The Kinks appeared in the tidal wave of music that poured out of England in the early 1960s. They were sandwiched in among the Beatles, Stones, Who and Hollies, the Dave Clark Five and Gerry and the Pacemakers, and on and on and on. Collectively, these bands laid siege to popular music between 1963 and 1965, and popular music would never be the same again.
None had a wider range than the Kinks. Their first album, Kinks (1964) featured a blend of old school R&B and rockabilly, along with primordial punk. Indeed, some credit them with giving birth to punk and metal in those early songs. But by the decade’s end, they had moved on to a very different sound. Instead of looking forward, they were now looking back, both musically – to the tradition of music hall – and lyrically – recalling England of old, a romantic idealization of what once was.
They tested the boundaries in other ways. The Kinks may not have been the first band to dive into the “concept album,” but they took the idea much farther than anyone else as the decade turned over. The subjects of their songs went further than most other bands at the time, dealing with politics, history, and cultural trends.
The 15 greatest songs by the Kinks
All this eclecticism allowed for rebirth when other bands might have faded into oblivion. The Kinks were very popular throughout the 1960s. Not Beatles-popular, but a player nonetheless. They had a baker’s dozen of top-ten hits in the UK by 1970, including multiple number-ones. Success in the US wasn’t quite as big, but they still managed to place six singles into the US top twenty. Then, a few years into the new decade, they seemed to run out of steam. At least as a commercial enterprise.
But, lo and behold, when the ‘80s dawned, the Kinks were there again, with new hits. They didn’t hit as hard or score as big as the ‘60s songs had, but they were still putting out music that demanded attention. By the time they called it quits in 1993, they had released 24 albums. With a couple odd exceptions, they all charted on Billboard’s top 200.
Much of the eclecticism owes to their primary songwriter and singer Ray Davies. He is among the cleverest British writers of the second half of the 20th century. Had he been born in an earlier decade – and it’s difficult to imagine that he didn’t harbor that wish – he would have been W.S. Gilbert or P. G. Wodehouse. He married his literary talent with a keen sense of melody and produced hit after hit.
But Ray greatly benefitted from the guitar player at his side. Ray’s younger brother Dave made sure a lot of Kinks music remained at least partly grounded in old-school R&B rock. On their debut album, it is Dave’s voice we first hear, grinding out a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Beautiful Delilah.” Ray follows it with an original and he sounds like he’s buying into that Chuck Berry vibe as well.
By the end of that first album, however, Ray will begin displaying his range with the gorgeous romance of “Stop Your Sobbing.” I don’t have that song on the following list because, quite frankly, at this point, the minimalism of the Kinks orchestrations doesn’t lend itself to this song. The Pretenders would hit it a lot harder. However, the evidence of a band capable of great songs that go beyond Chuck Berry is there from the beginning.
So let’s take a look at 15 of the best songs this most eclectic of English bands produced over their three decades making music. From primitive rock to sophisticated throwbacks – from snarky to sweet and back again, the Kinks have a lot to offer.