Founder of The Kinks, singer and songwriter Ray Davies was born today in 1944. For anyone who cares to chart the history of power-chord, heavy metal rock music, it really started with the two Kinks tunes below. When they first shook the speakers of AM radios across America in 1964, they augured in something new and raw in rock, much more urgent and visceral than the music of The Beatles or even The Rolling Stones at the time. The Kinks didn’t ‘wanna hold your hand,’ they were going after something else entirely.
And here’s Ray in 2008 doing his groundbreaking composition “Lola” which was a daring take on transvestism when first released in 1970.
‘Soft soul’ singer O.C. Smith made his appearance in this world in 1932 (d. 2001). Here’s his most famous recording, released in 1968, a staple of Easy Listening radio formats for many years to come.