Ha. You and I were basically typing up the same thoughts at the same time. What was marketed as "punk" or "new wave" has always fascinated me.
"Prince of the Punks" has a bit more juice and spunk than most of the songs on Sleepwalker. The lyrics are none too subtle. I do remember WBCN playing Tom Robinson's songs, at least "2,4,6,8 Motorway". As some of the Avids pointed out, a few of the musicians were a bit old to be "punk", like the guitarist in the Police, Andy Summers, who actually played in the "psychedelic" version of Eric Burdon & The Animals or a member of the Only Ones who was actually a member of Avid Zeki's beloved Uriah Heep, not to mention the Stranglers. I also remember the confusion back in the day on what was "punk" or "new wave". Acts like Tom Petty, the Cars and even Dire Straits were considered such, as well as the Angry Young Man Triple Threat of Parker/Costello/Jackson. As a 15 yr. old budding music junkie in the late 1970s, I was going backwards & forwards at the same time, getting into the 60s British Invasion, pop, soul music I fondly remembered as a child on one hand, while getting into the said Angry Young Men, Nick Lowe, the Ramones, the Clash, the Pistols, XTC on the other hand. "Prince of the Punks" is basically an artifact of those times. EDIT: I made a mistake! Mike Kellie of the Only Ones was in Spooky Tooth. Sorry, fellow Avids.
No problem. Funny because, thanks to this thread, I had just been searching wiki about Foreigner and then Spooky Tooth and Gary Wright. Maybe an hour ago!
I disagree.... ..... it makes sense specifically because of the growing movement of the time.... every such movement, no matter how sincere, will attract its share of bandwagon mates. There are always people looking to fit in or cash in and isn't that what this song is all about? It's a perfect example of the phenomenon under examination here (remember, this line is not an indictment of the gay rights movement, but rather an individual falsely coopting it). That it may be distasteful just makes it more apropos to the scathing indictment of inauthenticity that is this song. I've always enjoyed the song. This is saying something since I generally don't go for this sort of vicious attack. But musically and lyrically, I think this thing works quite well.... and yes, a fantastic live tune.
The Only Ones are a band I've been thinking about a lot has this thread has progressed because they're an example of what was basically a traditional rock band who successfully thrived - not commercially, but artistically - in the punk era. Much better than the Kinks managed, in my opinion. A really great band with a really great songwriter in Peter Perrett.
We will be looking at the whole One For The Road album, it is a much better version of the song. Perhaps that one will grab you more. The b-side sounds a little demo-ish
Thank you for posting this, Avid Ajsmith. I have the following thoughts: 1. I always enjoy seeing 1960s Dolly Birds over what passes over for "glamour" today. I think the song they play over the footage is by Lonnie Donnagan. 2. I wonder if Paul Jones got into a fight w/one of his fellow Manfreds? Seriously, Paul Jones, as well as Roger Daltrey, has to be the most well preserved people from the British Invasion era. 3. I believe that the presenter of the Late Night Line Up ended up in Colour Me Pop several years later. 4. Imagine these people having an interesting conversation on late night telly. Think that this happens today?
Prince of the Punks: Once again, without having looked at what anyone else has said (except our fearless leader), I like this one. For whatever reason, this one strikes me as the first real out and out rocker, like Victoria, that we’ve heard from these guys in a long while. Not tied to a story or a theme, just some thing that they blasted out because it’s a good catchy song. Agreed (with Mr. Winstanley) that it’s a bit vitriolic, but I have to say, the words are pretty funny so, unlike Mr. Big Man, which really is just a seriously nasty nastygram, this at least shows Ray’s trademark wit. It’s nice to hear the whole band blasting along with that just-slightly-out-of-control, about to go off the rails, yet somehow just barely holding it together sound that the kinks do so well.… And, yes, special mention again to Dave for those nice chunky riffs and stabbing guitars. This one sounds like he’s having fun and I’m surprised I can’t hear him hooting and hollering in the background like he did on Victoria. If you like sleepwalker to maintain its somewhat thematic sound and content, this doesn’t really quite fit and it’s probably best to have been relegated to a B-side, but if you don’t care, this would’ve made a nice addition somewhere (much like Artificial Light) that would’ve rocked up side B of the album a touch. I’m happy with it as a bonus track either way.
On closer inspection it's a shame that the Robinson connection became so well known, because really when you look at the lyric, it seems to have less to do with Robinson than one would expect. So I lean towards the idea you've put forth here. I personally have no problem with snarly, discontent lyrics that shred something or someone that probably deserved it, and in its own way this succeeds on that level, if Robinson is taken out of the picture.
My Sleepwalker now looks like this (for now): Life On The Road Full Moon Brother Sleepwalker Father Christmas Prince of the Punks Juke Box Music Artifical Light Mr. Big Man Life Goes On Life On The Road stays put as opener but Full Moon jumps to A-side 2nd song. It flows nicely out of Road and sounds good here. Brother brings in a mid-side ballad break from the more uptempo songs preceeding it, then Sleepwalker brings the energy back up and Father Christmas puts a bow on side 1. Father Christmas is a perfect side closer just as Prince of the Punks has a b album side feel. Juke Box Music is more suited as a 2nd song and Artifical Light sounds good coming after those two. Mr. Big Man is more suited to back of an album side and Life Goes On doesn't need to go anywhere. To me at least this a zippier, more varied and also creates a nice a balance of Kinks rock-pop strengths. It is less draggy, bloated and generic mid-70s sounding. There's a bit more bite and snarl here as well. I like my Kinks somewhat messy yet beautifully melodic. Though I do prefer the live Prince of the Punks to this.
I don’t think we do disagree, as I only think that lyric is unfair as it applies to Tom Robinson. If it’s about a composite poser in general, then fine but for whatever reason this song has always come with the intro ‘it’s about Tom Robinson’: actually how do we know with such certainty it’s 100% about TR? Has Ray ever even discussed it in an interview?
That is a good question, and here is how I approached it. Really, I'd rather listen to every single one of those albums in full. If I were to chop it up into 1966-68 and 1969-71 the I'd end up with around half of each album, and I'm going to listen to that much of each one, might as well just listen to the albums themselves. So, for that era, I really picked the cream of the crop, only about 1-4 songs per album... that I want to shove in front of a casual Kinks fan (who only knows YRGM and Lola) and say THIS is why this band is better then the Stones and Beatles (imho). They are the dearest of the dear songs that mean the most to me over that run from Face to Face through Muswell Hillbillies. Here's the link to the list on my Spotify.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ For those early albums, I don't feel I need to listen to all the filler, so I was able to get an hour of songs I wanted to listen to
Ah...yet you failed to give a shout out to the wonderful Allen Sherman's parody of "Pick a Bale O' Cotton" (Pick a Dress of Cotton) used in that segment!
Prince of the Punks First time hearing this today. I cannot unhear the Beach Boys' Rock and Roll Music in the chorus, so thanks fellow avids! There are horns, but these are not RCA horns or Arthur horns. They are clean almost like synth horns, even if the rest of the guitar tones are a bit more raw. I never heard of Tom Robinson at all until this past week, so I have nothing to add there. The lyrics are pretty damn pointed, a la Mr Reporter or Session Man. To me, this doesn't fit on Sleepwalker, but based on my cursory listens so far of Misfits, I think I could imagine it fitting in there. Or a Christmas song's B-Side. Hey, I don't make any decisions here.
