Are The Kinks Underrated By The General Public?

Is Eric Idle?

 

Their rise in America was curbed due to them not being allowed to tour in most of the golden era, some strange complicated dispute with American music unions that they never recovered from till the 70’s . Doesn’t explain the UK apathy to Arthur , village green etc

 

Has anyone seen Mike Hunt ?

 

Well known = Very popular + very good. Unknown = less popular + less good.

 

When you want the imagination and creativity of The Beatles but the grit and swagger of the The Rolling Stones. I've always thought that the Kinks were the perfect blend of those two behemoths. And their run from Face To Face to Muswell Hillbillies (that is a essentially flawless SIX RECORD run, for those keeping track of home) is pretty much unparalleled outside of bands/musicians not named The Beatles or Bob Dylan.

 

No you are male.

 

Only when he is laying down...

 

I don't see the relation between popular and good. Sometimes they go together, other times not.

Very well put! Just so you know, I'm going to start uisng that definition of yours

 

I agree with "not well-known". They were fairly popular in North America in the late 70s and early 80s. It's always the same 3 Kinks songs you hear on the radio.

 

Not as underrated as General Public!!!

 

Yes. Artists that have a lot of wittiness and subtlety and humor in their songs are usually underrated.

 

Do you mean in the US?

 

They weren't, but now they probably are, if the general public even cares.

 

Under-rated in 60s & 70s
Over-rated in 80s
About accurately related now as a notable but not hugely successful band from a musical era that is no longer hip.

 

I agree with this, generally. There always seemed to be a disconnect to me with The Kinks insofar as being a classic band that the general public (in the US) knew little about.

I think this has something to do with their '70s output. Whatever you think of it, (and I don't think that they had much in the way of good albums after Muswell Hillbillies), I've never seen it refereed to as being particularly good in the press (books, review sites, etc.) , and nowhere near the quality of the classic '60s albums. They had the obligatory '80s comeback, but it wasn't as large as their contemporaries and it didn't stick.

So, there was this really long/protracted time when other bands from the '60s got really big. The Kinks had "Lola," but little else.

 

I don’t know about the Kinks being underrated in general but, for certain, my favorite Kinks period (1977-1996) is massively underrated. Most people have no idea what treasures those records are.

 

Under-kno

Yes, I should've specified. I generally meant the US. I know they're way more well-known in the UK.

 

That's true but with the Kinks less popular = less good.

 

I agree with Cyril. They do not have one classic album.

 

At least five. And a a dozen-odd classic singles.

 

The Kinks are not known by the "general public"!

 

I would say so. Other than their fans or diehard fans of '60s and 70s music, a lot of people don't remember them. The first Kinks song I heard when I was a child was "Come Dancing," which came out the year I was born (1983).

 

It was a question born completely by curiosity. Maybe I should have phrased it differently, like maybe "Why are The Kinks so unknown for the most part in the US?" But I didn't so we're stuck with the question I did ask. And my curiosity came from the fact that I think they were an amazing group who made 6 classic albums in a row and several other very good albums but only seem to be known for 3 songs.

 

Generally acknowledged, publicly known, classics?

None.

I own all five you’ll list, and more. I think they’re wonderful. They’re Kinks classics, to be sure. They’re not rock classics.

 

I'd say they have at least one acknowledged rock classic (VGPS) and at least 5 more should-be rock classics. Not to mention several very good albums.