Kinks -
A kinky, gimmicky name - and fame? Or just another 2-hit wonder group here today and gone tomorrow?
That's the question a lot of people in show biz are asking about the Kinks. To most people, and I'm being very, very honest, the Kinks are regarded in the same light as many other groups. A couple of hit records, and then rather like Gerry and the Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas and so many other artists, they fade from sight. Well, I'm one person that doesn't believe that this is going to happen to the Kinks. I'll tell you why. The Kinks can think music. That may sound a bit daft, but it isn't. I'm not saying they are great composers. They aren't.
But too many of today's stars get a song, good or bad and after a few hours they have an idea how to record it and it's in the can. Rarely do they think about it. The Kinks do. They sit down and think about one bar. Should it be done another way, they think. Should it be done another way? They work out more than one variation on a number until they have the tune exactly right. They they try all the versions and make sure that at least one of them can be regarded as something different.
Their latest disc, for instance, I didn't like. All Day and All of the Night sounded to me like a load of tripe. But after hearing it once I couldn't get certain phrases out of my head and I ended up playing it all the time. Undoubtedly the success of the first Kinks record helped their second record into the hit parade, but it was the thinking talent behind the tune that got the number rushing into the Top Ten. If the Kinks can continue this kind of musical work I suggest that many of you pack up your favorite group and stick to the Kinks, because believe me, they have the talent to still be here for a long time turning out hits, whilst most of the other groups will be back to being insurance clerks or tea-boys or whatever they were.
The Kinks to me are a group that can afford to get big-headed. Like The Beatles, they are working to do something different. Not just finding a different song every time but a completely new era for music for the pop field. I'm sure they'll succeed. If your friends say that you should stick up for a group with not such a gimmicky name, point out in a year's time that the Kinks are still one of the foremost record-selling groups. Because it's pretty certain they will be. I hope so, for I'm taking bets that I'll eat my hat if they aren't in the charts in a year's time. And I was never partial to stewed trilby!
Pop Weekly - 11/28/64
