The Kinks ( B23 )

In April 1969 Davies helped negotiate an end to the American Federation of Musician ban on the group which allowed plans for a North American tour. Davies went into a state of depression, culminating in his onstage announcement that he was "sick of it all" at a gig in White City Stadium. A review of the concert published in Melody Maker stated: "Davies swore on stage. He stood at The White City and swore that he was 'F......  sick of the whole thing' ... He was 'Sick up to here with it' ... and those that heard shook their heads. Mick just ventured a disbelieving smile, and drummer  on through 'Waterloo Sunset.'" Davies proceeded to try to announce that the Kinks were breaking up, but this attempt was foiled by the group's publicity management, who pulled the plug on the microphone system.

Musical style

The Kinks started out playing the then popular R&B and blues styles; then, under the influence of The Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" recording, developed louder rock and hard rock sounds — due to their pioneering contribution to the field, they have often been labelled as "the original punks". Dave Davies was "really bored with this guitar sound – or lack of an interesting sound" so he purchased "a little green amplifier ... an Elpico" from a radio spares shop in Muswell Hill, and "twiddled around with it", including "taking the wires going to the speaker and putting a jack plug on there and plugging it straight into my AC30" (a larger amplifier), but didn't get the sound he wanted until he got frustrated and "got a single-sided Gillette razorblade and cut round the cone [from the centre to the edge] ... so it was all shredded but still on there, still intact. I played and I thought it was amazing." The jagged sound of the amplifier was replicated in the studio; the Elpico was plugged into the Vox AC30, and the resulting effect became a mainstay in The Kinks' early recordings—most notably on "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night".

From 1966 onwards, The Kinks came to be known for their adherence to traditions of English music and culture, during a period when many other British bands dismissed their heritage in favour of American blues, R&B and pop styles.^[1] Ray Davies recalled that at a distinct moment in 1965 he decided to break away from the American scene, and write more introspective and intelligent songs. "I decided I was going to use words more, and say things. I wrote 'Well Respected Man'. That was the first real word-oriented song I wrote. ... [I also] abandoned any attempt to Americanise my accent."

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