The Kinks Biography, Songs, Discography, Albums and Awards

The Kinks Biography

Who are The Kinks? The Kinks were a British rock band that was founded in London in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies and bass player Pete Quaife, known for biting songwriting, singles that were riff-driven, and satirical depictions of British culture.

The Kinks’ career began at North London, where Ray and Dave Davies grew up in a hectic, music-filled household with six older sisters and parents Frederick and Annie.

They discovered guitar in Muswell Hill, went to William Grimshaw Secondary Modern, and a short time at Hornsey College of Art in Ray’s experience, where film, drama, jazz, and blues opened his eyes.

Before the world knew their name, the teens hopped around monkers such as the Ray Davies Quartet, the Ramrods, the Ravens, and the Pete Quaife Band while scrambling for high school dances and pub engagements, bringing drummer Mick Avory and, with managers Grenville Collins, Robert Wace, and Larry Page and producer Shel Talmy, reaching Pye Records.

In 1964 they released “You Really Got Me,” a spare, ragged anthem powered by Dave’s famously beaten “little green” Elpico speaker and a Vox AC30 that supplied the template for hard rock and college-garage franchises that followed.

Mandates “All Day and All of the Night” and “Tired of Waiting for You” nailed a spot within the British Invasion, yet a 1965 American Federation of Musicians tour ban foiled US advances.

Rather than replicate American fads, Ray went harder into characteristically English songwriting—dry, observational, and human—backed on disk by ace session keyboard man Nicky Hopkins. “A Well Respected Man,” “Dedicated Follower of Fashion,” and “Sunny Afternoon” spoofed class and fashion and taxman agriyah with music-hall irreverence; “Waterloo Sunset” captured London gloom within one of pop’s greatest songs.

Personnel changes were a constant—1966 Pete Quaife auto accident and eventual departure got John Dalton on bass within him; later came keyboard John Gosling and bass man Jim Rodford and, around the mid-80s, drummer and longtime Kinks’ friend and drummer extraordinaire Bob Henrit.

The late sixtes provided us the cult classic The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society and the elaborate Arthur, before the irresistible “Lola” brought them charts worldwide again in 1970, irreverent lyric tweak and all.

There was a million-dollar RCA contract that paid for their Konk studio and initiated the theatrical period—Preservation, Soap Opera, Schoolboys in Disgrace—tinged with Ray’s private stormines, a public melt-down on stage at White City.

Reinvention came again at Arista: Sleepwalker, Misfits, and the riff-led, US-gold Low Budget repositioned them as arena hopefuls, topped by the stage set One for the Road. The nostalgia-tinted swing of “Come Dancing” and the State of Confusion period got them on American radio again in the early 80s and served to reawaken a wave of nostalgia for their glory years.

End-of-decade releases (Think Visual, UK Jive, Phobia) witnessed the wave commercially turn. Along the way, The Kinks scored 17 UK Top 20 singles, five US Top 10 singles, nine US Top 40 albums, four RIAA gold albums, and over 50 million sales worldwide and won an Ivor Novello for Outstanding Service to British Music and inductions in both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1990) and the UK Music Hall of Fame (2005).

Final performance for hire took place in 1996 and they eased up slowly in 1997, yet their influence never abated—reflected by punk, power pop, metal, and Britpop generations from The Jam and The Pretenders onwards to Blur and Oasis.

Later years brought solo recordings, histories, comeback rumors and bitter farewells to Pete Quaife (2010), Jim Rodford (2018), Ian Gibbons (2019), and John Gosling (2023). Still, the ghost of The Kinks haunts those sharp guitars, village green little scenes, and a songwriter’s eye that turned mundane existencies epic.

The Kinks Top songs

1. You Really Got Me – the primal, distorted riff that redrew rock’s blueprint
2. All Day and All of the Night – urgent, nocturnal twin to their breakthrough
3. Tired of Waiting for You – vulnerable melody over poised restraint
4. A Well Respected Man – class satire wrapped in a jaunty tune
5. Dedicated Follower of Fashion – a cheeky swing at trend chasing
6. Sunny Afternoon – lazy summertime sting at the taxman
7. Dead End Street – working-class gloom with brass bite
8. Waterloo Sunset – luminous London reverie, pure pop poetry
9. Days – tender goodbye that lingers long after the last chord
10. Victoria – barbed, rollicking history lesson with a grin
11. Lola – love, confusion, and a singalong for the ages
12. Apeman – breezy back-to-basics, eco-tinged escapism
13. Celluloid Heroes – wistful Hollywood walk of fame
14. Come Dancing – warm, radio-ready memory of ballroom nights
15. Do It Again – 80s crispness with classic Kinks DNA

The Kinks Discography (studio albums)

1. Kinks (1964)
2. Kinda Kinks (1965)
3. The Kink Kontroversy (1965)
4. Face to Face (1966)
5. Something Else by The Kinks (1967)
6. The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968)
7. Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969)
8. Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970)
9. Percy (1971)
10. Muswell Hillbillies (1971)
11. Everybody’s in Show-Biz (1972)
12. Preservation Act 1 (1973)
13. Preservation Act 2 (1974)
14. Soap Opera (1975)
15. Schoolboys in Disgrace (1975)
16. Sleepwalker (1977)
17. Misfits (1978)
18. Low Budget (1979)
19. Give the People What They Want (1981)
20. State of Confusion (1983)
21. Word of Mouth (1984)
22. Think Visual (1986)
23. UK Jive (1989)
24. Phobia (1993)

The Kinks Top albums

• The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968) – a mosaic of English life that grew from cult favorite into canon.
• Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969) – family history meets postwar Britain, tuneful and tough.
• Something Else by The Kinks (1967) – chamber-pop elegance with “Waterloo Sunset” as its shining heart.
• Face to Face (1966) – where Ray’s observational voice fully arrives.
• Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970) – industry satire with chart-crushing “Lola.”
• Muswell Hillbillies (1971) – London roots meet Americana twang at their new Konk home.
• Low Budget (1979) – lean, road-tested rock that made major inroads in the US.
• State of Confusion (1983) – radio-ready hooks, family narratives, and the joyous “Come Dancing.”
• Sleepwalker (1977) – sleek, late-night reset that kicked off their Arista era.
• Give the People What They Want (1981) – punchy, catchy, and built for big stages.

The Kinks Awards

• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees (1990)
• UK Music Hall of Fame inductees (2005)
• Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Service to British Music
• Four RIAA-certified gold albums in the US (Low Budget, One for the Road, Give the People What They Want, and the earlier Greatest Hits!)
• ASCAP recognition for “Come Dancing” as one of the most played songs of 1983
• Multiple UK Top 20 singles and Top 10 albums, nine US Top 40 albums, five US Top 10 singles, and more than 50 million records sold worldwide

The Kinks Singles

Sources: Wikipedia discography singles tables (1960s–1990s, Official Charts artist page for UK peaks and Billboard artist chart history for US peaks

The Kinks FAQs