The Soundcheck Guide To The Kinks

The Songwriters’ Hall of Fame recently announced that among its 2014 inductees will be Ray Davies -- longtime frontman of the British rock band The Kinks. So today, we’re bringing you The Soundcheck Guide To The Kinks, an unofficial, but oh-so-informative look at the band for both beginners and big fans.

Helping us out with it is Joe Levy, editor of Billboard magazine, who shares a couple of must-hear tracks, deep cuts and perhaps better-left-unheard songs. 

Three Must-Hear Tracks by The Kinks:

You Really Got Me (Kinks, 1964)

Joe Levy: "[It was their] first big single, and arguably the birthplace of heavy metal. How raw, how punk do those opening chords sound? This is like a power trio song -- this song sounded so raw, so tough, that Pete Townsend wrote to the producer, Shel Talmy, and said, 'Will you produce my band? That sounds great.'" 

Waterloo Sunset (Something Else By The Kinks, 1967) 

Joe Levy: "Right at the period where they're transitioning into producing themselves, they have this record Something Else By The Kinks. The great song here is 'Waterloo Sunset.' An unbelievably beautiful, high baroque, English pop song."  

Father Christmas (1977) 

Joe Levy: "This is my pick for a 'late-period Kinks' piece, but it's not that late, given how long they went on.... This is an interesting song. This is as mean and as violent as Davies' class struggle ever got. And he wrote a lot of songs about class in England. This is a song from the perspective of some kids who grow up with the idea of Christmas, they grow up poor, and they're robbing a department store Santa, basically." 

Two Deep Cuts from The Kinks:

Little Miss Queen of Darkness (Face To Face, 1966) 

Joe Levy: "This is the first album where Davies wrote all the songs, from front to back.... What this song is really about is a girl on the scene in swinging London, blonde curls, false eyelashes, hiding the darkness inside." 

Big Sky (The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, 1968) 

Joe Levy: "This is a sophisticated notion for a rock band. This is about looking up at the big sky, 'Where's God?' God has no time for you. God is indifferent." 

One Song That's Better Left Unheard:

Young Conservatives (State of Confusion, 1983) 

Joe Levy: "Of course the neo-cons are on the rise in England, it's Thatcher England, this must be attacking young conservatives. And yet when you listen to the song,  it does feel a bit confused to me. It really seems to be attacking the end of the idealism of the '60s, more than, maybe instead of attacking young conservatives. The two things don't necessarily have something to do with each other. It seems like Davies is singing more about himself than his peers... The song ends up just feeling like a mess to me."