# Ray Davies, 1966, and The Kinks song he hated being compared to The Beatles: “No, no”

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/ray-davies-1966-and-the-kinks-song-he-hated-being-compared-to-the-beatles-no-no/
- Published: 2026-11-02T09:14:36+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-02T11:28:32+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/kinks-song-1966-ray-davies-hated-compared-the-beatles/
- Topics: Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- Ray Davies pushed back against comparisons between the Kinks and the Beatles.
- He said Buddy Holly inspired ‘I’ll Remember’.
- Davies praised ‘Love Me Do’ while stressing the bands were different.

## Summary

In the 1960s, The Kinks were often compared with The Beatles, whose success had transformed popular music in America and beyond. Ray Davies resisted the comparisons, arguing they obscured the Kinks’ distinct musical identity and overstated their similarity to the Liverpool group.

The article recalls Davies rejecting the claim that the Kinks were as popular as the Beatles, saying they were “more unpopular”. He also said the Kinks’ song ‘I’ll Remember’ was inspired by Buddy Holly, not the Beatles, and described its only overlap as the psychedelic sound enabled by new production techniques in 1966. Davies nevertheless said he liked the Beatles’ ‘Love Me Do’.

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