Ray Davies

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…

Raymond Douglas Davies was born on June 21, 1944 in Fortis Green London England. He was the seventh of eight children, including six older sisters and a younger brother named Dave. Born into a working-class family, one of Ray’s earliest musical influences came from the vaudeville music that his parents listened to. In 1962 while in school Ray and his brother Dave formed a band called the Ray Davies Quartet, which included bassist Pete Quaife. After a few name changes the band finally took form in 1964 when drummer Mick Avory was brought on board, and the classic lineup of The Kinks was born, consisting of Ray on lead vocal and acoustic guitar, brother Dave on electric guitar, Quaife on bass, and Avory on drums. At this time the band was called The Ravens, however their manager thought that they needed a catchier name. Commenting on the way they looked and the clothes that they wore, he came up with The Kinks. Ray would later say that he never really liked the name. 

Ray Davies was the principal songwriter, the lead singer, and the leader of the band. In 1964 Ray penned the blues-based song ‘You Really Got Me’ which became their first hit. Dave Davie’s fuzzy guitar riffs have often been pointed to as the first heavy metal guitar riff in recorded music. The story goes that Dave was frustrated while recording the song and slashed his amplifier with a razor blade, thus creating the slightly distorted, fuzzy sound. 

One of the first artists that Ray Davies influenced was Pete Townsend of The Who. The Who’s first single was the song ‘I Can’t Explain’, which Townsend freely admits was similar to The Kinks ‘All Day and All Of The Night’. Roger Daltrey of the The Who even went a step further saying “they were certainly a huge influence on Pete, and he wrote ‘I Can’t Explain’, not as a direct copy, but certainly it’s very derivative of Kinks music.”

Now ‘borrowing’ from other musicians was certainly not something new in music. There are countless stories of blues songs being copied, with just minor word changes and a new title, and folk music has had a long history of artists lifting another artists’ material and claiming it as their own. What makes this remarkable is that Pete Townsend, who would go on to become one of the greatest rock and roll songwriters, was already giving a nod to one of his peers as a huge influence at such a young age. 

With a number of hits under their belts and the British Invasion in full swing, in 1965 The Kinks embarked on a tour of America. While this should have launched The Kinks to even greater heights, instead it ended up being a disaster, one that would have a long lasting impact on the rest of their career. Following the tour, the American Federation of Musicians banned The Kinks from touring in the United States for at least four years. No reason was disclosed, although it was believed to be due to the band’s rowdy behavior. The Kinks, especially the brothers Davies, became notorious for their fights and disagreements. Ray Davies later said that it resulted from an appearance on Dick Clark’s TV show ‘Where The Action Is’. Supposedly someone who worked for the TV company started insulting the band, accusing them of being late and going on to make anti-British comments. According to Ray, a punch was thrown and they were banned from playing in America for the next four years. This action effectively cut off The Kinks from the biggest market in the world at the height of The British Invasion. The result of the touring ban led to The Kinks being overshadowed and reduced to cult band status in America during the mid to late 1960’s. This isn’t to say that Ray wasn’t writing great songs – he was. Ray Davies was a master at writing songs that captured slices of normal everyday life, capturing characteristics of people that we all know, sometimes even capturing a bit of ourselves. His unique ability to write about society norms, trends, and quirks, often with a dash of humor, is something that has always made his songs stand out. The Kinks continued to top the charts in the U.K with songs like ‘Sunny Afternoon’, ‘Days’, ‘Dead End Street’, ‘A Well Respected Man’, ‘Tired Of Waiting For You’ and perhaps one of the most beautiful pop songs ever written, ‘Waterloo Sunset’. While the band continued to have hits in the U.K., success in the U.S. was mixed. In fact, Waterloo Sunset, which peaked at number 2 in the U.K., failed to even chart in the U.S. Impressively, between 1964 and 1968 The Kinks had 11 top 10 hits, including three number 1’s.

One of Ray Davies biggest influences was blues musician Big Bill Broonzy, who is credited as being one of the earliest and biggest influences on blues music, yet relatively few people are familiar with the man or his music. Broonzy died in 1958 and, while musicians who cited his influence would go on to great popularity in the 1960’s and beyond, his death relegated him to a virtual unknown. Just like Big Bill Broonzy, The Kinks do not often get their rightful due along the likes of their contemporaries – The Beatles, The Who, and The Rolling Stones.

As the 60’s decade was ending Ray Davies found himself embroiled in lawsuits over his music publishing rights. The contract that he had signed at the age of 19 did not give him full control over the songs that he had written. The legal proceedings were taking a toll on Ray, who for the first time found it difficult to write songs. In 1969 Pete Quaife left the band. Even though the touring ban in the U.S. had finally been lifted, The Kinks needed a hit in order to secure a tour of America. Ray was feeling pressured to produce a hit, something that had always come naturally to him. Finally, the court cases were being decided in his favor, meaning he would retain ownership over his songs. In 1970, after searching around for a different sound, Ray came across a National Steel Resonator guitar in a music shop that had the sound he was looking for, and with that guitar he composed one of The Kinks biggest hits, a little song called ‘Lola’. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Kinks would continue to tour and make music until the mid 1990’s, when they finally called it quits. Although in recent years there have been hints at a Kinks reunion, sadly as of today that appears to be a longshot.

The list of artists influenced by Ray Davies and The Kinks is still growing. The short list includes Pete Townsend, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders (who covered The Kinks hit ‘Stop Your Sobbing’), Paul Weller of The Jam, The Clash, Van Halen, Split Enz, Pulp, Blur, and Oasis. After Van Halen had a hit with their cover of ‘You Really Got Me’, Ray, with a grin, often would introduce the classic Kinks song in concert by saying they were about to play a Van Halen song. Oasis took their admiration a step further by duplicating the infamous rows between the Davies brothers and lighting up the press and social media with feuds between brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher.  

In 1990 The Kinks, along with The Who, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, joining The Beatles and The Rolling Stones as the only British bands at that point to be inducted. In 2014 Ray Davies was elected into the American Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 2017 he was formally knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the arts. 

In the summer of 2012 London hosted the Summer Olympics and the closing ceremonies featured Ray Davies singing his classic song ‘Waterloo Sunset’. As a black Hackney (British slang for a taxi) stopped in the middle of the stadium, out climbed Ray to begin his performance. And in what can only be described as a cruel bit of history repeating itself, American audiences were denied seeing the performance as NBC decided to go to a commercial and missed the entire song. Somehow, I believe that Ray himself would smile at that bit of irony, and like the rest of us be thankful for the days. I know I won’t forget a single day, believe me.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s Musical Tree. Feel free to leave suggestions for future articles in the comments. Don’t forget to subscribe to be notified via email when there is a new post. 

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