Ray Davies at 80: the life and times of rock music’s most revolutionary songwriter
The British Isles has produced a wealth of incredible poets and songwriters over the years, each attempting to encapsulate the inherent spirit of this sceptred isle. Inevitably, the changing social and economic landscape of the United Kingdom has meant that many of these attempts have since grown to be outdated or irrelevant. One thing that has rarely changed about Britain, however, is the people. Perhaps that is why the quintessentially British songwriting of The Kinks frontman Ray Davies has never particularly lost its relevance.
Today, the 80-year-old Ray Davies, CBE, is something of a legendary figure within the world of rock and roll. Hailed for his songwriting with The Kinks, Davies has been credited as everything from one of the first-ever punk rockers to the Godfather of Britpop. Of course, Davies has not always enjoyed such fame and notoriety; back in the early 1960s, he was just another working-class lad living in the north of London. In many ways, these early experiences living in Fortis Green would be the driving force behind Davies’ future songwriting, providing ample opportunity for social commentary.
From his earliest days, it was clear that Davies’ life was to extend far beyond the boundaries of his local area, although he has never forgotten his roots. His first steps outside the norm came in the early 1960s when he enrolled in Hornsey College of Art, where he would become more and more entranced with the inviting world of music and songwriting. The early 1960s saw London descend into an all-out obsession with the blues. As such, Davies found himself gigging with a variety of local blues groups during this period, as well as forming the aptly named Ray Davies Quartet.
His quartet would change its name and musical style like Davies would change his socks, cycling through band names like The Ramrods, The Bo-Weevils and The Ravens, before eventually settling on the name and line-up that would change rock forever: The Kinks. By all accounts, Davies himself was never overly keen on the name, but it was effective in gaining the band some publicity and establishing them away from the blues rock and cover bands that populated the local London music scene at the time.
If the name was not enough to convince audiences of The Kinks’ trailblazing power, then their early records certainly were. While their very first singles failed to make much of an impact, when Davies took on songwriting duties, coming up with the utterly groundbreaking adolescent anthem ‘You Really Got Me’, everything changed. Inspired by the advent of garage rock tracks like The Kingsmen’s ‘Louie Louie’, Davies penned a short, sharp and aggressive track which became one of the defining tracks of the 1960s.
‘You Really Got Me’ helped to establish The Kinks as a musical force to be reckoned with. More than that, though, it completely changed the lineage of rock by employing guitar distortion – created by slashing amplifiers with razor blades – and adolescent adrenaline, which would later become an essential aspect of the punk, metal and alternative rock revolution a decade later. The world’s greatest songwriters could toil for a hundred years, and they would never get close to writing a rock song as perfect as ‘You Really Got Me’.
Far from being a one-hit wonder, Davies managed to follow up this smash-hit with many more tracks imbued with a sense of youthful rebellion, including the likes of ‘All Day and All of the Night’, ‘Tired of Waiting for You’, and ‘Set Me Free’. It was these tracks which garnered the group their greatest commercial successes within the early years, leading to more creative freedom for Davies, who had become the band’s primary songwriter over the course of these releases.
By this time, the swinging sixties were out in full force, and the streets of London were dominated by Mini Coopers, mini skirts and modernists. Despite all this glitz and glamour that is now looked back on with a great sense of nostalgia, Davies and The Kinks never particularly bought into it and were quick to point out the hypocrisy of the scene. This defiance once again set The Kinks apart from their contemporaries; they were operating by their own will and were not doing anything with the sole aim of profit.
It was also during this time, in 1965, that many of The Kinks’ contemporaries made the journey across the Atlantic as a part of the British invasion. However, The Kinks were not privy to this scene, with the American Federation of Musicians refusing permits to the group as a result of their wild on-stage performances.
Later, Davies recalled the moment when America shut its doors on the band, writing in his autobiography, “Some guy who said he worked for the TV company walked up and accused us of being late. Then he started making anti-British comments. Things like ‘Just because the Beatles did it, every mop-topped, spotty-faced limey juvenile thinks he can come over here and make a career for himself’.” This exchange was quickly followed by Davies throwing a punch at the TV executive, which marked an end to The Kinks’ career in the States.
Alas, who cares about the United States? The Kinks were still flying high in their native United Kingdom, releasing a deluge of incredibly popular singles and albums, each of which only seemed to reaffirm Ray Davies’ infallible songwriting talents. Equally capable of writing satirical tracks like ‘Sunny Afternoon’ or ‘Dedicated Follower of Fashion’ as he was to stunning social commentary pieces like ‘Dead End Street’, there seemed to be no stopping the frontman. Even a nervous breakdown in 1967, caused largely by heightened tensions within the band and the pressures of touring, only resulted in more incredible tracks.
During the late 1960s, Davies penned some of his greatest work, with ‘Waterloo Sunset’ and ‘The Village Green Preservation Society’ being particular highlights. Throughout all of these songs, Davies was able to capture certain aspects and moments of everyday life for most British people. Even today, these early tracks remain some of the greatest instances of social commentary and kitchen-sink pop that British media and music have ever witnessed. Nobody – whether that be a filmmaker, sociologist or another musician – has been able to reflect everyday life in Britain in quite the same way as Ray Davies.
Of course, Davies’ career did not end in the 1960s. In fact, one of his most notable works, ‘Lola,’ arrived in 1970, and the frontman embraced radical themes within his songwriting, which would later be adopted by legendary figures such as Lou Reed and David Bowie. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that Davies’ work has never really aged; it was never tied to one specific period. His songwriting managed to adapt to different time periods and shifting periods without ever growing stale or feeling too forced. Even when punk arrived in 1976, Davies remained unafraid, even exploring these abrasive new sounds within his own work.
All good things must come to an end, and The Kinks eventually folded in 1996, after years of tension and in-fighting between band members, as well as a decline in commercial viability. Each new rumour surrounding a reunion seems to be struck down by the band members as quickly as it arises, so it seems unlikely that The Kinks will ever take to the stage again – although Davies has performed numerous times as a solo artist over the years, with some admittedly fantastic results. Nevertheless, those incredible songs that Ray Davies penned over the years remain absolutely integral parts of British society, and they will continue to be loved for decades to come.