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The Latest Breaking News from Ray Davies

Five books about the lives of musicians that are stonking good reads

This year is the national year of reading, and if you’re a music lover, I urge you to pick one up about your favourite musician. The lives of musicians are often full of highs and lows, which makes for compelling reading. Here are five of my favourites.

The Conversation

The Kinks star Dave Davies says Moby made 'clumsy mistake' in Lola comments

The Kinks star Dave Davies has declared Moby made "a clumsy mistake" by slamming the band's song Lola as "gross and transphobic" - insisting there is "nothing nasty" about the lyrics.

BANG Premier

"If it were made today, it would sound like Green Day or a metal band." How a neurotic 19-year-old and a guitarist with a razor created the blueprint for metal and punk

The story of the song that schooled Metallica's James Hetfield

Louder

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Kinks guitarist Dave Davies hits back at Moby for calling 1970 single Lola ‘gross and transphobic’

The band’s co-founder responded to the US musician’s comments, defending the song and saying they are ‘not transphobic’

The Guardian - UK

‘Gross and transphobic’: Why is Moby taking shots at ‘Lola’ by The Kinks?

American musician Moby is no fan of The Kinks' hit song 'Lola', describing its lyrics as "gross", "transphobic" and "unevolved". No one seems to agree with him - least of all The Kinks' guitarist Dave Davies...

Euronews

Kinks legend defends classic song after transphobia accusation

IN FULL

The Independent UK

“The little idiot”: Dave Davies hits back at Moby calling Lola “unevolved” and “transphobic”

And he quotes Jayne County’s thoughts about the song

MusicRadar

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Moby slammed by Dave Davies for calling The Kinks’ song Lola ‘transphobic’

US musician condemned lyrics as ‘gross’ after hearing the song pop up on a playlist

The Independent UK

"I am highly insulted that Moby would accuse my brother of being 'unevolved' or transphobic in any way." Dave Davies fires back after criticism of The Kinks' classic Lola

Moby describes Lola's lyrics as "gross and transphobic" and "unevolved"

Louder

'I once saw an Arsenal player stub out his cigarette as he ran onto the field' Ray Davies on his lifelong obsession with Arsenal, from the era of "boring, boring" era to the liquid football of Wenger

The Kinks frontman on watching the Gunners with brother and bandmate Dave, and nearly missing a gig to see England’s World Cup win

FourFourTwo

Damon Albarn 'nearly made a record' with David Bowie

Blur frontman Damon Albarn has revealed he "nearly made a record" with late music legend David Bowie and The Kinks star Ray Davies but the project fell through.

BANG Premier

“I nearly made a record with Ray Davies and David Bowie back in the late '90s”: Damon Albarn on the dream collab that got away

Plus he reveals Dionne Warwick found the Gorillaz’ ideas “problematic”

MusicRadar

"We could have ended up as mementoes bricked up in his walls": The night The Kinks partied at John Wayne Gacy's house

The Kinks' US tour of 1965 was eventful even before the Killer Clown got involved

Louder

“Their version was very Middle America”: The Kinks could never fully get on board with Van Halen’s cover of You Really Got Me and here's why

The band’s famously chilled out frontman Ray Davies had a hard time accepting that people thought Eddie Van Halen & co. wrote his timeless classic

Louder

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Guitar World

“There were all these killer players. I was shy and kind of sat there, but Etta said, ‘I like that little white kid’”: Brian Ray wowed Etta James at 18, lost-out on Shakira and landed his gig with Paul McCartney –after auditioning at the Super Bowl

Brian Ray's career is like no other. As Paul McCartney's guitarist for over 20 years, he gives us a unique perspective on what it's like to play with a Beatle – and how it all started with the Monster Mash

The Guardian - UK

‘The joy shot out of his voice’: Ray Davies, Graham Nash and others on Brian Wilson’s songwriting genius

With the innocence of a child and the vision of a god, his craft was astonishing. From Jessica Pratt to Jim James and Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil, top musicians explain why he was like no other

Guitar World

“I left without a penny to my name. I was bitter for a while, but I’ve got a great legacy”: Though Pete Quaife gets credit for jumpstarting the Kinks bass chair, John Dalton and Jim Rodford pushed the band forward on many of their classic albums

From the powerful bass tone on You Really Got Me to 1979’s Low Budget, smart low-end was a key ingredient of the Kinks sound

The Guardian - UK

Everyday people: the parking wardens, estate agents and more who inspired classic songs

After the death of Joe DePugh, the high school baseball player hymned in Springsteen’s Glory Days, we look at the ordinary inspirations for extraordinary hits

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Louder

“It was a fantastic idea. I would have liked a ménage à trois with Brian Jones and his girlfriend”: The Kinks guitarist Dave Davies’ wild tales of Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Led Zeppelin and more

Partying with Keith Moon, jamming with Jerry Lee Lewis, getting into a ménage à trois with Brian Jones –Dave Davies has done it all

Louder

"It’s not like anything else. I liked it for that. We'd always take a different path": The story behind The Kinks' brilliantly subversive classic Lola

A tale of sexual ambiguity in 60s Soho, Lola provided The Kinks with a worldwide hit at the exact moment they needed it most

The Guardian - US

‘Played on over 250 albums’: was Nicky Hopkins the greatest unsung pianist ever?

He helped shape classic songs by the Rolling Stones, The Who and the Beatles but his influence on music has been largely ignored. A new documentary aims to correct that

Louder

Watch Rory Gallagher and The Kinks set The Midnight Special ablaze in 1974

Includes the fastest version of The Kinks' You Really Got Me you're ever likely to witness

Guitar World

They may have lit the fuse for high-voltage rock, but The Kinks are much more than You Really Got Me – and Ray Davies’ inventive acoustic style influenced a generation of players, including Pete Townshend

Listen to the guitar work of the Davies brothers and you’ll gain a real insight into how it was all done back in the 1960s

Louder

“Everyone’s story is different… All I can say is he was definitely there, and it was weird”: Syd Barrett’s surprise visit to Pink Floyd‘s studio

Five years after they’d felt forced to dump him, the band’s original leader shocked his former colleagues at Abbey Road in 1975

Louder

Cyril Davies was a grumpy, balding panel beater who "drank bourbon like a fish": He also inspired a generation of rock musicians – and has been all but airbrushed out of history

What do The Kinks, Stones and The Who all have in common? For one thing, a harmonica-playing bluesman nicknamed 'Squirrel'

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