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[[File:tkinks.jpg|frame|From left to right -- Dave Davies, Ray Davies, Mick Avory, Pete Quaife.]]
 
{{quote| ''"We are the Village Green Preservation Society."''}}▼
 
[[The Kinks]] were an English rock band, one of the "Big Four" [[The British Invasion|British Invasion]] bands of [[The Sixties]] (along with [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]], [[The Rolling Stones]], and [[The Who]]) and a [[Long Runner]], having experienced a long career's worth of highs and lows before throwing in the towel in 1996. While they have had numerous members, their most famous line-up was composed of vocalist/guitarist/[[I Am the Band|mastermind]] Ray Davies, his vocalist/guitarist brother Dave Davies, bassist Pete Quaife (who left in 1969) and drummer Mick Avory (who left in 1984). ▼
▲{{quote| ''"We are the Village Green Preservation Society."''}}
 
▲The Kinks were an English rock band, one of the "Big Four" [[The British Invasion|British Invasion]] bands of [[The Sixties]] (along with [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]], [[The Rolling Stones]], and [[The Who]]) and a [[Long Runner]], having experienced a long career's worth of highs and lows before throwing in the towel in 1996. While they have had numerous members, their most famous line-up was composed of vocalist/guitarist/[[I Am the Band|mastermind]] Ray Davies, his vocalist/guitarist brother Dave Davies, bassist Pete Quaife (who left in 1969) and drummer Mick Avory (who left in 1984).
 
The Kinks began their career as a bluesy, hard-edged mod-rock band, gaining success with their loud, [[Ear Worm|memorably]] [[Epic Riff|riffy]] hits "You Really Got Me", "All Day and All of the Night" and "Tired of Waiting for You", which set them up as a band to contend with and provided endless inspiration to future genres like [[Garage Rock]] and [[Power Pop]]. Their rowdy live shows got them banned from America until 1969, though arguably it ultimately served them well, encouraging [[I Am the Band|Ray Davies]] to write songs that emphasised their essential Britishness and tended to a more nostalgic and pastoral feel than their States-struck contemporaries.
 
They changed gears in 1965, diversifying away from justwhat ''[[Cracked|.com]]'' called [http://www.cracked.com/article_15116_the-20-worst-album-titles-all-time.html "scrotum-grinding guitar anthems]"] to experiment with other genres like folk, music hall, country and blues-rock, resulting in a more laid-back sound. It was also around this period that Ray developed his now-famous lyrical talent. This period saw the release of songs like "Dedicated Follower of Fashion", "Sunny Afternoon" and "Waterloo Sunset", culminating with what is generally held as their best album, ''The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society''.
 
The band changed once again in [[The Seventies]], exploring a more theatrical, campy sound. However, this only worsened their declining popularity and the resulting [[Concept Album|Concept Albums]]s are still one huge [[Your Mileage May Vary]] on their actual quality. Due to a combination of a new record label wanting them to cut the crap and everybody but Ray being sick of [[Rock Opera|Rock Operas]]s, The Kinks restyled themselves as an arena rock band in 1976. Lucky enough to be synchronised with the [[Punk Rock]] explosion and some successful covers of their songs by Punk and [[New Wave]] bands, The Kinks rode their second wave of popularity until the early 80's, culminating when their single "Come Dancing" became a worldwide smash in early 1983. They then went back to being a cult band before calling it quits in 1996.
 
Admired for their melodic mastery of pop, their enormous variety of styles, the insight and wit of their lyrics, and their huge influence on almost all subsequent bands that cultivated any sort of outsider underdog image.
 
{{Discography:}}
* ''Kinks'' (1964)
* ''Kinda Kinks'' (1965)
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* ''Phobia'' (1993)
 
{{creatortropes}}
=== The Kinks provide examples of these tropes: ===
* [[Album Title Drop]]: ''Everybody's in Showbiz'' takes its title from a lyric in "Celluloid Heroes".
* [[Alliterative Name]]: Dave Davies is a good [[Real Life]] example.
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* [[Book Dumb]]/[[Dumb Is Good]]: "Mountain woman couldn't read or write but she knew good from evil, she knew wrong from right".
* [[Born in the Wrong Century]]: "20th Century Man" is just the most obvious example.
* [[Useful Notes/Britain|Britain]]: One of the most famous and acclaimed bands to come from there.
* [[Childhood Memory Demolition Team]]: "Come Dancing" laments the replacement of adolescence's dancehall with a bowling alley, then a supermarket, then a parking lot.
* [[Chivalrous Pervert]]: "I'm not a flasher in a rain coat/I'm not a dirty old man/I'm not gonna snatch you from your mother/I'm an art lover".
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* [[Muggles]]: Ordinary people and working class situations feature in a lot of songs, and are probably the only aspect of British life to have escaped Ray's barbed wit.
* [[Overshadowed by Awesome]]: Dave Davies next to his older brother (and arguably the band as a whole next to their peers).
* [[Party Line Telephone]]: In "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pSbUEdTyW8 Party Line]" (the opening song on 1966 album "Face to Face") the singer speculates about the other subscriber silently listening to his calls. "I'm on a party line / Wonderin' all the time / Who's on the other end? / Is she big, is she small? / Is she a she at all? / Who's on my party line?"
* [[Protest Song]]: "Apeman"
** The entire album that song is from (''Lola vs. Powerman'') is pretty much one big [[Take That]] to the music industry (specifically the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Corrupt Corporate]] [[Executive Meddling|Executive Meddlers]]).
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* [[Smoking Is Cool]]: "Harry Rag"
* [[Sound Effect Bleep]]: That "OH NO!" scream right before the guitar solo in "You Really Got Me" was overdubbed by Ray to [[Sibling Rivalry|drown out Dave telling him to fuck off]].
{{quote| '''Ray Davies:''' And it's even clearer on CD, it's really embarrassing.}}
* [[Spot of Tea]]: Whole songs are written on the subject, particularly "Afternoon Tea" and "Have a Cuppa Tea"
* [[Stepford Suburbia]]: "Shangri-La"
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[[Category:The Kinks]]
[[Category:Music]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinks, The}}
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