The Kinks...crumbs
July 25th 2008 12:10
English popular music hit a peak in the 1960s, with unprecedented and near unrepeated success in the lucrative and highly influential American market, a phenomenon that became known as the ‘English Invasion’. One of the most influential bands of this movement were The Kinks, who were led primarily by the brothers Ray and Dave Davies. The Kinks, as part of the ‘English Invasion’ became highly successful in America in the 60’s, touring almost continuously before being somewhat mysteriously banned from re-entering the U.S. for a period of four years from 1965. It must have been such a devastating blow for the band, being very much a part of the social upheaval of the time. America was the place where it was all happening and to be excluded from this has proved, with the benefit of hindsight, to be a particularly harsh punishment.
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Following their exclusion from America The Kinks’ music became increasingly insular and anglicised and actually as a result far more interesting. While all of their peers from the British R&B scene busy aping American music The Kinks went on to deliver a catalogue of well-observed, slightly eccentric invocations of British society in a time of great social change, their music acting as a documentary of a time and place that really wasn’t served as well as it should have been. That is not to say that Ray Davies’ writing would have not reached the same heights had The Kinks been allowed back into America, but their lone documentation of British life helps to mark them out that little bit more.
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Ok, instead of reading all of the above (too late now) just listen to ‘Waterloo Sunset’ and try and recall such a beautiful evocation of a British scene in the popular music of the 60s or any age for that matter.
Following their exclusion from America The Kinks’ music became increasingly insular and anglicised and actually as a result far more interesting. While all of their peers from the British R&B scene busy aping American music The Kinks went on to deliver a catalogue of well-observed, slightly eccentric invocations of British society in a time of great social change, their music acting as a documentary of a time and place that really wasn’t served as well as it should have been. That is not to say that Ray Davies’ writing would have not reached the same heights had The Kinks been allowed back into America, but their lone documentation of British life helps to mark them out that little bit more.
.
Ok, instead of reading all of the above (too late now) just listen to ‘Waterloo Sunset’ and try and recall such a beautiful evocation of a British scene in the popular music of the 60s or any age for that matter.
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