"encounter with a transvestite, that became both a UK and US Top 10 hit, helping return the Kinks to the public eye. The lyrics originally contained the word ""Coca-Cola"", and as a result the BBC refused to broadcast the song, considering it to be in violation of their policy against product placement. Part of the song was hastily rerecorded by Ray Davies, with the offending line changed to the generic ""cherry cola"", although in concert the Kinks still used ""Coca-Cola"". Recordings of both versions of ""Lola"" exist. The accompanying album ""Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One"" was released"
"Lola (song) ""Lola"" is a song written by Ray Davies and performed by English rock band the Kinks on their album ""Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One"". The song details a romantic encounter between a young man and a possible transvestite, whom he meets in a club in Soho, London. In the song, the narrator describes his confusion towards Lola, who ""walked like a woman but talked like a man"". Although Ray Davies claims that the incident was inspired by a true encounter experienced by the band's manager, alternative explanations for the song have been given by drummer"
"the Bone"", the band's final release of new material before their dissolution. 1970 studio version 1980 live version Lola (song) ""Lola"" is a song written by Ray Davies and performed by English rock band the Kinks on their album ""Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One"". The song details a romantic encounter between a young man and a possible transvestite, whom he meets in a club in Soho, London. In the song, the narrator describes his confusion towards Lola, who ""walked like a woman but talked like a man"". Although Ray Davies claims that the incident was inspired by"
"the Bone"". The ""Lola"" character also made an appearance in the lyrics of the band's 1981 song, ""Destroyer"". Ray Davies has claimed that he was inspired to write ""Lola"" after Kinks manager Robert Wace spent a night in Paris dancing with a transvestite. Davies said of the incident, ""In his apartment, Robert had been dancing with this black woman, and he said, 'I'm really onto a thing here.' And it was okay until we left at six in the morning and then I said, 'Have you seen the stubble?' He said 'Yeah', but he was too pissed [intoxicated] to care,"
"""genderfuck"" was coined. Drag broke out from underground theatre in the persona of Divine in John Waters's ""Pink Flamingos"" (1972): see also Charles Pierce. The crowd surrounding Andy Warhol's Factory scene of the 1960s–1980s also included some drag queens who achieved a certain amount of fame, such as Candy Darling and Holly Woodlawn, both immortalized in the Lou Reed song ""Walk on the Wild Side."" The cult hit movie musical ""The Rocky Horror Picture Show"" has inspired several generations of young people to attend performances in drag, although many of these fans would deny that they are actually transvestites. On"
"""The Kinks' Greatest: Celluloid Heroes"" an edit of about 4:57 is present. A live version, which omits some of the lyrics in the bridge of the studio recording, is included on The Kinks' 1980 album ""One for the Road"". Ray Davies also performed the song in his 1996-1997 ""Storyteller"" show in support of his semi-fictionalized autobiography ""X-Ray"", a recording of which was released on the album, ""The Storyteller"", in 1998. 20th Century Man ""20th Century Man"" is a song recorded by British rock band The Kinks. It was released as a single in December 1971 from the band's 1971 LP"
"""Come Dancing with The Kinks."" A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy ""A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy"" is the lead single and fourth track from The Kinks' 1978 album ""Misfits"". Written by Ray Davies, the song was inspired by the band's then-tumultuous state at the time, with two members leaving the band during the recording of ""Misfits."" Released as the first single from the album, the track was the band's most successful single in years, reaching number 30. During the recording of the ""Misfits"" album, bassist Andy Pyle and pianist John Gosling quit the band, with drummer Mick Avory also considering leaving."
"commercial failures. After ""Arthur"", the Kinks made a comeback with their hit single ""Lola"" and the accompanying concept album ""Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One"" in 1970. Dave recorded two songs of his own for this LP, the acoustic ""Strangers"" and the hard-rocking ""Rats"". The rootsy country-rock, and Americana themed ""Muswell Hillbillies"" was released in late 1971, and was well-received with critics, but failed to sell strongly. Their next five albums, ""Everybody's in Show-Biz"", """", """", ""The Kinks Present A Soap Opera"" and ""Schoolboys in Disgrace"", which added a large theatrical ensemble, were critical and commercial failures. The"
"centred on LGBT rights like the Stonewall riots in 1969, from the 1970s onwards, awareness of bisexuality was on the rise and non-conforming sexual behaviors were seen as an act of social defiance. In 1972, the hit musical film ""Cabaret"" featured a love triangle with a man and woman fighting for the same (male) lover. The author who inspired it, Christopher Isherwood, was among the first openly homosexual celebrities. Other prominent cultural representations of the 1970s include ""The Rocky Horror Picture Show"" and ""Sunday Bloody Sunday (film)"". In the 90s, under the influences of the contemporary hipster subculture, which symbolizes"
"changes. It tells the story of a man who is ""in a bar at closing time trying to get enough booze down his neck to forget that his girlfriend's gone AWOL, harassing a tired, bored bartender who simply wants to close up and go home into serving just one more round"". During the one break in the song, Milburn implores the bartender: The song was a hit, reaching number two in the R&B chart during a fourteen-week stay in 1953. The single lists the performers as ""Amos Milburn and His Aladdin Chickenshackers"" after his first number one single ""Chicken Shack"
"Sweet Transvestite ""Sweet Transvestite"" is a song from the 1973 British musical stage production ""The Rocky Horror Show"" and its 1975 film counterpart ""The Rocky Horror Picture Show"". The book, music and lyrics are by Richard O'Brien and the musical arrangements by Richard Hartley. It is in the key of E major. It was originally the fourth song in the musical but it was later switched with its following number, ""Time Warp"", so that the latter came before Tim Curry's entrance. The song is performed by the character, Dr. Frank N. Furter, originated on stage and screen by actor Tim"
"Wonderboy (The Kinks song) ""Wonderboy"" is a pop song, written by Ray Davies and recorded by the Kinks in 1968. ""Wonderboy"" stalled at number 36 in the UK charts, becoming the band's first single not to make the UK Top Twenty since their early covers. Despite this, it became a favourite of John Lennon of The Beatles, and, according to Ray Davies in his autobiography, ""X-Ray"", ""someone had seen John Lennon in a club and he kept on asking the disc jockey to play 'Wonder Boy' over and over again."" Kinks guitarist Dave Davies praised the song, saying, Wonderboy' was"
"(1977) and ""Misfits"" (1978), as Davies' focus shifted to wistful ballads of restless alienation (""Life on the Road"", ""Misfits""), meditations on the inner lives of obsessed pop fans (""Juke Box Music"", ""A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy""), and exhortations of ""carpe diem"" (""Life Goes On"", ""Live Life"", ""Get Up""). A notable single from late 1977 reflected the contemporary influence of punk rock: ""Father Christmas"" (A-side) and ""Prince of the Punks"" (B-side—inspired by Davies' troubled collaboration with Tom Robinson). By the early 80s, the Kinks revived their commercial fortunes considerably by adopting a much more mainstream arena rock style; and the band's"
"a song with ""some fabulous lyrics and a marvellous melody ... combined with a great production"", and music scholar Johnny Rogan described it as ""a kitchen sink drama without the drama—a static vision of working class stoicism"". One of the group's first promotional music videos was produced for the song. It was filmed on Little Green Street, a small 18th-century lane in north London, located off Highgate Road in Kentish Town. The Kinks' next single, ""Waterloo Sunset"", was released in May 1967. The lyrics describe two lovers passing over a bridge, with a melancholic observer reflecting on the couple, the"
"Misfits (The Kinks album) Misfits is the sixteenth studio album by the English rock band The Kinks. The album was released in 1978. Following the minor success of ""Sleepwalker"" in the United States, ""Misfits"" featured a more rock-oriented style than many other Kinks records of the 1970s. Despite internal conflicts within the band, leading to both bassist Andy Pyle and pianist John Gosling quitting the band, the album made the Top 40 in America. The album also contained the minor hit single ""A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy"", as well as less successful releases ""Live Life"" and ""Black Messiah"". ""Misfits"" was"
"transitional period for the Kinks, ""Lola Versus Powerman"" was a success both critically and commercially for the group, charting in the Top 40 in America and helping restore them in the public eye, making it a ""comeback"" album. It contained two hit singles: ""Lola"", which reached the top 10 in the US and UK, and ""Apeman"", which peaked at number five in the UK. The Kinks ban by the American Federation of Musicians on performing in America, which had been in force since 1965, was lifted in 1969, so the group's management arranged a North American tour. However, members of"
"Gay Bar (song) ""Gay Bar"" is a song by American rock band Electric Six. Written by band member Tyler Spencer, under the pseudonym Dick Valentine, it was released in June 2003 as the second single from their debut studio album, ""Fire"" (2003). While both the song and music video received significant airplay, lyrics mentioning war were edited due to their possibly offensive nature since the song made its air debut at the start of the Iraq War. According to Spencer/Valentine, the idea for the song came up from incorrectly hearing the lyrics of DEVO's ""Girl U Want"" as ""it's just"
"As Ray Davies has confirmed in ""The Kinks: The Official Biography"" by Savage, ""David Watts is a real person. He was a concert promoter in Rutland"". Ray goes on to relate how the real Watts was gay and demonstrated an obvious romantic interest in brother Dave. In this light, lines like ""he is so gay and fancy free""; and ""all the girls in the neighbourhood try to go out with David Watts...but can't succeed.."" provide a second level of interpretation based on this ironic in-joke. The song was later covered by The Jam, who released it on 18 August 1978"
"the band. Subsequently, when the Tom Robinson Band were playing at the Nashville Rooms in London, Robinson saw Davies enter and sarcastically performed The Kinks' hit ""Tired of Waiting for You"". Davies retaliated with the less-than-complimentary Kinks single ""Prince of the Punks"", about Robinson. In London, Robinson became involved in the emerging gay scene and embraced the politics of gay liberation, which linked gay rights to the wider issues of social justice. Inspired by an early Sex Pistols gig, he founded the more political Tom Robinson Band in 1976. The following year the group released the single ""2-4-6-8 Motorway"", which"
"hit. Jack and Jeannie's stage show became one of the biggest touring acts during the 1970s. Jack continued to have both solo hits and duets with Seely. Among the biggest of these hits during the 1970s included ""Lord, Is That Me"" (1970), ""There's A Lot About A Woman A Man Don't Know"" (1971), and two more duets with Jeannie with ""Much Obliged"" (1972) and ""What In The World Has Gone Wrong With Our Love"" (1972). Decca became MCA Records in the early 1970s but Greene kept on having chart success with ""Satisfaction"" (1973), ""I Need Somebody Bad"" (1973), and ""It's"
"Kinks embarked on their tour of the US in October 1969. The tour was generally unsuccessful, as the group struggled to find cooperative promoters and interested audiences; many of the scheduled concert dates were cancelled. The band did, however, manage to play a few major venues such as the Fillmore East and Whisky a Go Go. The band added keyboardist John Gosling to their line-up in early 1970; before this Nicky Hopkins, along with Ray, had done most of the session work on keyboards. In May 1970 Gosling debuted with the Kinks on ""Lola"", an account of a confused romantic"
"""Something Else by The Kinks"", failed to chart in the UK, the album proved to be a success in the US, reaching #21 on the ""Billboard 200"". That following March, the title track of the album, backed with ""Full Moon"", reached #48 in the US, becoming the first Kinks single to reach the ""Billboard Hot 100"" since ""Apeman"" in 1970. Its follow-up single, ""Juke Box Music"", failed to make an impact. Although Clive Davis had originally pushed for ""Brother"" to be released as a single, comparing its appeal to that of Simon and Garfunkel's ""Bridge over Troubled Water"", it never"
"David Watts (song) ""David Watts"" is a song written by Ray Davies that originally appeared on the Kinks's 1967 album ""Something Else by the Kinks"". It was also the American and Continental Europe B-side to ""Autumn Almanac"". It has been included on several compilation albums, including ""The Kink Kronikles"" (1972). It is about the singer's great admiration of fellow schoolboy David Watts, who appears to have a ""charmed life."" There is an undercurrent of either deep envy or, as AllMusic put it, ""a schoolboy crush."" It is also, as Jon Savage has written, one of Ray Davies' ""sharpest homoerotic songs""."
"of the review of the Beatles' ""Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"" album in the British daily newspaper ""The Times"" stated, ""The Beatles revive hopes of progress in pop music with their gay new LP"". Yet in the same year, The Kinks recorded ""David Watts"". Ostensibly about schoolboy envy, the song also operated as an in-joke, as related in Jon Savage's ""The Kinks: The Official Biography"", because the song took its name from a homosexual promoter they had encountered who had romantic desires for songwriter Ray Davies' teenage brother; and the lines ""he is so gay and fancy free"" attest"
"hit, was eventually decided on as the debut single release. ""Lola"" was released as a single in 1970. In the UK, the B-side to the single was ""the Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society"" outtake ""Berkeley Mews"" while the Dave Davies-penned ""Mindless Child of Motherhood"" was used in the US. It became an unexpected chart smash for the Kinks, reaching number two in Britain and number nine in the United States. The single also saw success worldwide, reaching the top of the charts in Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa, as well as the top 5 in Germany, Austria,"
"The Kinks The Kinks are an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, in 1964 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm and blues and Merseybeat, and were briefly part of the British Invasion of the United States until their touring ban in 1965 (as a result of constant fighting between the brothers). Their third single, the Ray Davies-penned ""You Really Got Me"", became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching"
"the band fell ill, and the tour was shuffled, resulting in the band playing only a few dates in America and Canada. A follow-up tour in 1970 met with similar results, with the group performing at only a select number of venues, with many dates cancelled. The down time between the tours allowed Ray Davies, lead singer and songwriter of the group, to develop the band's next single, ""Lola"". The Kinks returned to England to start work on their new LP in spring 1970. The group used Morgan Studios, an independent studio in Willesden, London, which was a change for"
"a hooker you're restricted."" ""Monica"" has a calypso style, one that had previously appeared in songs such as ""I'm on an Island"" from ""The Kink Kontroversy"" and their 1970s singles ""Apeman"" and ""Supersonic Rocket Ship"". ""Monica"" was recorded for the BBC twice (on July 1 and July 9 of 1968), despite its suggestive lyrics. ""It's about a prostitute and the BBC has played it,"" Ray Davies said to ""Melody Maker"" around the time of ""The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society"". The key differences between the studio version and these performances is a non-fadeout ending and a bass fluff"
"star to explain that he is not actually the ""ordinary"" Norman. In 1994 Moog Konttinen recorded a Finnish translation of the album as ""Saippuaooppera"". with: Soap Opera (album) Soap Opera or The Kinks Present a Soap Opera is a 1975 concept album by The Kinks. It is the thirteenth studio album by The Kinks. The material was initially developed for a Granada TV live teleplay in 1974, which was broadcast under the title Star Maker, starring Ray Davies and June Ritchie as the leads, with the Kinks providing live accompaniment. ""A Soap Opera"" adapted the same songs and plot to"
"Me"", which was released as the band's third single in August of that year. Davies led the Kinks through a period of musical experimentation between 1966 and 1975, with notable artistic achievements and commercial success. The Kinks' early recordings of 1964 ranged from covers of R&B standards like ""Long Tall Sally"" and ""Got Love If You Want It"" to the chiming, melodic beat music of Ray Davies' earliest original compositions for the band, ""You Still Want Me"" and ""Something Better Beginning"", to the more influential proto-metal, protopunk, power chord-based hard rock of the band's first two hit singles, ""You Really"
"in 1972 in a small club called the Escort in Pimlico, London. In between spinning discs his job also entailed acting as the coat-check, collecting empty glasses and keeping the toilets clean. The cabaret act at the club was Hinge & Bracket who went on to achieve huge fame and became a fixture on British TV with their own TV shows and national tours. During the early 70s, the music played in gay clubs changed considerably due to American imports being readily available in several Soho record stores. 'We’d gone past pop. There was all this stuff coming in from"
"of the same name, on his 1985 album ""Dare to Be Stupid"". Since its release, ""Lola"" became a mainstay in The Kinks' live repertoire, appearing in the majority of the band's subsequent set-lists until the group's break-up. In 1972, a live performance of the song recorded at Carnegie Hall in New York City appeared on the live half of the band's 1972 album, ""Everybody's in Show-Biz"", a double-LP which contained half new studio compositions and half live versions of previously released songs. A live version of ""Lola"", recorded on 23 September 1979 in Providence, Rhode Island, was released as a"
"20th Century Man ""20th Century Man"" is a song recorded by British rock band The Kinks. It was released as a single in December 1971 from the band's 1971 LP ""Muswell Hillbillies"", an album with blues and country roots. It centered on such themes as poverty, housing development, alienation, the welfare state, and other troubles of the modern world. In ""20th Century Man"", the singer expresses his regrets and worries about the modern world, ""This is the age of machinery, a mechanical nightmare"", and that there is ""too much aggravation"". As such, the singer claims that he's ""gotta get out"