Why The KINKS were banned in America during the 60’s hurting their career stateside.
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I cite my sources and they may differ than other people’s accounts, so I don’t guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos.
The Kinks would be part of the British invasion of America in the 60’s alongside groups like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. However the Kinks wouldn’t achieve the same level of career success stateside due to bad management, bad decisions, bad behavior and well…bad luck. The Kinks first tour of America would result in the group being banned for nearly half a decade, killing any momentum they had. So what happened? That’s what we’re going to explore in today’s video.
Consisting of brothers Ray and Dave Davies, bassist Peter Quaife, and drummer Mick Avory The Kinks would release their debut record in 1964, which was self-titled and featured the hit ‘You Really Got Me.’
Ahead of their planned 1965 tour of America, cracks were starting to show in the band. Drummer Mick Avory would recall “The band was in disarray,” “Everything was going pear-shaped. We shouldn’t have actually gone.”
Already known as a hard partying band, the band’s offstage behavior soon creeped into their live shows. During a warm up gig in May of 1965 in Wales, Dave Davies and Mick Avory got into a scuffle on stage that started when Davies spit at Avory who responded by hitting the Davies in the head with his hi-hat pedal. It resulted in Davies going to the hospital and Avory going to jail. The Davies brothers relationship soon started to go south with Dave recalling in 1966 to New Musical Express, “About a year ago we hated the sight of each other. We would fly into a temper at the slightest provocation. I suppose, in a way, it was only natural when we spent so much time together.”
Then came their planned 17-date tour of America later in the year. The band was supposed to tour alongside Moody Blues, but they couldn’t get their Visas for America. . Five of the 17 dates had to be cancelled due to poor ticket sales, while the tour promoter often struggled to pay the band.
This understandably pissed the band off. To retaliate against the promoter band played a shorter set in Reno, Nevada while a concert in Sacramento saw the Kinks play a thoroughly extended version of You Really Got Me For most of the show. The band soon skipped out of a show planned for San Francisco as their request of being paid ahead of the performance went unfulfilled. The promoter would soon file a complaint with the American Federation of Musicians and/or American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The federation had the power to withhold permits for bands coming from other countries.
The final straw would happen when the band appeared on NBC for a Dick Clark special. Ray Davies would punch one of the show runners backstage with the frontman recalling in his autobiography“Some guy who said he worked for the TV company walked up and accused us of being late,” “Then he started making anti-British comments. Things like ‘Just because the Beatles did it, every mop-topped, spotty-faced limey juvenile thinks he can come over here and make a career for himself. You’re just a bunch of Commie wimps. When the Russians take over Britain, don’t expect us to come over and save you this time. The Kinks, huh? Well, once I file my report on you guys, you’ll never work in the U.S.A. again. You’re gonna find out just how powerful America is, you limey bastard!’ The rest is a blur. However, I do recall being pushed and swinging a punch and being punched back.”
In addition to that, it was rumored that the band refused to pay the required fees to the American Federation of Television and Recording Artists. The federation soon banned the Kinks from touring the united states from 1965 to 1969. However the organization never gave an oficial comment on why they specifically banned the group.
Ray Davies would look back at the impact of the ban on the band’s career recalling
“That ridiculous ban took away the best years of the Kinks’ career when the original band was performing at its peak.” By the time the group was allowed to return in 1969, “the Woodstock generation had arrived a
