Dedicated followers of passion: the Kinks’ 40 greatest songs – ranked!

To coincide with a new exhibition in London about the Davies brothers, we rate the best of a band who brought a sociologist’s eye to hard rock, gentle pastoralia and so much in between The quality of Kinks albums declined precipitously from the late 80s: you sensed their hearts weren’t really in it. Even so, Ray Davies couldn’t stop himself writing the occas

The top 3

  1. Top 3 Songs Pioneering Garage Rock/Proto-Punk: The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" is widely cited as a foundational track for garage rock, punk, and even heavy metal due to its distorted guitar sound, alongside "All Day and All of the Night" and "Tired of Waiting for You" which further solidified their raw, aggressive style.
  2. Three Kinks Tracks with the Most Notable Cover Versions: Among The Kinks' most covered songs are "You Really Got Me," famously covered by Van Halen, and "Days," which has seen notable interpretations by artists like Elvis Costello. "Stop Your Sobbing" was also famously covered by The Pretenders.
  3. Kinks Songs Most Referenced in Pop Culture/Samples: While direct sampling data can be obscure, Kinks songs like "You Really Got Me" and "Sunny Afternoon" are frequently referenced in media and acknowledged for their profound influence on subsequent artists like Blur and Oasis, cementing their status as cultural touchstones.

Sources

Open the full topic