The Kinks

The Kinks

The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorized in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks have been referred to as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a wide range of genres, including rhythm and blues, British music hall, folk, and country. The group initially consisted of Ray Davies (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Dave Davies (lead guitar, vocals), Pete Quaife (bass guitar, backup vocals), and Mick Avory (drums and percussion). The Davies brothers were the only members who performed in the band throughout its 32 years. Avory left in 1984, the result of a dispute with Dave Davies, and was replaced on drums by Bob Henrit. John Dalton played bass for part of 1966 after Quaife was injured in a car accident, and joined as a full-time member when Quaife left to set up his own band in 1969. Dalton remained until the late 1970s, when he was replaced by Jim Rodford. The Kinks were accompanied by various keyboardists, most notably Nicky Hopkins (for studio sessions only), from 1965 to 1968, and John Gosling, from 1970 to 1978.

The Kinks first came to prominence in 1964 with their third single, "You Really Got Me", written by Ray Davies. It became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching the Top 10 in the United States. Between the mid-1960s and early 1970s, the group released a string of commercially and critically successful singles and LPs, and gained a reputation for songs and concept albums reflecting English culture and lifestyle, fuelled by Ray Davies' observational writing style. Albums such as Face to Face, Something Else, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, Arthur, Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, and Muswell Hillbillies, along with their accompanying singles, are considered amongst the most influential recordings of the period. The band's subsequent theatrical concept albums met with less success, but the band experienced a revival during the New Wave era; groups such as The Jam, The Knack, and The Pretenders covered their songs, helping to boost their record sales. In the 1990s, Britpop acts such as Blur and Oasis cited The Kinks as major influences. The group broke up in 1996, a result of the commercial failures of their last few albums and creative tension between the Davies brothers.

The Kinks had five Top 10 singles on the US Billboard chart. Nine of their albums charted in the Top 40. In the UK, the group had fourteen Top 20 singles on the New Musical Express chart along with five Top 10 albums. Among numerous honors, they received the Ivor Novello Award for "Outstanding Service to British Music". In 1990, their first year of eligibility, the original four members of The Kinks were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

History

Formation and first years (1963–1964)

6 Denmark Terrace, birthplace of the Davies brothers

The Davies brothers were born at 6 Denmark Terrace, Fortis Green, North London, the youngest and the only boys in a family of eight children. At home they were immersed in a world of different musical styles, from the music hall of their parents' generation, to the jazz and early rock and roll that their older sisters listened to. Ray Davies studied to be a theatre director at Hornsey College of Art and gained experience in music as a guitarist with the Soho-based Dave Hunt Band. Ray and his brother Dave had played skiffle and rock and roll together.

The brothers attended Fortismere School (then known as William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School), where they formed a band with Ray's friend and schoolmate Pete Quaife. Quaife's friend John Start joined them on the drums. The group, dubbed the Ray Davies Quartet, debuted at a school dance. They were well received, which encouraged the group to play at local pubs and bars. The band went through a series of lead vocalists, the most notable of whom was Rod Stewart. Then known as "The Elvis of Muswell Hill", Stewart had known the Davies brothers and Quaife at William Grimshaw School. Stewart performed with the group at least once in spring 1962, but left soon after Start's mother complained about his voice and musical and personality differences with the rest of the band emerged. Stewart went on to form his own group, Rod Stewart and the Moonrakers, which became a local rival to the Ray Davies Quartet.

The band performed under several names between 1962 and 1963—the Pete Quaife Band, The Bo-Weevils, and The Ramrods—before settling on The Ravens. After recruiting drummer Mickey Willet, the fledgling group auditioned for various record labels, but without success. American record producer Shel Talmy eventually helped them to secure a contract with Pye Records in early 1964, when The Ravens changed their name to The Kinks. Drummer Willet left the band shortly before they signed to the label, so The Kinks invited Mick Avory to replace him after seeing Avory's advertisement in the magazine Melody Maker. Avory had a background in jazz drumming, and had played one gig with the fledgling Rolling Stones. The Kinks' first single, a cover of the Little Richard song "Long Tall Sally", was almost completely ignored, but the band was nevertheless heavily publicised by their managers: Robert Wace, Grenville Collins, and ex-1950s showbiz star Larry Page. Despite their efforts, The Kinks' second single, "You Still Want Me", also failed to chart.

Commercial breakthrough and American touring ban (1965–1966)

Following the failure of the band's first two singles, Pye Records threatened to annul the group's contract if their third single was unsuccessful. "You Really Got Me" was released in August 1964, and boosted by a performance on the television show Ready Steady Go! it quickly reached number one in the United Kingdom; after a quick import by the American label Reprise Records, it also made the Top 10 in the United States. The loud, distorted guitar riff—achieved by Dave Davies' slicing of the speaker cones in his Elpico amplifier (referred to by the band as the "little green amp")—gave the song its signature, gritty guitar sound. Extremely influential on the American garage rock scene, "You Really Got Me" is regarded as the first hard rock hit and the blueprint for related genres, such as heavy metal. Soon after its release, the group recorded most of the tracks for their debut LP, eponymously titled Kinks. Consisting largely of covers and revamped traditional songs, it was released on 2 October 1964 and became a hit, reaching number four on the UK chart. The group's fourth single, "All Day and All of the Night", another original hard rock tune, was released three weeks later. It rose to number two in the United Kingdom and number seven in the United States. "Set Me Free" and "Tired of Waiting for You" followed with great success, the latter topping the UK singles chart.

"There were only a few bands that had this sorta really rough-sounding, what we used to call `R&B' style in the Sixties. There were the Yardbirds, there was us, there was the Pretty Things, as well."

Dave Davies, interview with the Austin Chronicle

The group released three albums and several EPs in the following two years. The Kinks made their first tour of Australia and New Zealand in January 1965 as part of a "package" bill that included Manfred Mann and The Honeycombs. They performed and toured relentlessly, headlining package tours throughout 1965 with performers such as The Yardbirds and Mickey Finn. Tensions began to emerge within the band, expressed in incidents such as the on-stage fight between drummer Mick Avory and Dave Davies at The Capitol Theatre, Cardiff, Wales on 19 May. After finishing the first song, "You Really Got Me", Davies insulted Avory and kicked over his drum set. Avory responded by hitting Davies with his hi-hat stand, rendering him unconscious, before fleeing from the scene, fearing that he had killed his bandmate. Davies was taken to Cardiff Royal Infirmary, where he received 16 stitches to his head. To placate police, Avory later claimed that it was part of a new act in which the band members would hurl their instruments at each other. Following their summer 1965 American tour, the American Federation of Musicians refused permits for the group to appear in concerts in the United States for the next four years, effectively cutting off The Kinks from the main market for rock music at the height of the British Invasion. Although neither The Kinks nor the union gave a specific reason for the ban, at the time it was widely attributed to their rowdy on-stage behaviour.

A stopover in Bombay, India during the band's Australian tour had led Davies to write the song "See My Friends", released as a single in July 1965. This was a prominent early example of crossover music, and, along with The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood", was one of the first pop songs of the period to display the direct influence of traditional music from the Indian subcontinent. In his autobiography, X-Ray, Ray Davies noted he was inspired to write "See My Friends" after hearing the songs of local fishermen during an early morning walk.

We stopped off in India on the way to Australia. I remember getting up, going to the beach and seeing all these fishermen coming along. I heard chanting to start with, and gradually the chanting came a bit closer and I could see it was fishermen carrying their nets out. When I got to Australia I wrote lots of songs, and that one particularly.

In his book The Exotic in Western Music, Jonathan Bellman claims that this song had a significant influence on contemporaries, particularly George Harrison of The Beatles. He states, "In late January 1965, three months before Harrison first encountered a sitar on the Twickenham movie set, Ray Davies ... wrote an Indian-influenced song, 'See My Friends', which his musical contemporaries found extremely influential ... And while much has been made of the Beatles' 'Norwegian Wood' because it was the first pop record to use a sitar, it was recorded well after The Kinks' clearly Indian 'See My Friends' was released."

Recording began promptly on their next project, Kinda Kinks, starting the day after their return from Asia. The LP—10 of whose 12 songs were originals—was completed and released within two weeks. According to Ray Davies, the band was not completely satisfied with the final cuts, but pressure from the record company meant that no time was available to fix certain flaws in the mix. Davies later expressed his dissatisfaction with the production, saying, "a bit more care should have been taken with it. I think [producer] Shel Talmy went too far in trying to keep in the rough edges. Some of the double tracking on that is appalling. It had better songs on it than the first album, but it wasn't executed in the right way. It was just far too rushed."

The band's first stylistic change became evident in late 1965, with the appearance of singles like "A Well Respected Man" and "Dedicated Follower of Fashion", as well as their third album, The Kink Kontroversy. These recordings exemplified the development of Davies' songwriting style, from hard-driving rock numbers toward songs rich in social commentary, observation, and idiosyncratic character study, all with a uniquely English flavour. For the recording, the band recruited session musician Nicky Hopkins on keyboards. The satirical single "Sunny Afternoon" was the biggest UK hit of summer 1966, topping the charts and displacing The Beatles' "Paperback Writer". Before the The Kink Kontroversy's release, Ray Davies suffered a nervous and physical breakdown, caused by the pressures of touring, writing, and ongoing legal squabbles. During his months of recuperation, which he wrote several new songs and pondered on the band's direction. During this time, Quaife left the band for much of 1966 because of an automobile accident. After his recovery, he decided to step back from the band. Mick Avory's friend John Dalton replaced Quaife until he decided to return to the group at the end of the year. Avory, who was happier with Dalton in the band, was displeased.

"Sunny Afternoon" was a dry run for the band's album Face to Face, which displayed Davies' growing skill at crafting gentle yet cutting narrative songs about everyday life and people. Hopkins returned for the sessions to play various keyboard instruments, including mellotron and harpsichord. He played on the band's next two studio albums as well, and also featured on numerous live BBC recordings with the band before joining The Jeff Beck Group in 1968. The Kinks' next single, a social commentary piece, "Dead End Street", was released at the same time as Face to Face and became another UK Top 10 hit. It failed commercially in the United States, reaching only number 73 in the Billboard charts. One of the group's first promotional music videos was produced for the song. It was filmed on Little Green Street, a small 18th-century lane in North London, located off Highgate Road in Kentish Town.

'The Golden Age' (1967–1972)

The Kinks in 1967. From left: Ray Davies, Mick Avory, Pete Quaife, unidentified, Dave Davies.

In May 1967 The Kinks released their next single, "Waterloo Sunset". The lyrics describe two lovers passing over a bridge, with a melancholic observer reflecting on the couple, the Thames, and Waterloo Station. The song was rumoured to have been inspired by the romance between two British celebrities of the time, actors Terence Stamp and Julie Christie, but Ray Davies denied this in his autobiography, claiming in a 2008 interview, "it was a fantasy about my sister going off with her boyfriend to a new world and they were going to emigrate and go to another country." The single became one of the group's biggest UK successes, peaking at number two on Melody Maker. The song went on to become one of their most popular and best-known. Pop music journalist Robert Christgau called it "the most beautiful song in the English language", and Allmusic senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine cited it as "possibly the most beautiful song of the rock and roll era."

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The songs on the 1967 album Something Else By The Kinks developed the musical progressions of Face to Face, adding English music hall influences to the band's sound. Dave Davies scored a major UK chart success with the album's "Death of a Clown". While it was co-written by Ray Davies and recorded by The Kinks, it was also released as a Dave Davies solo single. Overall, however, the album received a disappointing commercial reception, prompting The Kinks to rush out a new single, "Autumn Almanac", which became another UK hit. Their next single, "Wonderboy", released in the spring of 1968, stalled at number 36 and became the band's first single not to make the UK Top Twenty since their early covers. Throughout 1968, Davies continued to pursue his deeply personal songwriting style while rebelling against the heavy demands placed on him to keep producing commercial hits. At the end of June, The Kinks released the single "Days", the last recording produced by the group's original lineup. It reached number 12 in the United Kingdom and was was a Top 20 hit in several other countries, but it did not chart in the United States.

Their next album, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, was released in late 1968 in the UK. It was greeted with almost unanimously positive reviews from both UK and US rock critics, yet failed to sell strongly. Although only an estimated 100,000 copies sold worldwide, the album has since become The Kinks' best selling original record. A collection of thematic vignettes of English town and hamlet life, it was assembled from songs written and recorded over the previous two years. The album's deliberately understated production contrasted with the extravagant style then in vogue. Furthermore, it did not contain a popular single; "Starstruck" was released in North America and continental Europe, but charted only in the Netherlands. Village Green, while commercially unsuccessful, was embraced by the new underground rock press on its release in January 1969, particularly in the United States, where The Kinks' began to acquire a reputation as a cult band. In The Village Voice, a newly-hired Robert Christgau called it "the best album of the year so far". Boston's underground paper Fusion published a review stating "The Kinks continue, despite the odds, the bad press and their demonstrated lot, to come across ... Their persistence is dignified, their virtues are stoic. The Kinks are forever, only for now in modern dress." The record was not without criticism, however. In the student paper California Tech, one writer commented that it was "schmaltz rock", and that it was "without imagination, poorly arranged, and a poor copy of The Beatles." The album remains popular today; in 2004, it was re-released in a 3-CD "Deluxe" edition and an album track, "Picture Book", was featured in a popular Hewlett-Packard television commercial, helping to boost the album's popularity considerably.

In early 1969, Quaife told the band he was leaving. The other members did not take his statement seriously, until an article appeared in New Musical Express magazine on 4 April featuring Quaife's new band, Maple Oak, which he had formed without telling the rest of The Kinks. Lead vocalist and songwriter Ray Davies made a personal plea to Quaife, asking him to return for the sessions for their upcoming album, but Quaife refused. Within a day Davies called up bassist John Dalton, who had filled in for Quaife in the past, as a replacement. Dalton took a more permanent position with The Kinks this time, remaining with the group until 1977, when the album Sleepwalker was released.

Ray Davies travelled to Los Angeles, California in April 1969 to help negotiate an end to the American Federation of Musician ban on the group, opening up an opportunity for them to return to touring in America. The group's management quickly made plans for a North American tour, to help restore their standing in the US pop music scene. Before their return to the United States, The Kinks recorded another album, Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). As with the previous two albums, Arthur was soaked with British lyrical and musical hooks, having been conceived as the score for a proposed but never realised television drama. It was a modest commercial success, but was well received by music critics in America. Much of the album revolved around themes from the Davies brothers' childhood, their sister Rosie, who had migrated to Australia in the early 1960s with her husband, Arthur Anning (the album's namesake), and life growing up during the Second World War. The Kinks embarked on their tour of the US in October 1969. The tour fell apart as the group struggled to find cooperative promoters and concertgoers; many of the scheduled concert dates were cancelled. The band did, however, manage to play at a few major underground venues at the Fillmore East and performed for a night at New York's Carnegie Hall.

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The band added keyboardist John Gosling to their line-up in early 1970. Until then, Nicky Hopkins, along with Ray, had done most of the session work on keyboards. In May 1970, Gosling debuted with The Kinks on "Lola", an account of a confused romantic encounter with a transvestite, that became both a UK and US hit Top 10 hit, helping return The Kinks to the public eye. The lyrics originally contained the word "Coca-Cola", and as a result the BBC refused to broadcast the song, considering it to be in violation of their policy against product placement. Part of the song was hastily re-recorded by Ray Davies, with the offending line changed to the generic "cherry cola". The group's accompanying album Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One was released in November 1970. It was a critical and commercial success, charting in the Top 40 in America, making it their most successful album since the mid-1960s.

Five men stand next to each in front of a grey building, smiling and looking slightly to the camera's left.

The Kinks in 1970

After the success of "Lola", the band went on to release Percy in 1971, a soundtrack album to a film of the same name about a penis transplant. The majority of the album consisted of instrumentals, and did not receive positive reviews. The band's US label, Reprise, declined to release it in America, precipitating a major dispute that contributed to the band's departure from that label. Directly after the release of the album, the band's contracts with Pye and Reprise expired. Before the end of the year, The Kinks signed a five-album deal with RCA Records and received a million dollar advance, which helped fund the construction of their own recording studio, Konk. Their debut for RCA, Muswell Hillbillies, was soaked with country, bluegrass, and music hall influences. It is often hailed as their last great record, though it was not as successful as its predecessors. It was named after the Davies brothers' birthplace in Muswell Hill and contained songs focusing on working-class life and the Davies' own childhood. Muswell Hillbillies, despite positive reviews and high expectations, peaked at number 48 on Record World and number 100 on Billboard. It was followed in 1972 by a double album, Everybody's in Show-Biz, which consisted of half studio tracks and half live tracks recorded during a two-night stand at Carnegie Hall. The record featured the ballad "Celluloid Heroes" and the Caribbean-themed "Supersonic Rocket Ship", their last UK Top 20 hit for more than a decade. "Celluloid Heroes" was a bittersweet rumination on dead Hollywood stars in which Ray Davies admits that he wishes his life were like a movie, "because celluloid heroes never feel any pain ... and celluloid heroes never really die." The album was moderately successful in the United States, peaking at number 47 on Record World and number 70 on Billboard. The record was a transitional piece between the band's early 1970s rock material and the theatrical incarnation in which they immersed themselves for the next four years.

Theatrical incarnation (1973–1976)

Three men sit next to eachother, each solemnly facing the camera.

From left: John Dalton, John Gosling, and Mick Avory in the early 1970s

In 1973, Ray Davies dived headlong into the theatrical style, beginning with the rock opera Preservation, a sprawling chronicle of social revolution, and a more ambitious outgrowth of the earlier Village Green Preservation Society ethos. In conjunction with the Preservation project, The Kinks' lineup was expanded to include a horn section and female backup singers, essentially reforming the group as a theatrical troupe. Preservation: Act 2 was the first project recorded at Konk Studio; from this point forward, virtually every Kinks studio recording was produced by Ray Davies at Konk.

Ray's marital problems during this period began to affect the band adversely, particularly after his wife, Rasa, took their children and left him in late 1973. Davies went into a state of depression, culminating in his onstage announcement that he was "sick of it all". A review of the concert published in Melody Maker stated: "Davies swore on stage. He stood at The White City and swore that he was 'F...... [sic] sick of the whole thing' ... He was 'Sick up to here with it' ... and those that heard shook their heads. Mick just ventured a disbelieving smile, and drummer [sic] on through 'Waterloo Sunset.'" Davies proceeded to try to announce that The Kinks were breaking up, but this attempt was foiled by the group's publicity management, who pulled the plug on the microphone system. Davies subsequently collapsed after a drug overdose and was rushed to hospital. He eventually recovered from his depression, but throughout the remainder of The Kinks' theatrical incarnation the band's output remained uneven, and their already fading popularity faded even further.

Preservation: Act 1 was released in late 1973 amid generally poor reviews, although its live performances fared better with the critics. Preservation: Act 2, the sequel to Act 1, appeared in the summer of 1974 to a similar reception. Davies soon began another musical for Granada Television titled Starmaker. After a broadcast with Ray Davies in the starring role and The Kinks as both back-up band and ancillary characters, the project eventually morphed into the concept album The Kinks Present a Soap Opera, released in the spring of 1975, in which Ray Davies fantasized about what would happen if a rock star traded places with a "normal Norman" and took a 9–5 job. In August 1975, The Kinks recorded their final theatrical work, Schoolboys in Disgrace, a backstory biography of Preservation's capitalist overlord Mr. Flash. The record was a modest success, peaking at number 45 on the Billboard charts.

The Kinks signed with Arista Records in 1976, reborn with the encouragement of Arista's management as an arena rock band, stripped back down to a five-man core group. During this period, heavy-metal band Van Halen achieved a major hit with a remake of "You Really Got Me", which boosted The Kinks' commercial resurgence.

Return to commercial success (1977–1984)

Ray Davies and backup singers, at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, 29 April 1977

John Dalton left the band before finishing the sessions for the debut Arista album. Andy Pyle was brought in to complete the sessions and to play on the subsequent tour. Sleepwalker was released in 1977, providing a return to success for the group as it peaked at number 21 on Billboard. Soon after its release, Andy Pyle and keyboardist John Gosling left the group to work together on a separate project. Dalton returned to complete the tour and ex-The Pretty Things keyboardist Gordon John Edwards joined the band. In 1978, The Kinks released their second Arista album, Misfits. This album, which was their only album featuring Andy Pyle, included the minor hit "A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy", which helped make the record another success for the band. Dalton left the band permanently at the end of their UK tour, and Gordon John Edwards soon followed. Ex-Argent bassist Jim Rodford joined the band before the album Low Budget – on which Ray Davies played the keyboard sections – was recorded. Former Life keyboardist Ian Gibbons was recruited for the subsequent tour, and soon become a permanent member of the group. Despite the personnel changes, the group's recording and concert success continued to grow.

During the late 1970s, new wave bands like The Jam ("David Watts"), The Pretenders ("Stop Your Sobbing"), and hard rock acts like Van Halen ("You Really Got Me"), recorded successful covers of Kinks songs, which helped to promote the group's new releases. The hard and punk rock sounds of Low Budget (1979) helped make it the group's most successful album in America, peaking at number 11, and in that same year The Kinks headlined at Madison Square Garden for the first time. In 1980, the group's third live album, "One for the Road", was produced, along with a video of the same title, bringing the group's concert-drawing power to a peak between 1980 and 1983. Dave Davies also took advantage of the group's improved commercial standing to fulfill his decade-long solo ambitions to release albums of his own work, including the eponymous Dave Davies in 1980. It was also known by its catalogue number "AFL1-3603" because of its cover art, which depicted Dave Davies as a leather-jacketed piece of price scanning barcode. He produced another, less successful, solo album in 1981, titled Glamour.

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The next Kinks album, Give the People What They Want, was released in late 1981 and reached number 15 in the US. The record attained gold status and featured the UK hit single "Better Things" as well as "Destroyer", a major Mainstream Rock hit for the group. To promote the album, The Kinks spent the better part of 1982 touring. In spring 1983, the song "Come Dancing" became their biggest American hit since "Tired of Waiting for You", peaking at number six. It also became the group's first Top 20 hit in the UK since 1972, peaking at number 12 in the charts. The accompanying album, State of Confusion, was another commercial success, reaching number 12 in the US, but, like all other albums by the group since 1967, it failed to chart in the UK. Another single released from the record, "Don't Forget to Dance", became a US top 30 hit, and minor UK chart entry.

The Kinks' second wave of popularity peaked with State of Confusion in 1983, but that success soon begin to fade, a trend that was shared with many other British rock contemporaries like The Rolling Stones and The Who. During the second half of 1983, Ray Davies started work on an ambitious solo film project, Return to Waterloo, about a London commuter who daydreams that he is a serial murderer. The film gave actor Tim Roth a significant early role. Davies' commitment to writing, directing, and scoring the new work caused tension in his relationship with his brother. Another problem was the stormy end of the relationship between Ray Davies and Chrissie Hynde. The old feud between Dave Davies and drummer Mick Avory also re-ignited. Davies eventually refused to work with Avory, and called for him to be replaced by Robert Henrit, former drummer of Argent (of which Jim Rodford had also been a member). Ray Davies said that he unwillingly had to choose sides: as stated later in a 1989 interview, "the saddest day for me was when Mick left. Dave and Mick didn't get along. There were terrible fights, and I got to the point where I couldn't cope with it any more ... Mick had an important sound. Mick wasn't a great drummer, but he was a jazz drummer—same school, same era as Charlie Watts." Bob Henrit was brought in to take Avory's place. At Ray Davies' invitation, Avory agreed to manage Konk Studios, where he also served as a producer and occasional contributor on later Kinks albums. Between the completion of Return to Waterloo and Avory's departure, the band had begun work on the album Word of Mouth, released in late 1984. As a result it features Avory on three tracks, but all other drumming duties were taken over by a drum machine. Many of the songs featured on the record had already been included as solo recordings in Ray Davies' companion album for Return to Waterloo. Word of Mouth, The Kinks' last Billboard Hot 100 entry, featured "Do it Again" (number 41).

Fall in popularity and split (1985–1996)

Word of Mouth was the last Kinks album for Arista Records. In early 1986, the group signed with MCA Records in the United States and London Records in the UK. Their first album for the new labels, Think Visual, was released in 1986 and became a moderate success, peaking at number 81 on the Billboard albums chart. The subject matter of the album was varied. Songs like the ballad "Lost and Found" and "Working at the Factory" concerned blue-collar life on an assembly line while the title track was an attack on the very MTV video culture the band had been profiting off of during the earlier part of the decade. The Kinks followed Think Visual in 1987 with another live album titled The Road, which was a mediocre commercial and critical performer. In 1989, The Kinks released UK Jive, a commercial failure, only making a momentary entry into the album charts at number 122. MCA Records ultimately dropped them, leaving The Kinks scrambling to find a label deal for the first time in over a quarter of a century. Longtime keyboardist Ian Gibbons left the group during this period and was replaced by Mark Haley.

In 1990, their first year of eligibility, The Kinks were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame alongside The Who, Simon and Garfunkel, The Four Seasons, The Four Tops, Hank Ballard, and The Platters. Mick Avory and Pete Quaife were present for the award. The induction, however, did not resuscitate The Kinks' stalled career. A compilation from the MCA Records period was produced in 1991, titled Lost & Found (1986-1989). It was primarily released to fulfill contractual obligations, and marked the official ending of the group's relationship with MCA. The band then signed with Columbia Records and released the 5-song EP Did Ya in 1991 which, despite being coupled with a new studio re-recording of the band's 1968 British hit "Days", failed to chart.

The Kinks' first album for Columbia, Phobia (1993), was recorded as a four piece. Following Mark Haley's departire after the band's sellout performance at the Royal Albert Hall, London, Gibbons rejoined The Kinks for a US tour. "Phobia" managed only one week in the US Billboard chart at number 166, and as had by then become usual, no impression was made on the group's home country chart in the UK. One single, "Only a Dream", narrowly failed to reach the UK chart, climbing to number 79. "Scattered", the album's final candidate for release as a single, was announced, followed by TV and radio promotion, but the record was unavailable in stores. Several months later a small number appeared on the collector market. The group was dropped by Columbia in 1994. In the same year, the band released the first version of the album To the Bone on their own Konk label in the UK. This live album was partly recorded on the highly successful UK tours of 1993 and 1994 and partly in the Konk studio, before a small, invited audience. Two years later the band released a new, improved, live double CD set in the USA, which retained the same name but also contained two new studio tracks, "Animal" and "To The Bone". The CD set also featured new treatments of many old Kinks' hits. The record drew respectable press but failed to chart in either the US or the UK.

The band's name and profile rose considerably in the mid-1990s, primarily as a result of the British rock boom "Britpop". Several of the most prominent bands of the decade cited The Kinks as a major influence. Blur frontman Damon Albarn and Oasis' chief songwriter Noel Gallagher especially stressed that The Kinks were one of the bands that made the biggest impact on their songwriting as well as their development as artists and musicians, calling The Kinks "the 5th best band of all time". However, despite such accolades, the group's commercial viability continued to decline. They gradually became less active, leading Ray and Dave Davies to pursue their own interests. Each released an autobiography; Ray's X-Ray was published in early 1995, and Dave responded with his memoir Kink, published a year later. The Kinks gave their last performance in mid-1996.

Solo work and potential reunion (1997–present)

Dave Davies at the Dakota Creek Roadhouse, 2002

The band members subsequently focused on solo projects, and Ray and Dave released their own studio albums. Talk of a Kinks reunion circulated (including an aborted studio reunion of the original band members in 1999), but neither Ray nor Dave Davies showed significant interest in playing together again. Meanwhile, former members John Gosling, John Dalton, and Mick Avory had regrouped in 1994 and started performing on the oldies circuit along with guitar-player/singer Dave Clarke as The Kast Off Kinks.

Ray Davies released the solo album Storyteller in 1998 (a companion piece to X-Ray). Originally written in 1996 as a cabaret-style show, it celebrated his old band and his estranged brother. Seeing the programming possibilities inherent in Ray Davies' music/dialogue/reminiscence format, the American music television network VH1 launched a series of similar projects featuring established rock artists titled VH1 Storytellers. In June 2004, Dave Davies suffered a stroke.

In the autumn of 2005, The Kinks were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, with all four of the original band members in attendance. The award was presented by The Who's guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend, a long-time Kinks fan and friend of Ray Davies. The induction helped fuel sales for the group. In August 2007, a re-entry of The Ultimate Collection, a compilation of material spanning the band's entire career, reached number 48 in the UK Top 100 album chart and number one in the UK Indie album chart.

Ray Davies performing in Ottawa, 2008

In an interview with BBC Radio 4 on 29 September 2008, Ray Davies said that the band could soon reunite. He declared that he wouldn't participate in a reunited Kinks that were a nostalgia act, and explained, "There is a desire to do it. The thing that would make me decide 'yes' or 'no' would be whether or not we could do new songs." He added that the main barrier to the band getting back together was his brother's condition following his stroke. In November 2008, Ray Davies told the BBC that the band was beginning to write new material for a possible reunion, but failed to detail which members were involved. Other members of the band, however, have expressed no desire for a reunion. Dave Davies claimed in one interview, "it would be like a bad remake of Night of the Living Dead". He added that "Ray has been doing Karaoke Kinks shows since 1996". In June 2009, Ray Davies told the Independent that the group had rehearsed and even written new material together, but an official reunion was unlikely. He said, "I will continue to play with ex-band members like Mick Avory from time to time. With Dave, a lot of it is psychological. I’ll guide him in, and coerce and nurture him, and when the time is right I suppose I’ll even shout at him again."

Personnel

Per Doug Hinman.

Line-up timeline

Musician	Dates Active	Role
Ray Davies	Feb 1964–1996	lead vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica, keyboards, lead songwriting
Dave Davies	Feb 1964–1996	lead guitar, harmony vocals, occasional lead vocals and songwriting
Mick Avory	Feb 1964–1984	drums and percussion
Pete Quaife	Feb 1964–June 1966, Nov 1966–Mar 1969	bass guitar, backup vocals
Nicky Hopkins	1965–1968	keyboards (session)
John Dalton	June–Nov 1966, Apr 1969–1976, 1978	bass guitar, backup vocals
John Gosling	1970–1978	keyboards
Andy Pyle	1976–1978	bass guitar
Gordon John Edwards	1978	keyboards, backup vocals
Jim Rodford	1978–1996	bass guitar, backup vocals
Ian Gibbons	1979–1989, 1993–1996	keyboards, backup vocals
Bob Henrit	1984–1996	drums and percussion
Mark Haley	1989–1993	keyboards, backup vocals

Discography

Main article: The Kinks discography

• Kinks (1964)
• Kinda Kinks (1965)
• The Kink Kontroversy (1965)
• Face to Face (1966)
• Something Else by The Kinks (1967)
• The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968)
• Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969)
• Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970)
• Muswell Hillbillies (1971)
• Everybody's in Show-Biz (1972)
• Preservation: Act 1 (1973)
• Preservation: Act 2 (1974)
• Soap Opera (1975)
• Schoolboys in Disgrace (1976)
• Sleepwalker (1977)
• Misfits (1978)
• Low Budget (1979)
• Give the People What They Want (1981)
• State of Confusion (1983)
• Word of Mouth (1984)
• Think Visual (1986)
• UK Jive (1989)
• Phobia (1993)

See also

• 1964 in music

References

• Bellman, Jonathan (1998). The Exotic in Western Music. Lebanon, NH: UPNE. ISBN 1555533191.
• Hinman, Doug (2004). The Kinks: All Day and All of the Night. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 087930765X.
• Kitts, Thomas (2007). Ray Davies: Not Like Everybody Else. London, UK: Routledge. ISBN 041597769X.
• Miller, Andy (2003). The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society. London, UK: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0826414982.
• Rogan, Johnny (1998). The Complete Guide to the Music of The Kinks. London, UK: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0711963142.

External links

• Official Ray Davies Web Site
• Official Dave Davies Web Site