Five Pioneering Songs by The Kinks
This British band had an outsized influence on rock ’n’ roll
The Kinks, one of the British bands to emerge in the early Sixties, are often credited as being rock music pioneers. The core of The Kinks has always been the Davies brothers from London, Ray (lead singer, guitarist and songwriter) and Dave (guitarist). The early configuration of the four-person band also included Pete Quaife (bassist) and Mick Avory (drummer), although those two musicians were eventually replaced.
My purpose here is not to detail the lengthy and often stormy trajectory of The Kinks. Suffice it to say they achieved significant success in the mid- and late Sixties, hit some low points in the mid-Seventies, and came back to life in the Eighties — only to split up by 1997. Despite reunion rumors, they’ve remained defunct.
During their tenure, The Kinks generally, and Ray Davies specifically, showed remarkable versatility in their music, which ranged from hard rock to social satire to rock operas and theatrical ventures. In my humble opinion, here are five of their most influential recordings and the reasons I picked them.
You Really Got Me (1964)
“You Really Got Me” by Ray Davies was originally a bluesy, slower song and recorded as such in a first…
