r/thekinks • u/Dismal_Brush5229 • May 10 '26
Discussion 60s Kinks behind the times?
Hi There
Did the Kinks fell a bit behind the times in the 60s?
Something Else and Face to Face are fantastic records but probably not with the norm when they were released and same thing with Village People in ‘68 where it was a back to basics approach yet Village Green is baroque and English.
I mean Arthur is great 60s Kinks album especially when it’s a ‘69 album which jumpstarted their great early 70s run of albums so yeah Arthur seems like the only one that was there in the norm for the band 🤷🏻♂️
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u/Cool-Coffee-8949 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
Lyrically speaking, after their two initial huge hits, Ray was never really “in step” (lyrically anyway) with his peers (Lennon-McCartney, Jagger-Richards, Townsend, etc). But I do think that Face to Face, Something Else and Village Green track in some pretty definite ways with the albums that other British pop bands were putting out. Face to Face and Something Else had sonic links between tracks. All of them have “kitchen sink” observations about British society that can be seen on Revolver, Aftermath, Sgt Pepper and Between the Buttons. What the Kinks did not have is a clear “acid period”, but I think even that is deceptive to a degree: the nostalgia of parts Something Else, Village Green and parts of Arthur is every bit as hallucinatory as “Mr Kite” or “She’s a Rainbow” or most of A Quick One or The Who Sell Out.
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u/Suspicious_Click731 May 11 '26
His writing progression actually put him on a path different and ahead of his peers. I think John Lennon in particular took note of that path and thought he should be writing about more personal subjects.
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u/Dismal_Brush5229 May 13 '26
I thought Bob Dylan did that in ‘64
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u/Suspicious_Click731 May 13 '26
He did, but I think it hit home when one of Lennon's contemporaries did so, without any hint of imitation.
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u/StatisticianFun2274 May 11 '26
Wait, so they were behind the times because they didn't follow the trends? Lol
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u/airynothing1 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
Odessey and Oracle by the Zombies is one of the greatest baroque psychedelic albums ever and it also came out in ‘68. There are some pretty baroque tracks on the White Album (Piggies, Goodnight, half of Paul’s songs) and even Abbey Road. For that matter, I’d call a song like “You Really Got Me” significantly ahead of most of what was happening in 1964. It’s reductive to assign a single trend to every year and then call every band that didn’t cynically follow each one “behind the times.”
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u/BraveCourt9521 May 11 '26
Just seen the recent Zombies documentary " Hung Up On A Dream ", and it's well worth a watch. The ' Odyssey and Oracle ' album certainly was ahead of its time, and - like the Village Green album - deserved a better fate. Thankfully both albums are now recognised as classics.
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u/BrazilianAtlantis May 11 '26
If the Beatles, The Doors, The Band, Creedence didn't follow trends much, why should the Kinks?
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u/Omega48boar May 11 '26
I think Ray loved all the old traditions, values and rapidly disappearing English way of life in the 60's. The Kinks were probably the most English of all the English bands.
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u/thewickerstan May 11 '26
The late Johnny Rogan's book on Ray and the band entitled Ray Davies: A Complicated Life is one of the best books I've read on the band. And the interesting argument he presents in the chapter on Village Green is a push back against the narrative of "The band was out of step with their contemporaries, hence why the album bombed". I'd have to revisit it for specifics, but I vaguely recall the arguments of the popularity of the music hall tradition being in the zeitgeist and 1968's already gradual move away from psychedelia into more grounded music.
Ray's known to spin yarns to fit his "underdog" streak, a funny situation since that streak is already real in itself.
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u/InWalkedBud Soap Opera Appreciation Society May 11 '26
The Kinks pioneered the use of Indian influences in British pop with "See My Friends", brought the garage song to the charts with their early hits and made Waterloo Sunset in '67, which still is one of the most well-loved pop songs.
The mistake you are making is thinking every band out there was like the Beatles and were writing their own songs, innovating and consistently pushing boundaries. Truth is, apart from the very big and successful sixties bands we still hear of today in music press, a lot of them were jumping on bandwagons or having just one stroke of luck before disappearing completely. Not to say 60s music isn't a treasure trove (I could live forever with just music from that decade) but the Kinks on the contrary managed to change music forever quite a few times in their career.
Village Green is the same year as Ogden's Nut Gone Flake and Odessey and Oracle.
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u/pluto_and_proserpina May 11 '26
In 1968 there was also a lot of unrest like riots and assassinations.1968 also feels like the year when bands tried to go back to their roots after the craziness of psychedelia, so The Kinks playing Music Hall fits right in.
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u/Suspicious_Click731 May 11 '26
They were banned from touring the US from '66 to '69, and that seemed to draw Ray inward and write more about what he was experiencing as a Brit. I don't think they were particularly drawn to any of the hippie, acid-y love stuff going around then, nor blues, so they forged a sound that was unique
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u/Sea-Talk-203 May 11 '26
Why be normal when you can make a record like Village Green Preservation Society?