The Kinks - Legacy

Legacy

The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the 1960s. Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the Kinks "one of the most influential bands of the British Invasion", and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website states that "Ray Davies is almost indisputably rock's most literate, witty and insightful songwriter." Artists influenced by The Kinks include punk rock groups such as the Ramones, The Clash, and The Jam, New Wave and heavy metal acts like The Pretenders and Van Halen and Britpop groups such as Oasis, Blur and Pulp. Pete Townshend, guitarist with The Kinks' contemporaries The Who, was particularly influenced by the group's sound: "the Kinks were ... quintessentially English. I always think that Ray Davies should one day be poet laureate. He invented a new kind of poetry and a new kind of language for pop writing that influenced me from the very, very, very beginning." Jon Savage wrote that The Kinks were an influence on late-1960s American psychedelic groups, "like the Doors, Love and Jefferson Airplane". Musicologist Joe Harrington has described the Kinks' influence on the development of hard rock and heavy metal: "'You Really Got Me', 'All Day and All of the Night' and 'I Need You' were predecessors of the whole three-chord genre ... the Kinks did a lot to help turn rock 'n' roll (Jerry Lee Lewis) into rock (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, the Stooges)."