Swinging London was sold as the moment the English class system finally cracked. The Kinks came out of Muswell Hill and never believed a word of it. Mark Doyle - author of “The Kinks: Songs of the Semi-Detached” - joins host Nate Wilcox to discuss the band’s relationship to British culture, to African American music, and above all to class: the one subject English pop was supposed to have moved past, and the one Ray Davies kept writing about anyway.
This episode originally dropped in 2021.
Songs in this episode
“I Need You” Check out Dave Davies’ use of feedback in the intro. The third and final song to use the arrangement strategy of “You Really Got Me”.
“A Well Respected Man”
Ray Davies first social commentary song.“The Village Green Preservation Society”
Ray’s ode to the traditional English ways of life could not have been more out of steop with the rock scene in 1968, but the namesake album became regarded as their best.“The Money-Go-Round”
From the album that put the Kinks back on the map in America: “Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround.” The most biting satire ever written of the business end of the pop process.
Let It Roll is dedicated to the memory of Ed Ward, Russell Thomas, and Danny Park.
