October of 2024 marks sixty years since the Kinks released their self-titled album. Led by one of England’s greatest singer/songwriters, Ray Davies, the band also featured his younger brother (and frequent nemesis) Dave Davies on lead guitar, along with bass player Pete Quaife and drummer Mick Avory. They were part of the Britsh skiffle/R&B/blues scene that also yielded the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Animals, the Zombies, and the Hollies, among others.
They debuted in early 1964 with their first single, a cover of Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally.” It wasn’t a hit. They followed that up with a Ray Davies original, “You Still Want Me.” It didn’t make a big impact, either. However, things turned around considerably with their third single, another Ray Davies original, “You Really Got Me.” That song changed the course of rock and roll, and certainly hard rock. And it definitely changed their fortunes as a band.
Had they quit there, their place in history would be secure: “You Really Got Me” is one of the most influential songs in rock and roll. But the Kinks’ career spanned three decades, and their evolution was amazing. They went from being one of many R&B-inspired garage rockers to being a quintessentially British band; Ray Davies’ eye for observation contributed to some of the best songs of all time.
The Kinks’ Influence
The wide net of their influence is evidenced by the artists who have covered them: David Bowie (“Waterloo Sunset,” “Where Have All The Good Times Gone”), Green Day (“Tired Of Waiting For You”), the Pretenders (“Stop Your Sobbing,” “I Go To Sleep”), Queens of the Stone Age (“Who’ll Be The Next In Line”), and of course, Van Halen (“You Really Got Me,” “Where Have All The Good Times Gone?”). It’s hard to imagine the entire genre of Britpop without them. All of those bands doing huge reunion tours – Blur, Pulp and Oasis – probably wouldn’t exist without the Kinks.
But they didn’t just influence the bands that followed them. Pete Townshend said, “I always think that Ray Davies should be one day be [named] Poet Laureate. You know, he invented a new kind of poetry. A new kind of language for pop writing, which I think influenced me from the very, very beginning. [It was] very strange that I should be so directly influenced because it was from sideways. We were moving forward together. But I was very influenced by him.” (Davies said about Townshend: “I think we listen to one another’s work. When I did have a meaningful chat with Pete, he said, ‘We never talk.’ And I said, ‘Why start now?’”)
They played their final shows in the mid-’90s and have never reunited. While there have been rumors of the Davies brothers getting back together, it seems less likely with every passing day. And that’s sad: Unlike the Stones and the Who, younger generations have never had the opportunity to experience the explosive power of a Kinks show.
As with any band with a history that spans decades, it’s tough to really rank their best songs. It always depends on the decade you came of age in, or which era you prefer. But here’s our take on their 37 best songs.
37. “Hatred (A Duet)” from ‘Phobia’ (1993)
From the Kinks’ final album, Phobia. Ray Davies sang most of the Kinks’ songs, with Dave singing a few here and there. But this is a rare duet between the brothers. It’s a fittingly unsentimental song for their final record. “Hatred! Hatred!” They shout at each other. “Is the only thing that keeps us together! Hatred! Hatred! Is the only thing that lasts forever!” It’s too bad it didn’t keep them together longer. On the other hand, after three decades, the Kinks seemed to have run their course.
36. “Working At The Factory” from ‘Think Visual’ (1986)
Here, a somewhat jaded Ray Davies recalls how much music meant to him, and how it got him out of–you guessed it–working at the factory. “We made the music to set ourselves free from working at the factory,” he sang. But, as he learned, his music career didn’t represent the freedom he hoped for: “Never wanted to be like everybody else, but now there are so many like me sitting on the shelf/They sold us a dream, but in reality, it was just another factory!” To be fair, few factory workers probably are as well compensated as Ray, but we take his point.
35. “Too Much Monkey Business” from ‘Kinks’ (1964)
Most of this list is comprised of songs written by Ray Davies. But like their peers in the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who, the Kinks started out by doing covers of American rock and rollers. While they later evolved into the quintessential British group, in their early days, they were a great garage rock band, as this Chuck Berry cover demonstrates.
34. “(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman” from ‘Low Budget’ (1979)
The late ‘70s was a weird time for rock bands; they were still figuring out how to deal with disco and new wave was coming in hot. But despite not being a fan of disco, Ray Davies adapted it pretty well in this song. Although apparently, he started the song as a joke, to appease Arista Records label boss Clive Davis, who wanted something that could be played in the clubs. Props to the band’s then-new bass player, Jim Rodford, formerly of Argent, for nailing the vibe with his bassline. The song was inspired by the then-new film, Superman, starring Christopher Reeve. The lyrics also reference their one-time rivals, the Animals, via a quote from “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” when Ray sings: “We’ve got to get out of this place/There’s got to be something better than this.”
33. “Do It Again” from ‘Word Of Mouth’ (1984)
You can take the rock star out of the working class, but you can’t take the working class out of the rock star. Here, Ray compares his job to everybody else’s job: he compares the drudgery of being on tour to the routines of other occupations. It’s a credit to how great of a songwriter Ray is that the song actually works and doesn’t come off as a rock star whining. Word Of Mouth was the band’s first album with new drummer Bob Henrit (like Jim Rodford, he was a former member of Argent). Founding drummer Mick Avory played on a few tracks on the album and co-starred in this music video as Ray’s fellow busker. This song was played a decent amount on MTV at the time; for a minute there, the Kinks had a streak of hits on the music video channel.
32. “Destroyer” from ‘Give The People What They Want’ (1981)
A huge radio single in the ‘80s (weirdly, it wasn’t as big in England; their homeland didn’t love the band’s new heavier arena-rock sound). But the song was a bit nostalgic: the riff was a callback to the 1964 classic “All Day And All Of The Night,” and the lyrics see the return of the title character from “Lola.” And it’s probably the most paranoid rock song since Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.” “Met a girl called Lola and I took her back to my place,” Ray sings. “Feelin’ guilty, feelin’ scared: hidden cameras everywhere!” Is it weird that the song seems to predict our era even though it was written more than thirty years ago?
31. “Father Christmas” - single (1977)
One of the best – and most cynical – Christmas jams ever. Again, Ray’s working-class roots inform the song. It’s about a department store Santa Claus (commonly referred to as “Father Christmas” in England): “A gang of kids came over and mugged me/And knocked my reindeer to the floor/They said, ‘Father Christmas, give us some money/Don’t mess around with those silly toys/We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over/We want your bread so don’t make us annoyed/Give all the toys to the little rich boys!’” Later in the song, one of the kids asks him to “Give my daddy a job, ‘cause he needs one/He’s got lots of mouths to feed.” Finally, a plea to the more fortunate: “Have yourself a merry, merry Christmas/Have yourself a good time/But remember the kids who got nothin’/While you’re drinking down your wine.”
30. “Catch Me Now I’m Falling” from ‘Low Budget’ (1979)
In which Ray Davies uses the Marvel superhero Captain America as a metaphor for America. The song notes that America has often been a sturdy ally to other nations, and questions if the reverse is true: “When you were broke you would come to me/And I would always pull you round/Now I call your office on the telephone/And your secretary tells me that she’s sorry, but you’ve gone out of town!” Shout out to sax player Nick Newell for his contribution to the track.
29. “All Day And All Of The Night” - single (1964)
A not-too-distant cousin of “You Really Got Me,” it’s another 1964 riff-driven rock classic. Apparently, the band felt that the Doors had ripped this song off for their hit, “Hello, I Love You.” Robby Krieger of the Doors has maintained that they didn’t, in fact, rip this song off, and he credits Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love” with inspiring the song. Regardless, this is a favorite among punk rockers and U.K. punks the Stranglers covered it in 1987.
28. “A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” from ‘Misfits’ (1978)
A song written during an era when the band could have broken up: Bassist Andy Pyle and pianist John Gosling were leaving the group at the time. Session musicians play bass and piano on the track. It was written after Elvis Presley died, which inspired the line “The King is dead, rock is done.” On the other hand, Ray notes that rock music means so much to so many: “There’s a guy on my block, he lives for rock/He plays records day and night/And when he feels down, he puts some rock and roll on/And it makes him feel all right/And when he feels the world is closing in/He turns his stereo way up high.” Sure, rock songs about rock can be a bit corny, but on the other hand, a lot of people probably related in 1978. And a lot of people still relate now.
27. “Muswell Hillbilly” from ‘Muswell Hillbillies’ (1971)
In the early ‘70s, a lot of ‘60s rockers were shedding psychedelia and embracing Americana (credit the Band’s massive influence at the time). “Muswell Hillbilly” sounded like a country song and the lyrics were kind of country too. The narrator, who seems to romanticize American country music, is forced to move to Muswell Hill. “’Cause I’m a Muswell Hillbilly boy,” Ray Davies sings. “But my heart lies in old West Virginia/Never seen New Orleans, Oklahoma, Tennessee/Still I dream of the Black Hills that I ain’t never seen.” And the narrator is not happy about being in the suburbs. “They’re putting us in identical little boxes/No character just uniformity/They’re trying to build a computerized community/But they’ll never make a zombie out of me!”
26. “Death Of A Clown” from ‘Something Else’ (1967)
The song was originally released as Dave Davies’ debut solo single, but Dave co-wrote it with Ray. Allegedly, the other Kinks play on the track; that’s Ray singing the “La la la la la la” hook. And it was clear that Dave shared Ray’s ambivalence about the music industry. As he said in a 2015 interview, “One night I nodded off at a party and woke up and saw all these decadent people running around. I had a vision of being a circus clown. I thought, ‘What are we doing?’ We were going from day to day to day like performing seals. And that’s where I got the idea for ‘Death of a Clown.’ I went back to me mum’s house with the same old out-of-tune piano and I plunked out three notes, and it turned into the song.” The song was later included on the Something Else album. It was a #3 hit in England, but sadly, none of Dave’s subsequent solo songs were as successful.
25. “Don’t Forget To Dance” from ‘State Of Confusion’ (1983)
One of the Kinks’ biggest videos on MTV, the song definitely has a big ‘80s vibe. And while it may have come off as a bit “adult contemporary” or even worse, “soft rock,” there’s a real sweetness to it. Ray Davies has a great eye for beauty in places that others may overlook. “Don’t Forget To Dance” focuses on a topic that few rock and roll writers pay attention to: A single, middle-aged woman. “And all of you friends are either married, vanished/Or just left alone/But that’s no reason to just stop living/That’s no excuse to just give in to a sad and lonely heart.” After reminding her not to forget to dance and not to forget to smile, Ray sings, “’Cause darling, darling/I bet you danced a good one in your time/And if this were a party/I’d really make sure the next one would be mine/Yes, you with the broken heart.” In retrospect, this might have been an odd choice for MTV, which, in 1983, catered to teenagers. And for many of us who grew up in MTV’s early days, the song surely hits differently now.
24. “Big Sky” from ‘The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society’ (1968)
Many fans have interpreted this song as Ray singing from the perspective of God or another deity, looking down on people on earth. And as it turns out, the “Big Sky” character is a bit disappointed in us: “Big Sky looked down on all the people looking up at the Big Sky/Everybody’s pushing one another around/Big Sky feels sad when he sees the children scream and cry/But the Big Sky’s too big to let it get him down.” Again: It’s wild how so many of his songs and lyrics transcend their era and are relevant today.
23. “20th Century Man” from ‘Muswell Hillbillies’ (1971)
In the liner notes to a reissue of Muswell Hillbillies, Ray notes that it’s the band’s most working-class album. “The ‘20th Century Man’ is the last man on the block, who doesn’t want his old house knocked down.” Get off my lawn indeed! The narrator is not interested in any new innovations or culture: “You keep all your smart modern writers/Give me William Shakespeare/You keep all your smart modern painters/I’ll take Rembrandt, Titian, Da Vinci and Gainsborough.”
22. “Supersonic Rocket Ship” from ‘Everybody’s In Show-Biz’ (1972)
Like “20th Century Man” and a number of other Kinks songs, “Supersonic Rocket Ship” takes a grouchy look at the present and expresses a desire to go back to a simpler time. The song was used in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame when Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Rocket Racoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) go to New Asgard to convince Thor (Chris Hemsworth) to return to the Avengers. New Asgard is a quaint seaside village that mostly seems to reject the modern world (minus Thor’s video game habit). Ray Davies would likely have been right at home there.
21. “Victoria” from ‘Arthur Or The Decline And Fall of the British Empire’ (1969)
One of their most quintessentially British songs, “Victoria,” like many other Kinks songs, is told from the perspective of the working class. “Long ago, life was clean/Sex was bad, called ‘obscene’/And the rich were so mean/Stately homes for the Lords/Croquet lawns, village greens.” And, of course: “Victoria was my queen.” Yet there was also some patriotism there: “I was born, lucky me/In a land that I love/Though I’m poor, I am free/When I grow, I shall fight for this land, I shall die.”
20. “David Watts” from ‘Something Else’ (1967)
A song where Ray Davies expresses admiration for, and envy of David Watts, a much more sophisticated and popular guy. He may be expressing a bit more than just admiration and envy. “He is the head boy at the school/He is the captain of the team/He is so gay and fancy-free/And I wish I could be like David Watts.” He later notes, “And all the girls in the neighborhood/Try to go out with David Watts/They try their best but can’t succeed/For he is of pure and noble breed.” Like “Lola,” the subject matter may have made some fans a bit uncomfortable. And it may have helped some fans see themselves in a rock song.
19. “Days” from ‘The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society’ (1968)
As Ray Davies told Rolling Stone, the song was inspired by his sister, Rosie, moving from England to Australia. “We didn’t have communication — no Internet in those days. She left and said, ‘Say goodbye, my loving brother,’ and I said, ‘Thank you for being my sister.’ So the song’s for her, really, and her generation.” It’s one of Ray’s sweeter songs: it’s a lovely and sad way of saying “Thank you and goodbye.” “Thank you for the days/Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me/I’m thinking of the days/I won’t forget a single day, believe me.”
18. “Nothin’ In The World Can Stop Me Worryin’ ’Bout That Girl” from ‘Kinda Kinks’ (1965)
In the early days, the Kinks were a loud garage rock band; this song showed a different side of them. The narrator is, as the title says, “worryin’ ‘bout that girl.” He’s being cheated on. The song was used to great effect in an amazing scene in Wes Anderson’s 1998 classic Rushmore where Bill Murray’s Herman Blume is at a birthday party for his kid, watching his soon-to-be ex-wife flirting with another guy. Fun fact: Anderson planned on using only Kinks songs for the soundtrack. He later changed his mind, and “Nothin’ In The World Can Stop Me Worryin’ ‘Bout That Girl” was the only one that he kept in the final cut.
17. “This Time Tomorrow” from ‘Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Pt. 1’ (1970)
It’s such a sweet-sounding song, but when you listen to it, you realize that it’s another song criticizing the “business” part of the music business. A few years into his career as a rock star, Ray Davies was losing connection with his family and was spending a lot of time on the road. “This time tomorrow, where will we be? On a spaceship somewhere sailing across an empty sea? This time tomorrow, what will we know? Will we still be here watching an in-flight movie show?” Wes Anderson used this one, also to great effect, in 2007’s The Darjeeling Limited, a film about three brothers reconnecting. Like the previously mentioned Rushmore scene, there’s no dialog here: We just see Adrien Brody’s Peter Whitman racing to catch a train (which Bill Murray’s character misses; Anderson loves to cast Murray).
16. “Till The End Of The Day” from ‘The Kink Kontroversy’ (1965)
A garage rock classic. It helped Ray Davies break out of writer’s block. The record label sent songwriter Mort Shuman (who co-wrote “A Teenager In Love,” “This Magic Moment” and “Save The Last Dance For Me,” among many others) to Ray’s house to help him out. As Ray recalled in the liner notes to The Kink Kontroversy, “He just said, ‘Get chords that you like and enjoy and just write a song around them.” Sometimes the simplest advice is the best advice: He wrote “‘Til The End Of The Day” that night.
15. “Better Things” from 'Give The People What They Want’ (1981)
One of the sweetest songs about a breakup. Inspired by Ray Davies’ second divorce, you don’t get the bitterness that you might have expected. Ray is wishing his ex- well. “Here’s wishing you the bluest sky/And hoping something better comes tomorrow/Hoping all the verses rhyme/And the very best of choruses, too/Follow all the doubt and sadness/I know that better things are on the way.” Like the best songs, it isn’t too specific and it can mean different things to different people. Ten days after 9/11, New Jersey band Fountains Of Wayne performed the song on Late Night With Conan O’Brien.
14. “Come Dancing” from ‘State Of Confusion’ (1983)
The Kinks’ biggest hit of the MTV era, which is strange because Ray was trying to write in a way to get back to their British audience, who were put off by the Kinks’ ‘70s arena rock sound (which was very successful here in the States). “Come Dancing” is a nostalgic look back at the British dancehalls of the pre-rock and roll era, but the song was so good that kids watching MTV didn’t need to relate to the lyrics. Like “Days,” this was inspired by a sister of Ray and Dave. This one was inspired by Rene, who died of a heart attack while dancing at a dancehall.
13. “Picture Book” from ‘The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society’ (1968)
If this song sounds familiar to you and you’re a Green Day fan, yes: “Warning” sounds almost exactly like “Picture Book.” We’re not sure how they got away with that. It was also used in an HP commercial from a few years ago. There’s kind of a sweet nostalgia to the song, where the narrator is going through an old photo album. But there’s also a bit of mocking there: When Ray sings “Scooby-dooby-do,” it sounds like he’s dunking on the Frank Sinatra-era Rat Pack singers.
12. “Dedicated Follower of Fashion” - single (1966)
Fashion has always been an important component of rock and roll, but some rock and rollers don’t love that idea. In “Dedicated Follower Of Fashion,” Ray Davies makes fun of the fashion, particularly in the mod scene that they were a part of, sneering, “Oh, yes, he is (oh, yes he is)/He thinks he is a flower to be looked at/And when he pulls his frilly nylon panties right up tight/He feels a dedicated follower of fashion!” It became a huge hit, reaching #36 on the pop charts in the U.S. and #4 in the UK.
11. “Lola (live)” from ‘One For The Road’ (1980)
This is the only time on this ranking that we’re going with a live version instead of the studio version. “Lola” is originally from 1970’s Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Pt. 1. This live version gives the song a lot of extra muscle, appropriate for the huge venues they were now playing in America. The lyrics are pretty straightforward (if you’ll excuse the pun): “Well, I’m not dumb, but I can’t understand/Why she walks like a woman and talks like a man…” Later, Ray sings, “Girls will be boys and boys will be girls/It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world.” But in the ‘80s, everyone in the audience singing along with “Lola” may not have quite understood the song. But others may have felt “seen” by Ray’s lyrics.
10. “Celluloid Heroes” from ‘Everybody’s In Show-Biz’ (1972)
Here, Ray looks fondly at some film legends while acknowledging so many actors whose names we never heard. He also observes that even for those who found fame, it didn’t always make them happy: “You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard/Some that you recognize, some that you’ve hardly even heard of/People who worked, and suffered and struggled for fame/Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.” He said in a 2011 interview, “Success walks hand in hand with failure, and it’s a comment on the world I work in – show business, whatever you call it, entertainment, rock music – it does. I mean, you’re as good as your last record. You’re lucky if people remember the hits.” Ray was wrong about that: The Kinks are much better than their last record, and people remember much more than the hits.
9. “The Village Green Preservation Society” from ‘The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society’ (1968)
As Ray Davies wrote in his “unauthorized autobiography” X-Ray, “While everybody in the world was gravitating towards love, peace and San Francisco, the Kinks were in a London suburb making this strange little record about an imaginary village green. While everybody else thought that the hip thing to do was to drop acid, do as many drugs as possible and listen to music in a coma, the Kinks were singing songs about lost friends, draught beer, motorcycle riders, wicked witches and flying cats.” This song appeared to have a nostalgia for the past, but there also seems to be some cynicism in there as well. (Was he seriously suggesting “God save Donald Duck, vaudeville and variety”?)
8. “I’m Not Like Everybody Else” - B-side of “Sunny Afternoon”
Written by Ray but sung by Dave, the lyrics transcend the era in the same way that the Who’s “My Generation” does. While “I’m Not Like Everybody Else” isn’t nearly as well known, the song holds up to the Who classic. What teenager wouldn’t relate to these lyrics: “And I don’t want to live my life like everybody else/And I won’t say that I feel fine like everybody else/’Cause I’m not like everybody else!” It’s been covered through the decades: In the ‘60s by the Chocolate Watchband, in the ‘90s by Camper Van Beethoven and in the 2010s by Soraia.
7. “Stop Your Sobbing” from ‘Kinks’ (1964)
Here, the narrator urges his significant other to stop sobbing, to no avail. We assume that it’s a girlfriend. A decade later, the song was covered by the Pretenders as their debut single; having a woman sing it gave it a different vibe. It’s one of those rare songs that has multiple classic versions: both the Kinks and the Pretenders versions are excellent. Years after covering the song, Chrissie Hynde and Ray Davies had a relationship and they have a daughter, Natalie, together. As legend has it, they planned to marry, but the registrar refused to issue a marriage license due to the intensity of the argument that they had in front of him. They eventually split up. In 2009, they recorded a duet together: “Postcard From London.” Although they weren’t in the studio together, as Ray told The Independent, “She wasn’t my first choice – I wanted Dame Vera Lynn. Having said that, Chrissie came into the studio and did her bit brilliantly. I wasn’t there at the time, and of course our relationship history [Hynde and Davies have a daughter, Natalie Ray Hynde, now 26] adds yet another texture to the song. But it wasn’t recorded around a log fire or anything.”
6. “Sunny Afternoon” from ‘Face To Face’ (1966)
This was one of the songs that showed the Kinks’ development: They were evolving from their American R&B influences and embracing their Britishness. While most rock and rollers rejected older people and older culture, that was never the case with Ray Davies. And it turned out that this song actually appealed to older people. As Ray told Mojo in 1995, “I remember the record coming out and I walked into a British Legion or a pub. All these people, old soldiers and things, singing it. I was 23 years old. I said, ‘Wow, all these old people really like it.’ And this old guy came up and said, ‘You young guys… this is the sort of music we can relate to!’ I thought, ‘Wow, this is it, it’s the end!’” Fortunately, despite having “old people” like their music, the Kinks managed to survive. While any future Kinks shows are unlikely, if they did do a reunion concert, the audience would be likely to have at least some people as old as the guys who Ray met at the pub that day.
5. “Apeman” from ‘Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Pt. 1’ (1970)
Like “Lola,” from the same album, it sees the band working in some calypso influences, albeit through their very British filter. And like many other Kinks songs, it expresses a desire to go back to a simpler time. Although here, Ray wants to go really far back. Or at least far away: “But with the over-population and inflation and starvation/And the crazy politicians/I don’t feel safe in this world no more/I don’t want to die in a nuclear war/I want to sail away to a distant shore and make like an apeman.” This version from Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Pt. 1 is the definitive one, but check out the acoustic, accordion-based version from the mid-’90s live album, To The Bone, recorded at the band’s Konk Studios for a small audience of fans.
4. “Where Have All The Good Times Gone” from ‘The Kink Kontroversy’ (1965)
How did a 21-year-old guy write “Where Have All The Good Times Gone?” But Ray Davies was always an old soul. Of course, at that age, you may look back fondly on your teenage years and think that life stops being fun with adulthood. And, surely, twenty-somethings today may also ask themselves, “Wondering if I’d done wrong/Will this depression last for long?” Of course, Ray wrote classics for decades to come with the Kinks. And even though we’re not including his solo material here, we’ll still highly recommend 2006’s Other People’s Lives and 2007’s Working Man’s Cafe. “Where Have All The Good Times Gone” was covered by both David Bowie and Van Halen. Van Halen’s was delivered with a bit of a wink: David Lee Roth was closing in on his 30s at the time they recorded it, and he was clearly still having a blast. On the other hand, the Diamond Dave era of Van Halen was coming to an end at that point.
3. “Tired Of Waiting For You” from ‘Kinda Kinks’ (1965)
The good news: the narrator finds his soul mate: “I was a lonely soul/I had nobody till I met you.” The bad news: someone has a tardiness problem. “But you, keeping me waiting, all of the time/What can I do?/It’s your life and you can do what you want/Do what you like/But please don’t keep me waiting!” This lack of schedule synchronicity would have been a big deal to a young guy! Or perhaps, his soul mate is making him wait for something else. This song hit #6 in the U.S. making it their biggest hit here, tied with “Come Dancing,” which also hit #6 nearly two decades later in 1983. Green Day later covered this as a B-side.
2. “Waterloo Sunset” from ‘Something Else (1967)’
In England, this would probably be ranked at their greatest song ever. A #2 hit on the British charts, it’s become an anthem in the U.K. Somehow, it didn’t make a big impact at the time in the U.S. Of course, some Americans appreciate it: Rock critic Robert Christgau called it “the most beautiful song in the English language,” and Rolling Stone ranked it as #42 on their list of the Greatest Songs Of All Time. The song was originally going to be called “Liverpool Sunset,” but as Ray Davies told Classic Rock, “I loved Liverpool… but you know what they say as advice for writers: Write about what you know. I knew London better than Liverpool. So I changed it.” Those of us who haven’t visited the site on the Thames River that inspired the song may not realize this, but the song is a look at a not-very-glamorous part of London. Although the song spells it out in the first line, when Ray sings, “Dirty old river.” But, as we’ve mentioned, Ray Davies can see beauty where others see nothing. Life is what you make it: as Ray sings, “I don’t need no friends/As long as I gaze on/Waterloo sunset/I am in paradise.” And thanks to this “Waterloo Sunset,” millions have seen the beauty in this particular spot. And it’s surely popped up in many fans’ Instagram feeds. Ray would probably find that ironic and funny.
1. “You Really Got Me” from 'Kinks' (1964)
The song that changed the course of the Kinks’ career, and really, of rock and roll. As we mentioned, it was the band’s third single, following two duds; had the third not been a hit, that might have signaled the end of the group. Things looked up for the Kinks after this song. You can also argue that it has the greatest rock guitar riff of all time, at any rate. It’s certainly one of the best.
It wasn’t just about the riff: it was about the guitar tone. The song sounded angry. The idea of distortion was still relatively new in 1964. Dave Davies told The Guardian how he came up with his sound: after he got his girlfriend pregnant, their parents forced them to split up, due to their young age. “I was a rebellious, angry kid anyway, but that had a profound effect on me. I was full of rage. A little later, I was very depressed and fooling around with a razor blade. I could easily have slashed my wrists, but I had a little green amplifier, an Elpico, that was sounding [like] crap. I thought, ‘I’ll teach it,’ and slashed the speaker cone. It changed the sound of my guitar. Then, when I wired that amp up to another, a Vox AC30, it made it a lot, lot louder.”
You can argue that his sound changed music: where would hard rock, heavy metal and punk rock be, without distorted guitars?
And, like “Stop Your Sobbing,” it’s one of those songs with multiple classic versions: In this case, Van Halen’s is just as iconic as the original. But while Edward Van Halen changed the course of guitar playing, the original changed how rock and roll could sound.
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