The Kinks are finally getting their due, at least outside music circles. The once underrated, now-cult favorite U.K. Invasion pop rockers will immortalized in film via an upcoming documentary by legendary music doc helmer, Julien Temple.
Temple, the estimable British music scenester/documentor, is known for all kinds of work including the demented alien ’80s comedy, “Earth Girls Are Easy,” tons of iconic ’80s music videos (Dexys Midnight Runners, Culture Club, Neil Young, The Beat; plus the amazing short film/extended music video “Jazzin’ for Blue Jean” featuring David Bowie) and more music related projects like, The Sex Pistols films, “The Great Rock And Roll Swindle,” their 2000 documentary, “The Filth and the Fury,” and the Clash-related doc, “Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten.” He’s also responsible for music-movie touchstones like, “The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball” and the David Bowie, Patsy Kensit-starring rock musical, “Absolute Beginners.”
Though Temple is closer known for his affiliations to punk and the eighties, it’s no surprise that he’s agreed to document the Kinks, having directed many of their ’80s videos like “Come Dancing,” “Don’t Forget To Dance,” and “State of Confusion.” We might not want to hold our collective breaths though, apparently the doc has been in the works since at least 2007 with a tentative working title of “Kinkdom Come.”
The Kinks story should be a good one, as the two key brothers in the band Ray and Dave Davies had an extremely fractious relationship which included punchouts on stage and of course, the band was mostly overlooked during the The Beatles, Who, Stones, heyday, but their music has proven to be of equal value and in some cases, of a much more lasting and musical caliber.[Independent UK/Spinner]
The Kinks – “The Village Green Preservation Society”
