THE KINKS

Of my five all-time favorite groups, I have the most difficulty articulating precisely why I am such a fan of The Kinks.  The other four are easy:  I fell hard for The Beatles at the height of Beatlemania, I was captivated by the weekly televised escapades of The Monkees, and hearing The Ramones' records and seeing The Flashcubes live combined to liberate me from my '70s suburban teenage doldrums.  But The Kinks...why The Kinks?  Why not The Rolling Stones, or Paul Revere & the Raiders, or KISS, or Badfinger, or The Beach Boys, or any of dozens of other worthy acts that I also love, but which aren't in my pantheon of the very Toppermost of the Poppermost?  I guess I love The Kinks...well, because they're The Kinks.

Because they're The Kinks:  the most quintessentially British of British Invasion groups.  When I was a teenager, my knowledge of The Kinks was limited to their 1970 hit single "Lola," and to my sister's copy of a single album, The Live Kinks (from which I only ever listened to their version of "The Batman Theme").  The Kinks didn't really appear on my radar until Christmas of 1976, when my burgeoning interest in all things British Invasion manifested in a double-LP British Invasion compilation under the tree.  Among the many gems on that set was "All Day And All Of The Night" by The Kinks, an eruption of LOUD rock 'n' roll energy that made me wanna jump up and down and sideways.  This from the band that did "Lola?"  Really?  Some words of wisdom from my sister led me to "You Really Got Me," which was even more basic and primal than "All Day And All Of The Night."  Listening to an oldies show on local radio, hearing a wonderful song about being so tired, tired of waiting, tired of waiting for you, prompted me to whisper to myself, "Is this...The Kinks?" before the DJ confirmed that it was.  BAM!  Tipping point.  "Lola."  "All Day And All Of The Night."  "You Really Got Me."  "Tired Of Waiting For You."  I was now a Kinks fan.  I tried to learn more about them, to hear more of their old stuff, to check out their new stuff.  I bought a used copy of the Kinks-Sized LP for fifty cents from Mike's Sound Center in North Syracuse; I bought the 2-record set The Kink Kronikles, really just to get "Lola," but found myself ushered into an undiscovered world of The Kinks after those early hits and leading up to "Lola."  I sought out more, and marveled that it did indeed seem like exploring an undiscovered world.

See, few of my friends knew about The Kinks.  I hooked a couple of 'em, but it was almost like The Kinks were this secret group that only a privileged few were allowed to discover.  And it was a privilege, even after the fact, to discover The Kinks in all their myriad glory, to thrill to the savagery of "You Really Got Me" and "All Day And All Of The Night," to ache with the beauty of "Waterloo Sunset," to swoon with the pastoral perfection of the entire Village Green Preservation Society album, to chant in affirmation with "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion," to mourn with "Death Of A Clown," to laze on a "Sunny Afternoon."  It was music worth discovering, worth the effort of seeking out and becoming immersed in the sheer wonder of it all.  It is still a privilege, and it is still a thrill to re-discover.  Why do I love The Kinks?  Because they're The Kinks.  And God save The Kinks.