grittiness to their music as The Kinks.
     
  25. malco49

    malco49 Forum Resident

    you might be thinking of the turtles' ray produced album "turtle soup"
     
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