Are The Kinks Underrated By The General Public?

It seems like The Kinks get love from critics and people who are really into music, like those of us on this forum. I'm not saying they are universally beloved by all music fans but they seem to be held in higher esteem by music fans. However, the general public probably only know "You Really Got Me", "Lola" & "Come Dancing" if they even know anything by the band. So, my question is this, are The Kinks underrated by the general public?

 

Kinks are the alternative rock of classic rock bands.

 

Probably yes, most good music is.

 

I like that. That fits them perfectly.

 

To me they were missing those keynote great albums. Yes they made some good albums but nothing that is iconic to the masses, only to the diehards.

 

I don't know if I agree. If nothing else it seems like The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society has been raised to iconic status, if not a couple of the albums they released on either side of that album.

 

Not really and I know I am biased as they are one of my top 3 bands and I live in London: VGPS has just been certified gold in the latest re-release, their musical 'Sunny Afternoon' was a big hit, Ray Davies sang 'Waterloo Sunset' at the Olympics closing ceremony- a song which is considered to be an anthem of London- and they gave the guy a knighthood. You could almost consider them national treasures here.

 

Case in point, look at all the people who turned out to watch Ray in 2010 at our biggest festival Glastonbury:

 

Yes- 'Village green' is way ahead of its time.

 

On the 'ratings scale' the Kinks are exactly where they should be. They were hardly innovators as loud guitar distortion was around long before they were. Imo, they were an enjoyable group but hardly an important band in the context of 60s rock and pop, in perhaps music's most epic era. Even their one off 'psych rock' song was inconsequential.

 

Yes, underrated. Village Green couldn't even get a sniff of the charts when released, what was that all about? Should have been up there with the Beatles and Stones throughout the 60's.
Their huge influence on the Britpop scene of the 90's is undeniable (hi blur!).

*edit

Ballad of John and Yoko - number one hit though throwaway.
Shrangri-La - Kinks - multilayered, clever, poignant, catchy , couldn't even get a sniff of the charts.

 

Compared to all the other classic rocks acts of the same era, I’d say yes, a bit underrated.

 

I think they are very underrated by Americans. They did a string of great albums from 1967 to about 1971 that match anybody's great runs.

 

I saw him at Hyde Park a couple of years ago. Huge crowd singing along to everything. These songs are anthemic.

 

The problem in Britain when i was growing up in 80's and 90's was that so many classic albums were deleted. The Kinks only existed in cobbled together hits packages in most record shops. Many bands suffered this problem and some couldn't do nothing about it . Managers like Don Arden (Sharon Osbournes dad ), effectively stole the rights to catalogues and licensed them for rehash after rehash of varying quality hurting bands both financially and creatively , a ghastly man up their with Klein and im sure Steve Marriot wouldnt have died alone in a council flat if he had been properly taken care of . Same for bands like The Beach Boys , Byrds, et al, cheap comps were all that was about unless you knew your stuff and collected vintage.Thankfully the tail end of the 80's and 90's brought back a lot of these classic 'lost' albums back into the mainstream. Box sets like Good Vibrations 25 year of the Beach Boys, the Byrds box etc helped this as well.

 

Fantastic band, that like many others, for whatever reason, didn't hold the attention of the majority well.
Those of us who love what they did, shake our heads, and move on

 

ARe there any comparable box sets for the Kinks? I agree that the Good Vibrations is what launched the rebirth of the Beach Boys' reputation in the public eye.

 

Not that I can think of. My first Kinks purchase was a comp by a company called Castle Communications. Double lp with the usual hits but had a lot of the lesser well known stuff. Think that was about 86/87? Was streets ahead of the usual 1 lp Kinks with the few early hits on it comps kicking about .

 

Has the appreciation for them grown in the last 10 years or so? Yes. Does this mean they receive now the recognition they deserve? No, not close.

 

Its only really known in the UK, and even then its tier two at best on the public awareness. Its not the same tier as Sgt Pepper, Pet Sounds, etc.

 

For heaven’s sake Yes they're underrated!

Unless said members of "the General Public" were around in the 60's (when they had several radio hits) and the 70's (when they released several fantastic albums ★).


★ However, even a lot of fans of the 60's stuff missed out on a lot of the 70's releases due to a touring ban of a few years... and therefore several of the 70's albums flew well under the radar (like "Something Else" and "Arthur," my personal faves), which is why original Kinks vinyl is so rare and valuable.

.

 

Picture Book in 2008 was probably the nearest equivalent and The Kinks first box set: Picture Book (The Kinks album) - Wikipedia

 

They are very underrated, but in saying that 'The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society,' charted for the first time in 2018.
They were underrated in 1968, and not as underrated nowadays. Still, they're certainly not The Beatles or Queen in terms of popularity.

 

Underrated? Nope!

 

This one is not bad:

The Kinks - The Anthology 1964-1971