The Kinks was part of the British Invasion!
The Kinks was an English pop/rock group formed in ’63. Categorized as a British Invasion band, along with the other members of the so-called Big Four (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Who), they changed popular music forever.
Among their hits, you can find Lola, All Day And All Of The Night, Waterloo Sunset, Sunny Afternoon and You Really Got Me which, fourteen years later, would be covered by Van Halen using a much louder amp.
Sunny Afternoon first appeared on the ’66 album Face To Face and later as a single from that album. Finally, it appeared as the title track of their ’67 compilation album.
When released as a single in the summer of ’66, it went to #1 in the U.K. and Ireland. Whilst in the U.S. it reached #14.
It wasn’t just The Rolling Stones, The Who, and The Beatles who went to America with their blues, soul, and rock n roll-infused pop. The Kinks were also a part of the phenomenon along with The Searchers, The Yardbirds, The Animals, and The Hollies.
None of the bands might have achieved the same craze as The Beatles did, but the communal effort has bound British pop and rock with American popular music culture ever since.
The British invasion of blues guitar-influenced pop brought artists like Muddy Waters, B.B., and Albert King to fame in America and the world over.
It also changed American music into a much more raw art form and made the electric guitar the most popular instrument in the world.
Many popular culture historians would argue that this ultimately came down to the Big Four as well as these two individuals: Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.
The Kinks Tunes | Related Pages
Sunny Afternoon
You can learn how to play Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks using chords, lyrics, a chord chart, and Spytunes video guitar lessons.
| Am | G | C | G |
The tax man’s taken all my dough, and left me in my stately home…
You Really Got Me
You can learn how to play You Really Got Me by The Kinks using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recordings.
| G5 F5 G5 N.C F5 | G5 F5 G5 N.C F5 |
Girl, you really got me goin’…
The Kinks on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was an article about The Kinks tunes, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not by practising scales or studying theory in isolation.