36 Years Ago Today, The Kinks 'Give The People What They Want'!

The Kinks had already enjoyed two separate careers - a chart-topping garage rock childhood followed by a more serene and introspective (and, therefore, critically adored) adolescence - but it was now the fookin' 1980's and, like any great story, a third act was needed.

Meanwhile, punk had decimated the UK rock heirarchy. The US had provided a safe haven of sorts, but who knew for how long? Eventually, the new wave tsunami would reach our shores and the Nugents and Foghats would be washed to sea.

With new wave and post-punk bands forcing the older acts to up their tempos or join the nostalgia circuit, how would the Kinks respond?

After all, despite decent numbers, the band's relationship with American label Arista Records always seemed in peril because, try as they might, even a dumbed-down stadium-rock Kinks was still too smart for the U.S. rock crowd. Sure, the band's last couple albums had made the Top 20, but everybody who'd heard them knew they were doing "Top 10"-level work, at least.

Like the vaguely neurotic and self-loathing poet struggling to remain relevant, Ray Davies knew that it wasn't so much the American fans that were the problem, it was him (!). He'd just have to try harder to pander to that elusive mainstream American audience.

"Give the people what they want!"

Whether meant facetiously or not, the title is pure brilliance in simplicity, and, hell, if Starz could call their third album Attention Shoppers, why couldn't the Kinks turn a common and over-used phrase into a slogan of its own, complete with rally-cry theme song?

Upon release, Give The People What The Want was met with widespread critical admiration because, even by then, anything Davies did was going to be met with universal rave reviews. The X factor was "Would it sell?" and thus far Davies had been batting 1.000, as One For The Road and Low Budget had both gone Top 20.

Even so, neither of those albums had that sure-fire hit single that said "Here I am!", but this new record had "Destroyer."

Astonishingly, "Destroyer" was not a Top 20 smash hit, but the album was, leading this writer to believe that those who heard "Destroyer" on the radio went out and bought the album like they were supposed to instead of wussing out and only buying the single.

The band's ability to switch gears from the post-punk aggression of "Around The Dial" and "Back To Front" to the loneliness and longing of "Art Lover" gave them a serious edge over their younger, less experienced competition. After all, it was the Pretenders who were covering the Kinks, not the other way around.

Sadly, time has not been kind to Give The People What They Want. The band's next album would have a song called "Come Dancing" on it that would both elevate and kill their career in the same motion.

They would never grace the Top 40 in America again, but that doesn't make the band's last truly great attempt at meeting us halfway any less valiant and worthy of extensive jamming at volumes that piss off neighbors you didn't even know you had.

Happy 36th birthday to Ray, Dave, Mick, Jim and Ian who together cut one of the greatest albums to ever carry the Arista logo.