Rocking Out and Having Fun
I cannot imagine a more optimistic tune. No matter how hard eighties rock and roll production tried, it couldn’t kill “Better Things” - taken from The Kinks brilliant eighties entry Give The People What They Want. The superficial sheen and sickly sick drum sound aided by its evil Michelob beer chorused guitar tone don’t stand a chance against Ray Davies brilliant songwriting evidenced by decades of classic song after classic song. I take Davies in a heatbeat against Lennon/McCartney, and Jagger/Richards. Ray Davies always had a way with a simple narrative that could twist and burrow inside the undiscovered recesses of any listener’s heart.
“Better Things” was almost corny to me upon first listen: “It’s good to see you rocking out and having fun!” but something stuck . . . Perhaps it was in high school when a friend played this number for me as salve for my broken heart. I can’t remember what was hurting me . . . but I do remember this song. I also remember how fantastic Give the People What They Want was in its entirety. “Left of the Dial” raged, “Give the People What They Want” roared - and of course you had “Destroyer” which worked like an eighties paranoid response to the band’s sixties hit “You Really Got Me.”
No matter the place, no matter the time, no matter the circumstance - The Kinks’ “Better Things” is powerful medicine for whatever may be troubling one’s mind . . . catharsis, perfection - The Kinks.
