The Kinks were an English rock group, formed in the mid-1960s by Ray Davies and his brother Dave Davies. They first gained prominence in 1964 with their hit single "You Really Got Me" and continued to record and perform for over thirty years. The band's name came from their "kinky" dress sense of leather capes and boots worn on stage. The group's original lineup consisted of lead singer/guitarist Ray Davies, lead guitarist Dave Davies, drummer Mick Avory and bassist Peter Quaife. In the United States, they are included in the Big Four of the British Invasion bands along with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Who.

While they were never as commercially successful as their mid-1960's peers, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, or The Who, the band is frequently cited as one of the most important and influential acts of the 1960s. Their early hard-driving singles set a standard in the mid-1960s for rock and roll that reverberated for decades. Albums such as Face to Face, Something Else, Arthur, Village Green and Muswell Hillbillies are highly regarded, by fans and peers alike, and are considered amongst the most influential recordings of that era. Since then the band has experienced popular fan revivals in the late 70s and early 80s followed by a painful commercial collapse in the late eighties continuing until their disbandment in the early 90s.