The Kinks - Johnny Thunder

[upthcreek]

I wish i had this, on my personal listning device, while being struck by lighting....

[mountaindewed101]

they came out right around the same time as the beatles and led zeplin so they did not get as much recognition as they deserved.

[MrBlackbho]

@mountaindewed101 Actually the kinks had been around for at least six years before led zepplin came around. The Kinks were one of the original British Invasion Bands.

[hailhail93]

@MrBlackbho yeah then they got banned from america untill the early 70s, thats why they werent as big as they should have been

[faplovertouchme69]

baaa bada ba ba ba ba, baaa bada ba ba ba ba

thunder and lighhtniiing!

[er1975us]

The greatest album that most people have never heard of is" Village Green"..Pure Masterpiece!!!

[AnthroFreak1]

best kinks album. period.

[TheEnchantingWizard1]

@AnthroFreak1 Can't argue with you there. 

[alpennsygg1]

The Kinks and The Moody Blues were both amazing Bands, look what Mike Pinder was doing with the Melotron, Compaired to what the Beatles were doing

[klausbluetner1]

This is incredibly beautiful.

[QuanS0]

Hahaha. . . Johnny and Helena. . . Anybody? No? Never mind. . .

[playa3232]

2 people didn't like this? darn lady ga ga fans! :-p

[leftnutnamedchancey]

@playa3232 Excuse me? Thats Lady Mangina...

[fntaa0]

@ Carspiv: Plenty of people in this country have heard of the Kinks. This is a great song, but there's actually a pretty decently sizable body of music that's even better than THIS that nobody's heard of. The Kinks are a pretty huge band.

[JFKFlevoland]

Will they make a song for Kilroy and Pippin too?

[Desiree50]

The Kinks made alot of groovy music!

[wyteboybb]

ive been obsessed with this album since the first time I heard it.

[nachowill95]

johnny genzale...=D

[TheMeleemonkey]

man the world is jam packed with tasteless bastards, no point tryin to convert any of them. spoon feed them pop music and keep them in the dark. this music is OUR happy place :D

[eatinbabies2]

I was actually looking for johnny thunder the lego guy but this video will suffice! HAHA

[mmbreeze]

I just wonder if Johhny Thunder called himself after this damn cool, classic from the sixties !

does anybody know ?

[slurpslurpkitty]

@mmbreeze yes he did

[BoulevardTrash99]

@mmbreeze apparently he took it from a marvel comic book character.

[lostaglio6666]

@BoulevardTrash99 arthur kane's book says he took the name from this song and the comic

[PicnicHikeMusic]

They is one of the few weak song on the album. Otherwise it would be "Sgt Pepper." This "Village Green" album is the best thing EVER done by Kinks - especially for those of us who have adopted the rural mind-set and have English heritage.

[FetaCheese222]

@PicnicHikeMusic What? This one of the best song on the LP.

[PicnicHikeMusic]

@FetaCheese222

OK - this song has grown on me. I was wrong (only 2nd time in my life!)

[pilesovinyl]

The reason the Kinks still are greatly underappreciated has more than anything to do with their visa problems in 1965-1966. After their initial success they were unable to tour the US to support their work and with minimal label support they suffered in relative obscurity until Lola was able to allow them to resurface here. Unfortunately a lot of their best work was never heard in the US.

[namnoiz]

This could have been Tommy Thunder !!! WHO fans know what im talking about!!! Jeon Leon

[HommaHieno]

This is an absolute masterpiece from maybe their best album.

[theleequa]

I love how Ray Davies treats all the characters on the album almost like family members. He's careful to acknowledge humanity's faults while showing the value of peoples lives and their community.

[stoprejectingmynames]

The Kinks are awesome. As are the New York Dolls (the guitarist of which was Johnny Thunders.)

[TheWeatherman1987]

Every fuckin' Kinks video I've been on there seems to be yet another Beatles/Kinks debate.

[philbgarner]

The Beatles are too played out for me at this point...heard their songs way too many times. To this day, I can't make it all the way though Let It Be. lol

All Kinks songs I come across seem fresh and oddly still relevant, while still having that nostalgic 60s Brit-Pop sound. I love it!

[kentcrawf]

GODS!

[chickybluetherealone]

Johnny Thunders from the New York Doll's deserves to take this name,

he just as hot as the KINK's.

[Landulphcounter]

From whence Johnny Thunder of the New York Dolls took his name.

[johnnymccrowe]

its been pretty well documented that Johnny Thunders took his name from the comic book character

[Landulphcounter]

I didn't know that. Thanks. My comment was meant to be a question!!

[johnnymccrowe]

no problem,

[seansurlow]

Killer song from a killer album.

One of the best rock albums ever.

[randydandydupree3]

Kinks rule! Kinks Rule! Zep...I mean kinks rule!

[Ssssstones]

you're right ! This band is amazing !!

[cpartilecoco]

When you have this song in mind, you have a magic day

[cjdaly]

Holy cow this is a good song! I've listened to it 15 times today! WOW!

[ExxonAmadeus]

One of the best albums of the 60s Too bad some people don't realise there were awesome bands other than The Beatles putting out amazing stuff back then.

[Solivago]

@ExxonAmadeus

I agree with you. The only problem they've faced is that in the 60's there were 2 monsters band as Beatles and Stones. I always compared Kinks to Gianfranco Zola who came out between Maradona and Baggio

[thiessen35]

ppl do know lol

[ilovearmadillos]

@ExxonAmadeus Yeah. It's not like some of the Kinks videos have millions of views. Everyone is totally oblivious of them...

[JBtheModManchester]

you can hear where Weller got In The Crowd from !!

[paddyo702]

I have a photo of The Jam, and Weller has a Kinks shirt on.

[jamreaper]

yea the jam liked them sooo much they made a cover of some of there songs

ggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[renotsecniv]

Oh what a good song.

[gordonw01]

What a great song from a great band.British music in the 60's..what a golden age of music.

[efmreporters]

""And Sweet Helena [something] prays for Johnny." I'm pretty sure he is not saying "in bed" but what is he saying?"

And sweet helena "until then", prays for johnny.

[RCFDomingo]

Dulaine or Dullette... Her surname

[sbarr10]

The Kinks....

they live on water ....

FEED ON LIGHTNING, yeah !

[BailMeOutObama]

"And Sweet Helena [something] prays for Johnny." I'm pretty sure he is not saying "in bed" but what is he saying?

Shakespeare's "All's Well That Ends Well" has a character Helena, also two brothers named Dumaine.

The latter seems like a parallel to the brothers Davies. Ray often writes about his sisters. Is Sweet Helena a sister of Ray, perhaps with a secret crush on someone like Marlon Brando's Johnny Strabler?

Could the line then be "Sweet Helena Dumaine prays for Johnny"?

[MurrayShempstein]

I like your research and your logic. But there's a couple of live versions on here and to my ear it sounds like he is saying "Helena Duran." Who that is I don't know, but maybe there are some hard core Kinks fans out there who know the real story....?

[Phangaea]

One of my favorite Kinks songs its yust rocks so hard!

[GarySpiffywinkClarke]

I always confuse the intro to this with intro to Days. Brilliant song. GOD SAVE THE KINKS!

[robertsm1k3]

is how johnny thunders got the idea for his name?

[FrankTheGank]

Ya this is where he got his name

[ChasDarling]

Wow, they look so cute in this picture.

And the song rocks!

[custer1968]

whenever i listen t this i think of "away from the numbers"..by the Jam...love both songs

[karagyoz4ever]

Hands down one of the greatest sixties cuts. I get "shivers down my backbone" every time I hear this song.

[sbarr10]

When I listen to this I imagine a cool dude on a motorcycle, a James Dean or Steve McQueen type. Cool!

[carspiv]

We must all realize that there is a group of people out there who don't have the time to understand anything that is beyond their immediate sight...it is beyond comprehension that a song like Johnny Thunder has not been heard by more than about 1 one hundreth of one percent of the people in this country. Mass media spews out Madonna and her vocal bowels and counts it classic. Does anyone else out there want to start bitch-slapping people?

[145inA]

Yeah Yeah!

[Radicals888]

I love the Kinks. I believe in Johnny Thunder and hope he will fight to destroy the evil European Union!

[fodsaks]

God bless Johnny.

[Radicals888]

God Bless fodsaks and all who bless Johnny

[JohnnyBgood422]

@carspiv ...I like you....

[FetaCheese222]

@carspiv I don't see how you can complain the "mass media" isn't giving attention to a cut from a little known 60s album. Sure, classic rock radio stations should, but they're not the ones who "spew out Madonna".

[WoodRatGirl]

@carspiv

Vocal Bowels LOL xD

[zerominusminus]

What a classic, underrated song! The background vocals capture the mood of this song so well. I wish there were more "live" videos of the Kinks floating around.

[lovetank3000]

The Kinks were a brilliant and weird lot! They absolutely didn't care about zeitgeist. What could be farther away from flower power than the "Village Green Preservation Society" album? And what could be more genuinely English? Go, Johnny Thunder!

[jonthegoon]

Absolutely, lovetank3000.

:)

I met Ray Davies once on a plane y'know.

[lovetank3000]

Did you really? Cool!

[parallaxengine]

he gave me my membership to the mile high club

[Indefatigable4]

You're such a liar, but it's a fantastic story.

[jwattie]

Were they still working at Butlins when this one was out?

[KIDAmnesiacBends]

classic song, nothing beats the 60s man. it will never be that great anymore

[raflell]

does anybody knows why did peter left the group?

He was a great bass player

[Lamvesp]

I think it was a lot to do with Ray and Dave punching each others lights out at every opportuniy,,,it must wear you down after a while.

[starsinmybeard]

Pete Quaife supposedly expressed that the songs weren't challenging enough for him to perform as a musician....I guess he was bored with the later sixties material(I'm sure he was tired of being in the middle of Dave and Ray as well)

[bolivianex]

And sweet Helena just sings.....

Beautiful....

[krazyKats]

Does anyone know if Johnny Thunders(the Guitarist for The New York Dolls) took his name from this??

[marioandres]

hell yea!

[postpunkraven]

I think so. I´ve heard or read or seen it somewhere. You can bet (but not too much)

[THEKINKS08]

no,he changed the name from ganzale to thunders after reading a comic book with the same name- but maybe this song was the inspiration for the title of that book...

[allivegp]

Johnny thunder lives on water, feeds on lightning.Johnny thunder dont need no one, dont want money.

And all the people of the town

They cant get through to johnny, they will never, ever break him down.

Johnny thunder speaks for no one, goes on fighting.

And sweet helena in bed[? ] prays for johnny.

Ba ba-ba ba ba-ba ba,

Ba ba-ba ba ba-ba ba,

Thunder and lightning.

But sweet helena just says, God bless johnny.

[allivegp]

I just love those ba ba ba bas

[allivegp]

Although they sound like many drunk people singing together.