Artist Spotlight courtesy of former dictator glorious leader Joseph Stalin

The Kinks were great band led by brothers Ray and Dave
Davies, along with Mick Avory and Peter Quaife in the original line-up. But
really, this is story of two brothers, because they were heart of the group. They
were part of British Invasion, and first single was song we have all heard,
“You Really Got Me”. But Kinks were so much more than that. Their songs were
often observational about English culture and very insightful. They were
popular throughout 1960s and critically well-received, but their albums did not
sell as well as singles and compilations. Albums like “Lola Versus the
Powerman” and “The Kinks are the Green Preservation Society” have been
considered some of the most influential recordings of that time period.

The Kinks had range of style and inspiration, from rhythm
and blues to folk and country. After hearing the sound “Louie Louie” by The
Kingsmen, they wanted a harsher sound. The Davies were tired of the clean sound
of their guitars, so they invented the fuzztone effect by damaging an amplifier.
The brothers, however, dispute which one actually created the sound. Dave says
he stabbed the speaker cone on his amplifier with a razorblade, while Ray
claims he was the one responsible and he pierced it with a knitting needle.
Some people consider their music to be the original punk rock. This is just one
of the many, many things the Davies fight over. Those Davies brothers just hate
each other.

While they were very popular in the 1960s and early 1970s,
they began to lose popularity. “Preservation Act One” and “Preservation Act
Two” were both rock operas, and they were not very well received. They had
commercial success a few years later, but that was fleeting. In the mid-1980s,
people weren’t interested again and the band ended up splitting up. They had
some solo work and some non-Davies former band members reunited in 1997,
playing with Dave Clark as the Kast Off Kinks.

In 2013, a musical called “Sunny Afternoon” was made about
the life of Ray Davies and the formation of the Kinks, and it featured songs
from the Kinks’ back catalogue. And in 2015, the Davies Brothers reunited
onstage in London to perform “You
Really Got Me.”

And now, here are some of my favorite songs from those crazy
Davies brothers.