[Add Quora.com to the list of things I don’t understand. Everyday there is something from Quora.com in my email Inbox, usually some variation on Beatles trivia, written in the form of a question and an answer. My guess is that both the question and the answer are posted by unpaid contributors who provide free content in hopes of building a following that will eventually lead to recognition as an online influencer. Or maybe the contributors are just fans, looking for community. What do I know? I’m just a hairy ape.
The Beatles were the unquestioned Kings of the British Invasion, the musical movement that merged with American influences of pop, soul, folk, and blues and became a cultural and generational revolution. Richard Ambrose asks who was the next “best.” He says The Kinks, and I wholeheartedly agree. Moreover, I would argue that if you look at their entire catalogue, they produced more and better music than the lads from Liverpool.
In terms of popularity and influence, however, they never came close to The Beatles. Founding member Ray Davies attributes this to “bad advice, bad behavior, and bad luck,” and I would add to the list “bad management” and “bad production.” Put them in a studio with George Martin and, well … dream on, music fans. SB SM]
If the Beatles were the best band of the 60’s, who was second best at that time?
If ‘best’ you mean the next most commercially successful band in the 60s then it’s the Rolling Stones. If it’s about the music, do you mean:
- most inventive? most melodic? best lyricists? best musicians?
I can’t judge or appreciate the subtleties of virtuosos. So for me, the band that ticks the most boxes is The Kinks.
In 1964 Dave Davies invented rock guitar with The Kinks ‘You Really Got Me”. The Beatles & Stones singles at the time were ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ and ‘Not Fade Away’. Great songs but hardly modern rock tracks. At ‘just 17’, Dave Davies invented that gritty feedback sound by cutting up his amp’s speaker with a razor blade!
1967 was an amazing year for the Kinks. Listen to the backing on ‘David Watts’. For inventiveness, there is no sound like it.
As well as an incredible melody, how about the unusual lead guitar sound on ‘Waterloo Sunset’?
Most British bands in the 60s put on American accents when they sang. Ray Davies’ songs from 1966 onwards sounded more authentic to his home country with lyrics such as those on ‘Harry Rag’. (BTW, a “harry rag” is a British slang term for a cigarette.
No-one in pop music had done this since the likes of Harry Champion in the early 20th century. The Beatles dipped their toe into this later with the “Vera, Chuck & Dave” section in When I’m 64, the ‘curse Sir Walter Raleigh’ bit on I’m So Tired and finally whole songs with the traditional ‘Maggie Mae’ and Polythene Pam.
Ray Davies also wrote songs that reflected social changes. Lennon and McCartney tended to write mainly about themselves or in Lennon’s case car sticker slogans of peace and love. Revolution was probably the closest he came in the The Beatles to reflecting what was happening at the time.
Ray Davies, more than any other songwriter in the ’60s (with the exception of Pete Townsend) created true concept albums. Sgt Pepper had a concept, but the lyrics to the songs themselves didn’t have much in common.
From 1968 with ‘The Village Green Preservation Society’ to ‘Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)’ then ‘Lola versus Powerman & the Moneygoround Part 1’ and ‘Muswell Hillbillies’ none made the UK album charts at the time but have since been regarded as concept album classics.
So I would rate The Kinks pretty high on the list!
(Ray never bothered to get his teeth fixed. Not the best teen idol look.)