0:00:02 > 0:00:08This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14As a small boy I was always intrigued with the moors
0:00:14 > 0:00:19and I came across a magazine that had pictures of the moor.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22I was always fascinated,
0:00:22 > 0:00:27because it looked like another planet or the moon.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46This is the valley of the rocks.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50It's quite a mystical place.
0:00:53 > 0:01:01I first came to Exmoor when I had a camper van, ages ago.
0:01:01 > 0:01:07I made a platform on the roof so I could put a telescope up there
0:01:07 > 0:01:10and I used to go UFO spotting.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13In November the skies are extraordinary.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17The night skies, they're so rich with stars and heavens.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30The reason I moved here in the first place is because it is so desolate.
0:01:30 > 0:01:40Oh, it's invigorating, so quiet, a wonderful place to contemplate and meditate.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46# I don't want to ball about like everybody else
0:01:46 > 0:01:51# I don't want to live my life like everybody else
0:01:51 > 0:01:55# And I will say that I feel fine like everybody else
0:01:55 > 0:01:58# Cos I'm not like everybody else. #
0:02:23 > 0:02:26# Mum would shout and scream when Dad would come home drunk
0:02:26 > 0:02:29# When she asked him where he'd been
0:02:29 > 0:02:32# He said up The Clissold Arms
0:02:32 > 0:02:37# Chatting up some hussy But he didn't mean no harm
0:02:37 > 0:02:41# Oh, Fortis Green
0:02:41 > 0:02:46# Memories Of days when I was young
0:02:46 > 0:02:50# It can only be a memory
0:02:50 > 0:02:54# A time that now has gone. #
0:02:59 > 0:03:06Our family was really a matriarchal system, family.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08because my mum was the boss.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11I had loads of aunties, my big gran,
0:03:11 > 0:03:16as we used to call her - my mum's mum - had 21 kids.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21She actually they looked a bit like Queen Victoria.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24She would have come from that period.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26There was eight of us. I was the youngest.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30There were six sisters, my mum would spend all day delegating,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34"You do that, that's your job, you do this."
0:03:34 > 0:03:41My dad was like the hunter, if you like, going out to provide for his family.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44We weren't very well off financially,
0:03:44 > 0:03:46but I think that helped us.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49It helped me gravitate towards things that were more important,
0:03:49 > 0:03:53like family and the support that you get from family.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59As a kid, I was always seeking for fun.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06I used to get bored if people would get serious.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14I was quite a wild kid.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19My mum was constantly chasing me with a broomstick.
0:04:19 > 0:04:25I was a mischievous kid, but it was seeking, I was looking for things.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37I absolutely love it up here on the moor.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40Early in the morning, about this time,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43when you walk across the moor on your own,
0:04:43 > 0:04:50and find a place that feels right, I sit and just reflect on things.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55I love those old Sherlock Holmes films,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59especially The Hounds Of The Baskervilles.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05There is actually a legend about the Exmoor beast,
0:05:05 > 0:05:10which supposedly roamed this whole terrain
0:05:10 > 0:05:14out into the inner part of Exmoor.
0:05:14 > 0:05:21It was cited as a black panther. They never really found evidence.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25I like to think that it still roams the hills.
0:05:26 > 0:05:33I was the sort of kid that was fascinated by things that were unusual.
0:05:33 > 0:05:38There was a TV show on when we were kids, the first of the Quatermass.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45You watched it behind a pillow, or behind the settee you know?
0:05:45 > 0:05:49Trying to not see it, but you had to watch it.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56There was this thing on the wireless called Journey Into Space.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04# ..Hancock's Half Hour Luxembourg
0:06:04 > 0:06:10# We'd sit for hours... #
0:06:10 > 0:06:15My mum often used to finish a cup of tea
0:06:15 > 0:06:19and turn the teacup back and there would be all the tea leaves.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23She'd sit there and read, "Oh, there's a man in a black cape."
0:06:25 > 0:06:31This was quite a normal thing to see my mum and sister sitting round a Ouija board
0:06:31 > 0:06:33and put things on the glass.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38Then us kids would be hiding behind the door somewhere,
0:06:38 > 0:06:41thinking, "What the hell are they doing?"
0:06:43 > 0:06:47I can remember the first day I went to school, when I was five.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50My mum dragged me screaming up the road,
0:06:50 > 0:06:54stuck me in this room with these other poor kids.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57The teacher made me stack up these bricks.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59After about half an hour I got so fed up
0:06:59 > 0:07:02I knocked them down and I left school.
0:07:02 > 0:07:07I came home and my mum said "David, what are you doing home?"
0:07:07 > 0:07:12"I've been to school and I don't like it." And I thought that was it.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17And one day, the teacher was blathering on about God and this, that and the other.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20After God had made the trees and the flowers,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24he made animals to go deep down inside the earth, didn't he?
0:07:24 > 0:07:27- Ants, and worms.- Worm and flies.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30I put my hand up and I said,
0:07:30 > 0:07:36"Please, miss, if God made everything, who made God?"
0:07:36 > 0:07:39"Oh, sit down David."
0:07:39 > 0:07:42I was like "Hang on!" It made me feel stupid
0:07:42 > 0:07:45cos I thought I'd said something wrong.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49Afterwards I realised it was quite an important thing to say.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53# Those great
0:07:53 > 0:07:57# So great
0:07:57 > 0:08:05# Young and innocent days. #
0:08:05 > 0:08:10I wasn't content with things as they were,
0:08:10 > 0:08:12I didn't trust teachers
0:08:12 > 0:08:15because I always felt I was being talked down to.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18I didn't like that, because at home,
0:08:18 > 0:08:21everybody seemed like we were all getting on together
0:08:21 > 0:08:27and it all kind of worked in a very natural, organic way.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33The front room at Denmark Terrace was really the party room.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37It had that funny old upright piano.
0:08:38 > 0:08:43Typical Saturday night at the Davies' on Denmark Terrace
0:08:43 > 0:08:46was always lots of music,
0:08:46 > 0:08:51lots of laughter, lots of faces.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55When I think back I always think of the Fellini films,
0:08:55 > 0:09:00leering down at you and these big faces with teeth and great noses.
0:09:00 > 0:09:06Character faces, laughter and loud and singing and drunk.
0:09:06 > 0:09:12It was like, as a little kid, sort of sitting there, soaking it all up.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16# My old man said follow the van
0:09:16 > 0:09:20# And don't dilly-dally on the way
0:09:20 > 0:09:23# Off went the cart with me old... #
0:09:23 > 0:09:26Me mum would have a few drinks.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31and she'd start singing the songs that affected her.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36Whenever my mum sang, I always used to go quiet because
0:09:36 > 0:09:41I could sense a lot of her inner pain.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45People from that generation that went through two wars,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48you didn't even say, "I love you."
0:09:48 > 0:09:51like today everybody is kissy kissy.
0:09:51 > 0:09:56In those days, they kept all their feelings to themselves.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00And like the party was a way of letting it go. "Sod it!"
0:10:00 > 0:10:05# St Theresa of the roses... #
0:10:05 > 0:10:08When my mum used to sing,
0:10:08 > 0:10:13I used to really listen, so much pain in there.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17Like, she was someone totally different,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20her persona was totally different
0:10:20 > 0:10:24from every day when, "Come on, David, it's time for school."
0:10:24 > 0:10:28Totally different person so that intrigued me.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34I learnt about love and affection from my sisters.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39I think that was important to my growth and to Ray's I think.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44That helped nurture the creative stuff going on inside us.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47Guys get together going up the pub.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51You didn't talk about things like love and beauty,
0:10:51 > 0:10:55not in those sort of fairly harsh working class families.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59We obviously saw a lot growing up,
0:10:59 > 0:11:01you know, what women are like when they got...
0:11:01 > 0:11:04I shouldn't say that. Cut!
0:11:05 > 0:11:10Like female competition for guys and you know,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14trying to make themselves look nicer than the other one.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20# Sister's in the doorway
0:11:20 > 0:11:22# Snogging with her bloke
0:11:22 > 0:11:24# Scared to put the cat out
0:11:24 > 0:11:27# In case I put him off his stroke
0:11:27 > 0:11:28# But she wouldn't be denied
0:11:28 > 0:11:32# I got a shilling as a bribe. #
0:11:37 > 0:11:43I was 11 when my sister Rene died and it was like a trigger.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47It really upset me profoundly.
0:11:47 > 0:11:52They just had a body and they put it in a box and I saw it in the ground.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57I thought, "That can't be... There must be more to life
0:11:57 > 0:12:00"than just, ending up in the ground in a box."
0:12:07 > 0:12:11I'm going to walk right across the moor to the sea
0:12:11 > 0:12:16and then I'm going to swim all the way over to Wales.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22# Big sky looked down on all the people looking up at the big sky
0:12:22 > 0:12:24# Everybody's pushing one another around. #
0:12:26 > 0:12:35That lilac and pink, blue and grey sky. Isn't that amazing or what?
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Me and Ray as kids became close with football
0:12:44 > 0:12:47because that was a very intuitive thing.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50It was almost like telepathic thing.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55Like I'd play on the left side of the field. He'd play on the right.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59We kind of knew, you could see the picture of the game where it was going
0:12:59 > 0:13:02and who was going to be where.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05And music, even more so, because
0:13:05 > 0:13:10we kind of both knew what the other was going to do.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15So many times that we'd get together just jamming around.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23In later years, like 13 or 14, I had a friend called George at school,
0:13:23 > 0:13:25who was into guitar playing.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28His dad died, his mum used to have to work,
0:13:28 > 0:13:33so all day long, after nine o'clock, his house was empty.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38I'd get ready for school, with a tie on and everything,
0:13:38 > 0:13:42and we'd pretend to walk to school and just go to George's house.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45We'd sit there all day playing guitar,
0:13:45 > 0:13:49listening to whatever we could get hold of.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52Blues was a really big thing.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56There was something in blues music
0:13:56 > 0:14:00that resonated with us as working class kids.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04It had an oppression in the music that was screaming to get out.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08# Hah! Take this hammer
0:14:08 > 0:14:13# Hah! And carry to the captain... #
0:14:13 > 0:14:18Leadbelly was singing about how he couldn't get a job and you had to be
0:14:18 > 0:14:21of a certain colour and a certain type of person
0:14:21 > 0:14:26to get a job at some railway or on the buses or whatever.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33Then we could see that happening with people...
0:14:33 > 0:14:36uncles, people in our own family.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43When Ray and I were learning guitar,
0:14:43 > 0:14:49our styles developed differently, because Ray had few guitar lessons.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52I never had guitar lessons.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55Ray's first guitar was a Spanish guitar.
0:14:55 > 0:15:00You have a rather common habit of leaning too much to the left.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02He learned how to finger pick properly.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09It was far too fussy for my taste.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16I was very into like the rock and blues stuff,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20like Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Bert Weeden.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26I was never that good at copying.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28If I was trying to play Walk Don't Run...
0:15:30 > 0:15:34..it would kind of sound like it, but a few notes...
0:15:34 > 0:15:38But I thought, "Oh, just do what I want" instead.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40I learned five chords.
0:15:40 > 0:15:45So I said, "Right, mastered that."
0:15:49 > 0:15:53Ray and I's first public gig was in the pub.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56It was opposite our house The Clissold Arms.
0:15:56 > 0:16:01We got up and played Walk Don't Run, Apache.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04That vibe you get with an audience,
0:16:04 > 0:16:09I think that's when you realise there's something going on here.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14Well, the Kinks really started from school,
0:16:14 > 0:16:19when we first got together with Pete Quaife.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21# Too much monkey business
0:16:21 > 0:16:23# Too much monkey business
0:16:23 > 0:16:27# Too much monkey business for me to be involved with you... #
0:16:27 > 0:16:32Pete was really important to our musical growth.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37Because he was kind of like in the middle of me and Ray all the time.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42You could feel that there was a little bit of animosity going on.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44Ray going, "I'm going to be better than you,"
0:16:44 > 0:16:47and Dave going "I'm going to be better than you.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53Pete was a great eccentric.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58Everything was larger than life. Everything was over the top.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04He spent half his life lying.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06It was like exaggeration.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09If it's not interesting enough make it up, sort of guy.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11I loved it.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14I didn't realise until like Pete died
0:17:14 > 0:17:17what an incredible bond the three of us had,
0:17:17 > 0:17:19me, Ray and Pete, before we were even the Kinks.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28I didn't know Ray that well in a way because he had a lot of...
0:17:28 > 0:17:30problems
0:17:30 > 0:17:32and he was quiet and withdrawn.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36I just thought that's the way he is and that's all right.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39When you're brought up in a big family,
0:17:39 > 0:17:41everybody's different anyway.
0:17:41 > 0:17:43And he went to art school.
0:17:43 > 0:17:48I was more into the jazz clubs and the clubs
0:17:48 > 0:17:53and the social scene rather than into art.
0:17:53 > 0:17:59What put me off art at school is I had this horrible art teacher.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03I was just, you know, as you do, just messing around,
0:18:03 > 0:18:08and she laughed at my painting.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10I thought, "Fuck it, I ain't going to do it."
0:18:10 > 0:18:13I refused to do art then.
0:18:17 > 0:18:24The big thing for us was the El Toro coffee bar in Muswell Hill Broadway,
0:18:24 > 0:18:26where all the kids used to hang out.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28# Come on, pretty baby Let's move it and a groove it... #
0:18:28 > 0:18:30My first purple hearts came here.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37I got expelled from school when I was just 15, I think.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Cos I was caught in the woods with my girlfriend
0:18:40 > 0:18:43with my trousers down.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47# Let me tell you baby It's called rock and roll... #
0:18:47 > 0:18:52I'm lying in bed for three weeks, thinking, "This is great."
0:18:52 > 0:18:58And then my mum says, "Come on, you've got to look for a job."
0:18:58 > 0:19:01I eventually got a job in a music shop
0:19:01 > 0:19:06in Leicester Square, where they fixed woodwind and saxophones.
0:19:06 > 0:19:12I learnt a lot about how little musicians take care of their instruments.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16We had a clarinet in one day and it was filthy.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18It stunk.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20All the pads were rotten.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24"Oh, it's Acker Bilk's clarinet!"
0:19:31 > 0:19:37Pete Quaife was working at a place called The Outfitter in Charing Cross.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40The Outfitter was a fashion mag
0:19:40 > 0:19:43and Pete was really into graphic art.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46He was a really good artist, cartoonist.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50As well as a great musician.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57# Have I the right to hold you?
0:19:57 > 0:20:00# You know I always told you... #
0:20:00 > 0:20:02Me and Pete became really close,
0:20:02 > 0:20:07we would meet at lunchtime or after work and go and seek out
0:20:07 > 0:20:12all the clothes shops in Kingley Street and Carnaby Street,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16way before it became Carnaby Street!
0:20:17 > 0:20:19# Come right back
0:20:19 > 0:20:21# I just can't bear it
0:20:21 > 0:20:25# I've got some love and I long to share it
0:20:25 > 0:20:28# Come right back I'll show my love is strong
0:20:28 > 0:20:30# Oh Oh yeah... #
0:20:30 > 0:20:34The fashion thing for me was very much like,
0:20:34 > 0:20:39if older people didn't approve, we must be doing something right.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42She looks familiar, doesn't she?
0:20:42 > 0:20:47To walk down that road with slightly long hair was frowned upon.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50I would go to a clothes shop and just get the silliest hat
0:20:50 > 0:20:54I could find and just stick it on my head.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57And just... You know.
0:20:59 > 0:21:05'No, that's not the hat, that's a device for measuring the exact confirmation of the head.'
0:21:09 > 0:21:13# Everybody's going for those kinky boots
0:21:13 > 0:21:15# Kinky boots
0:21:15 > 0:21:16# Kinky boots. #
0:21:16 > 0:21:21Women's fashions were a lot more interesting than men's.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23'Undercarriage up.'
0:21:27 > 0:21:30'Beverly, meanwhile, is in landing strip.'
0:21:30 > 0:21:32I really liked the clothes that my girlfriends wore
0:21:32 > 0:21:34and I used to try them on.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38PVC I thought was really interesting and leather.
0:21:38 > 0:21:44Mannello and Davey made me a pair of thigh-length boots.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46# Leather is so kinky
0:21:46 > 0:21:48# Come and get those kinky boots
0:21:48 > 0:21:51# Boots, kinky boots! #
0:21:51 > 0:21:54The way I was, the music and the girls
0:21:54 > 0:22:00and the self-expression and the clothes was all kind of interwoven,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03all a part of the same adventure.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07Because I was young, I couldn't get into the clubs,
0:22:07 > 0:22:09they used to always let me in the back door.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12The Piccadilly Club and Studio 51.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17I went there one night and The Stones were playing.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19# I'm going to love you night and day
0:22:19 > 0:22:22# Well, you know my love will not fade away... #
0:22:24 > 0:22:28Amazing. That was one of those moments.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31Those "Uh" moments.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36Me and Pete carried on playing together
0:22:36 > 0:22:38while Ray was away at art school.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41But, of course, we had a problem when Ray came back
0:22:41 > 0:22:43into the fold, as it were.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46We realised that if we were going to make a band,
0:22:46 > 0:22:48we needed a singer.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54None of us really knew that much about singing.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57I always thought Ray should sing
0:22:57 > 0:23:01because he could kind of mimic Buddy Holly quite good.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03And we all liked Buddy.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09As fate had it, we met two upper-class guys.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12One was a stockbroker, Granville,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15and the other one, Robert Wace.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18I don't know if he came from an aristocratic family
0:23:18 > 0:23:21or whether he faked it.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26They were about 7'2" and still are.
0:23:26 > 0:23:32They were rather sort of debonair and upper-class.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36I remember Robert going to a restaurant
0:23:36 > 0:23:43and ordering food and deliberately leaving half the food.
0:23:43 > 0:23:44Cos that's what you did.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47You didn't eat all your food. Whereas...
0:23:47 > 0:23:51Whereas we'd go and eat and eat everything on the plate.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54That was the way things were in our house.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59If we didn't eat the food quick, someone else would have it.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03Granville was looking for a band that could back up Robert
0:24:03 > 0:24:06cos Robert fancied himself as a...
0:24:06 > 0:24:13high-falutin' singer to impress all the debutants and his posh party friends.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15# The changing of the guard
0:24:15 > 0:24:18# We made our sacrifices
0:24:18 > 0:24:20# We haven't got a butler or a maid... #
0:24:20 > 0:24:24So we did a gig at the Grocer's Hall. Robert singing.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Us lot, The Ravens, playing.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34We were doing a song called Rave On.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36Robert was going,
0:24:36 > 0:24:38POSH VOICE: # Rave on
0:24:38 > 0:24:41# Rave on and tell me Tell me.. #
0:24:41 > 0:24:45You know? In a really immaculate Saville Row suit.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47And halfway through the song,
0:24:47 > 0:24:50he hit the mic with his two front teeth
0:24:50 > 0:24:53and he broke one of his teeth.
0:24:53 > 0:24:58He runs off stage and we were still jamming away.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00We thought someone's got to sing
0:25:00 > 0:25:02and I'm sort of going like this to Ray.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05So, Ray goes up to the mic and starts singing Rave On.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09And it seemed so natural.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12The band was born out of that funny gig.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18And Robert and Granville decided to be our managers.
0:25:18 > 0:25:19We thought, this is great.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22Maybe we're going to hit the big-time.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28So you've got a bunch of kids playing instruments,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31wanting to conquer the world.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33We didn't know what we were doing.
0:25:33 > 0:25:38We took on two managers who didn't know what they were doing either,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41so it's a recipe for either greatness or disaster.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45# Gonna tell Aunt Mary about Uncle John
0:25:45 > 0:25:49# He said he got the blues but he had a lot of fun
0:25:49 > 0:25:50# Oh, baby
0:25:50 > 0:25:53# Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh baby
0:25:53 > 0:25:56# Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh baby
0:25:57 > 0:25:59# We're having some fun tonight... #
0:26:03 > 0:26:05We were just kids struggling.
0:26:05 > 0:26:10Struggling for identity, trying to do something that we wanted to do
0:26:10 > 0:26:12but didn't quite know what it was.
0:26:16 > 0:26:21I found the Kinks by accident. I was going to a Chinese restaurant on New Year's Eve
0:26:21 > 0:26:25and I saw all sorts of people coming in.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27Long-haired boys...
0:26:27 > 0:26:30amplifiers moving in.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33And, all of a sudden, out came the music.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36It was a group known as The Ravens,
0:26:36 > 0:26:39a little while later known as the Kinks.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43And from then on, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the Kinks.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48We got a deal with Pye Records.
0:26:48 > 0:26:55Ray and I were so excited because we were going to be on the same label as The Searchers.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59# Sweets for my sweet Sugar for my honey... #
0:26:59 > 0:27:02# Your first sweet kiss thrills me so... #
0:27:02 > 0:27:08We were recording in the same studio so we thought, maybe we should do a couple of tunes like The Searchers.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14One of our early singles before You Really Got Me was called You Still Want Me.
0:27:14 > 0:27:20If you play it, you can imagine The Searchers in there somewhere.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23# And you still want me
0:27:23 > 0:27:25# And you still want me... #
0:27:25 > 0:27:28But it flopped.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30We had a couple of records and they flopped.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32And...
0:27:32 > 0:27:34BIRD SQUAWKS
0:27:34 > 0:27:36HE LAUGHS
0:27:36 > 0:27:41# ..And the wind is blowing cold across the moors... #
0:27:41 > 0:27:45At that time, like '63, all the amps
0:27:45 > 0:27:50had more of a clean tune, almost, to them.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53The Adventures and The Shadows, they were good,
0:27:53 > 0:27:59but I was looking for something that had a bit more balls and bite to it.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01And a more expressive, aggressive sound.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04I was always messing around with stuff.
0:28:04 > 0:28:09I found this amp in a store up the road from where we lived.
0:28:09 > 0:28:10It was about that big.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12About that big.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16A little green called Elpico.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18I plugged it in and messed around with it.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25It was too weedy. It was the same old, same old. Ching, ching, ching.
0:28:25 > 0:28:30I got so fed up with it I got a razor blade, a single-sided Gillette,
0:28:30 > 0:28:36got hold of the back of the amp and I sliced the comb all way round,
0:28:36 > 0:28:39so the combs remained intact.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42SCRATCHING
0:28:42 > 0:28:45I didn't think for a minute it was going to work
0:28:45 > 0:28:46but I plugged it in...
0:28:46 > 0:28:48DISCORDANT GUITAR CHORDS
0:28:48 > 0:28:51DOGS BARK
0:28:51 > 0:28:54I didn't know anything about electricity.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57I did get a terrible shock.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59It did throw me across the room.
0:28:59 > 0:29:05My mum came up the kitchen - "What you doing?"
0:29:07 > 0:29:12So this sound I developed was like an emotional platform for me.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14It felt like me.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20It was like an extension of my own inner rage.
0:29:22 > 0:29:28You Really Got Me was really born in the front room in Denmark Terrace.
0:29:28 > 0:29:33Ray, one day, he came in and started playing on the piano.
0:29:34 > 0:29:41That lovely old upright piano we had, which had all the beer over it from all parties
0:29:41 > 0:29:46and all the piss-ups. It was always just perfectly out of tune.
0:29:48 > 0:29:53That was another key moment, I think, when I played it on my guitar.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57MUSIC: Opening Chords to "You Really Got Me"
0:29:57 > 0:30:00And that was it. It was like climbing Everest.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04The moment of clarity.
0:30:04 > 0:30:09Before, you felt insecure, and then the event happens and you feel whole again.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15I've been looking for that wholeness all my life,
0:30:15 > 0:30:20whether it was in music or in relationships
0:30:22 > 0:30:24or in the universe
0:30:24 > 0:30:26or inside or...
0:30:26 > 0:30:28Where is it?
0:30:29 > 0:30:35These cliffs are about 1,100 ft, the highest cliffs in Britain.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41In Victorian times, if you wanted to get rid of your missus,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44you could bring her here or on holiday and push them of the cliff!
0:30:44 > 0:30:46WOMAN SCREAMS
0:30:46 > 0:30:50"OK, darling. Want to come for a little walk along the coast path(?)"
0:30:50 > 0:30:52LOUD SPLASH
0:30:52 > 0:30:57Throughout the Kinks' career, I don't think people knew what to do with the Kinks.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59'One lump or two?'
0:30:59 > 0:31:04We went into record You Really Got Me, and it sounded horrendous.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08I think Ray was furious. We were all furious,
0:31:08 > 0:31:13the fact that it was sounding so...horrible.
0:31:13 > 0:31:19# Girl, you really got me going
0:31:22 > 0:31:30# You got me so-o-o- I don't know what I'm doing... #
0:31:31 > 0:31:37We wanted to re-record it, three amps, three guitars,
0:31:37 > 0:31:40a drum kit, set up in a room.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45That's what we wanted it to sound like.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49So Robert paid 200 quid for a session.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54They allocated two hours in the studio, that was it - "Forget it, next."
0:31:54 > 0:31:57WALTZ MUSIC PLAYS
0:32:00 > 0:32:04Next. The problems I had trying to record my guitar sound.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10People would say, "You can't record that...noise."
0:32:12 > 0:32:18If it hadn't been for Robert and Ray being pissed off, it might not have got made.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22# Girl, you really got me going
0:32:22 > 0:32:26# You got me so I don't know what I'm doing
0:32:26 > 0:32:29# Yeah, you really got me now
0:32:29 > 0:32:31# You got me so I can't sleep at night
0:32:33 > 0:32:36# Yeah, you really got me now
0:32:36 > 0:32:39# You got me so I don't know what I'm doing
0:32:39 > 0:32:41# Oh, yeah
0:32:41 > 0:32:43# You really got me now
0:32:43 > 0:32:45# You got me so I can't sleep at night
0:32:45 > 0:32:48# You really got me You really got me
0:32:48 > 0:32:50# You really got me. #
0:32:54 > 0:32:58The first time that I heard it on Radio, I was in Greek Street
0:32:58 > 0:33:02and I suddenly realised, this is something really special.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05I think we lucked out of it, timing-wise.
0:33:05 > 0:33:11It was just perfect timing for music to turn a different corner.
0:33:11 > 0:33:12# ..You got me so I can't sleep at night
0:33:12 > 0:33:14# You really got me. #
0:33:14 > 0:33:18You Really Got Me was a very sexual sound.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23# ..Ohhh... #
0:33:41 > 0:33:45My first girlfriend was really jealous of my guitar,
0:33:45 > 0:33:47because I used to take it to bed with me.
0:33:50 > 0:33:52Just wanted to make sure it was OK.
0:33:52 > 0:33:59A lot of young guitarists ask me questions about technique,
0:33:59 > 0:34:02which I know virtually nothing about.
0:34:02 > 0:34:07At that age, 15, 16, it would have been just pure rage,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11or anger or, "What the hell?!" or panic, or all those things.
0:34:11 > 0:34:12Aghhh!
0:34:12 > 0:34:16You know? And it's all over with, it's only eight bars.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18So, whew...
0:34:18 > 0:34:22Only a crazy kid would play solo like that,
0:34:22 > 0:34:26not a well-honed session man.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28I mean, it's just pure.
0:34:28 > 0:34:34I think the big thing about the Kinks is that we thought we were playing R'n'B,
0:34:34 > 0:34:37but we were playing something nobody heard of before!
0:34:37 > 0:34:40It was all so energy driven.
0:34:40 > 0:34:42He doesn't sit back and think about anything.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46It's just like, "Argh!" He just goes into it.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48And that's the way he played guitar.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51AUDIENCE SCREAMS
0:34:53 > 0:34:55# I need you
0:34:55 > 0:34:57# I need you more than birds need the sky
0:35:00 > 0:35:02# I need you
0:35:02 > 0:35:03# It's true, my little girl
0:35:03 > 0:35:06# That you can lift the tears from my eyes
0:35:10 > 0:35:12# But if you ever tell me goodbye
0:35:12 > 0:35:15# I'll break down and you'll hear me cry
0:35:15 > 0:35:17# I need you... #
0:35:17 > 0:35:22It's wonderful to get that sort of acclaim and attention,
0:35:22 > 0:35:27but there was an awful lot of jealousy towards the Kinks, or towards me and Ray.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31Two scruffy kids - how dare they write music?
0:35:31 > 0:35:34How dare they have success?
0:35:34 > 0:35:37Ladies and gentlemen, at this point in the programme
0:35:37 > 0:35:42it is my pleasure to present the awards to the Kinks
0:35:42 > 0:35:46for the runner-up position in the Best New Group section.
0:35:46 > 0:35:53Funnily enough, the Rolling Stones won the Best Newcomer award two years running.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56For some reason, they just did not want to give it to the Kinks.
0:35:56 > 0:36:03There was always a thing in the background - the Kinks didn't deserve it.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06The guitarist can't string five chords together.
0:36:06 > 0:36:12We were never in the club, we were outsiders because of a lot of things.
0:36:12 > 0:36:18We didn't want to play the game. "You can join this club but there's rules." We never did that.
0:36:18 > 0:36:26I thought that red hunting jackets were a bit of a silly idea at first until I put one on.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32I thought "Hey! Cool."
0:36:32 > 0:36:36It didn't feel like a uniform, it felt like a statement.
0:36:36 > 0:36:41"Wow, makes me feel good. Maybe this ain't such a bad idea."
0:36:41 > 0:36:45Robert was wonderful with that, really.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47And Granville.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51Because they came from that sort of background where you would go riding in Hyde Park.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54It was quite common, it's what you do.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56# I am a dull and simple lad
0:36:56 > 0:36:59# Cannot tell water from champagne
0:36:59 > 0:37:03# And I have never met the Queen
0:37:03 > 0:37:06# And I wish I could have all that he has got... #
0:37:06 > 0:37:12'60s girls often had long hair with a parting in the middle, like that.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14I used to copy my girlfriends.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22# Standing, standing
0:37:22 > 0:37:24# We're gonna go now
0:37:24 > 0:37:26# Who you gonna run to? #
0:37:26 > 0:37:29I thought it was much more elegant to part the hair in the middle.
0:37:29 > 0:37:34# ..You're chasing all the girls They can't resist your smile... #
0:37:34 > 0:37:39One particular girlfriend I had had very long hair. She used to back-comb it
0:37:39 > 0:37:43so it'd sort of come up like a little dome.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45And I kind of did my hair like that.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48# ..Pouring out your charm... #
0:37:48 > 0:37:50I never really took it all that seriously
0:37:50 > 0:37:57because I wanted to explore and express myself and have a good time.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00There was, like, a little clique of these guys.
0:38:00 > 0:38:05There was Brian Jones, Keith Moon, Dave Davies.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08Watch out when this lot get together.
0:38:08 > 0:38:10I mean, it was really...
0:38:10 > 0:38:11Wow, very wild.
0:38:11 > 0:38:13If they thought of anything, they'd do it.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16They wouldn't consider any kind of consequences at all,
0:38:16 > 0:38:19so it would be quite wild, quite wild.
0:38:20 > 0:38:25You have to remember, there were an awful lot of chicks to fuck at times.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28I'm sorry. Hang on, I'll do it again.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32I was 15. We had, all of a sudden, limelight and TV
0:38:32 > 0:38:38and earning money and excitement. I just went with it.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40I was well up for it.
0:38:40 > 0:38:45The girls all over the place. I could do what I liked.
0:38:45 > 0:38:51I was a young man who was very virile and I liked sex.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53GUNSHOT
0:38:53 > 0:38:55I had the world at my feet.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58The world at my dick.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07I had a close relationship with a guy called Michael Aldred.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11He was one of the comperes on Ready Steady Go!
0:39:11 > 0:39:14Me and Michael had a really great time,
0:39:14 > 0:39:21because he had a wonderful sense of humour and he looked a bit like a young Dirk Bogarde.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24So I thought he looked really cool,
0:39:24 > 0:39:29and he thought I looked ready cool, so we became close friends.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32But I found, after a while,
0:39:32 > 0:39:38Michael was taking our relationship...quite seriously
0:39:38 > 0:39:42and that's when I saw the other side of it and I thought,
0:39:42 > 0:39:48"Shit, I can't take advantage of his feelings like this.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52"I can't tell him I'm just exploring and having a bit of fun."
0:39:52 > 0:39:55It was like a soap opera drama, or something.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58I'd come home, I'd be out all day shopping,
0:39:58 > 0:40:01I'd be in about ten pubs and come home at midnight,
0:40:01 > 0:40:07out my brains drunk, and Michael Aldred was there, with his apron on,
0:40:07 > 0:40:12like he was being housekeeper, housewife.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16And the guy, you know, loved me.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19He said..."David..."
0:40:19 > 0:40:22I can't say it without laughing!
0:40:24 > 0:40:29"David, your beans on toast are in the oven, and they're burned.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32"And that's it!"
0:40:32 > 0:40:35And I had to console him in the garden for, like, an hour.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39I thought, "What the hell am I getting into?
0:40:39 > 0:40:40"I can't...
0:40:40 > 0:40:43"What am I doing?"
0:40:50 > 0:40:51Isn't it amazing here?
0:40:53 > 0:40:58If you look across that landscape there, you could almost be on a different planet.
0:41:03 > 0:41:08What was a really magical thing was me and Ray when we sang together.
0:41:08 > 0:41:13I've got quite a high voice and I used to sing octaves with Ray.
0:41:13 > 0:41:19Despite us being different personalities,
0:41:19 > 0:41:22our different voices complemented each other.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32One of my favourite Kinks songs was See My Friends.
0:41:32 > 0:41:37# See my friends
0:41:37 > 0:41:40# See my friends
0:41:40 > 0:41:43# Playing across the river... #
0:41:43 > 0:41:50The droning sound that we achieved from a really cheap old guitar that was detuned.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54It created this hypnotic drone
0:41:54 > 0:41:59and it sounded very Eastern and sitar-like.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03It can kind of put you into a meditative state.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09# ..She is gone
0:42:09 > 0:42:15# She is gone and now there's no-one there
0:42:16 > 0:42:20# Except my friends
0:42:22 > 0:42:25# Playing across the river
0:42:26 > 0:42:27# She is gone... #
0:42:27 > 0:42:32See My Friends really set a trend towards Indian music.
0:42:32 > 0:42:38A lot of other bands started to buy the actual sitars and tablahs
0:42:38 > 0:42:40and all the real Indian instruments
0:42:40 > 0:42:45to try and duplicate the sound we got on a cheap, detuned guitar.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07Sound and light is all energy,
0:43:07 > 0:43:13and the vibrations just vibrate in different frequencies.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17I've always loved being beside water.
0:43:17 > 0:43:23Running water is very cleansing to your thoughts and your mind.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30# They call me Long Tall Shorty
0:43:30 > 0:43:36# Cos I know what love is all about... #
0:43:36 > 0:43:39Here at the Shindig! are the fantastic Kinks!
0:43:39 > 0:43:43# ..They call me Long Tall Shorty
0:43:44 > 0:43:47# Cos I know what love is all about
0:43:51 > 0:43:55# Well, I can tell you where the lights go
0:43:55 > 0:43:59# Ooh, when they go out... #
0:44:02 > 0:44:06When we first went to America, the audience were saying, "Fabulous,"
0:44:06 > 0:44:10audiences, but there was an older generation of Americans
0:44:10 > 0:44:14that were very loath to get out of the '50s,
0:44:14 > 0:44:17that really thought we were a threat, or something.
0:44:17 > 0:44:24Because our music was a lot more aggressive and, I like to think, more sexual than the Beatles.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28We were kind of a bit scruffy, a little bit wilder.
0:44:28 > 0:44:34I had shoulder-length hair and, especially in Middle America or the South,
0:44:34 > 0:44:39you'd get those slurs from Red Necks.
0:44:39 > 0:44:41"Are you a boy or a girl?"
0:44:43 > 0:44:45I'm both, actually.
0:44:45 > 0:44:51And having a name like the Kinks doesn't really help.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55But I loved it. I thrived on it, really, because I was a cheeky kid.
0:44:55 > 0:44:59It seemed fun that people thought I was pissing them off.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02# I'm a lover not a fighter
0:45:04 > 0:45:06# Well, I'm a lover not a fighter
0:45:07 > 0:45:10# Well, I'm a lover not a fighter
0:45:10 > 0:45:12# And, man, I'm built for speed. #
0:45:13 > 0:45:17On those shows like Shindig!, that we did in the States,
0:45:17 > 0:45:20they were really heady times and it was very exciting.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23I was 15, 16 years old,
0:45:23 > 0:45:26playing in front of all these girls
0:45:26 > 0:45:29and who knows how many millions of people were watching?
0:45:29 > 0:45:35And I kind of just used to explode with excitement when I played my guitar.
0:45:42 > 0:45:47You had Jimi Hendrix at that end, Noel Coward at the other end.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51There was always me in the middle, rocking it back and forwards, you know?
0:45:53 > 0:45:57I just thought it was being exciting and being expressive,
0:45:57 > 0:46:01but I think they thought it was a bit sexual, maybe.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05Like, "Maybe we shouldn't have this..."
0:46:05 > 0:46:08We didn't realise how powerful the unions were.
0:46:08 > 0:46:13Like, if they didn't like you, that was it. "You're out, mate."
0:46:19 > 0:46:22Being banned from America was a big help for us.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26We had to re-address the whole situation.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29This could be a career,
0:46:29 > 0:46:31and I should start learning how to play guitar!
0:46:31 > 0:46:36Learn some scales and stuff, which is a real job.
0:46:36 > 0:46:43There was a big shift in our music, moving away from those aggressive early, riff-driven songs,
0:46:43 > 0:46:49and coming back home to our roots, Max Miller and stuff like that.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52Stuff that our parents listened to.
0:46:52 > 0:46:58# Friday evenings People get together
0:46:58 > 0:47:03# Hiding from the weather
0:47:03 > 0:47:04# Tea
0:47:04 > 0:47:08# And toasted buttered currant buns
0:47:08 > 0:47:12# How to compensate for lack of sun
0:47:12 > 0:47:15# Because the summer's all gone
0:47:15 > 0:47:19# La, la, la, la, la
0:47:19 > 0:47:23# Oh, my poor rheumatic back
0:47:23 > 0:47:28# Yes, yes, yes It's my autumn almanac... #
0:47:28 > 0:47:30My mum and dad used to love to come to our shows.
0:47:30 > 0:47:36We'd come off a big tour and go up the pub with my dad and his mates, play shove ha'penny.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39You know? Darts and a pint.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41# Mr Pleasant
0:47:42 > 0:47:45# How is Mrs Pleasant?
0:47:46 > 0:47:51# I hope the world is treating you right
0:47:51 > 0:47:54# And your head's in the air
0:47:54 > 0:47:56# And you're feeling so proud
0:47:56 > 0:47:59# Because you're such a success
0:47:59 > 0:48:04# And the whole wide world is on your side
0:48:04 > 0:48:05# Hey, hey
0:48:07 > 0:48:11# How are you today?
0:48:12 > 0:48:14How's your father? How's your mother?
0:48:14 > 0:48:16# How's your sister? How's your brother?
0:48:16 > 0:48:22# How's your brand-new limousine? 24-inch TV screen?
0:48:22 > 0:48:27# Is you like prosperity more than you like poverty?
0:48:27 > 0:48:30# Life is easier now... #
0:48:33 > 0:48:38A lot of the material was so heavily drawn from our background as kids.
0:48:38 > 0:48:45A lot of the characters in early Kinks music was based on our own family.
0:48:45 > 0:48:50Sometimes we teased Ray about some of the songs that he wrote.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53It was really written by my family.
0:48:53 > 0:48:59# Well, I said goodbye to Rosie Rooke this morning
0:48:59 > 0:49:05# I'm going to miss her bloodshot, alcoholic eyes... #
0:49:06 > 0:49:11He was writing about what I did a lot of the time, I'm sure of it.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13Like Dandy.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17I did the parting, and Ray wrote about it.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21He was Oscar, and I was Wilde.
0:49:21 > 0:49:26Ray would often pick the phone up and say, "Dave, I've got an idea, da-da-da-da," you know?
0:49:26 > 0:49:31I'd come round and we'd sit round a piano and he'd play me...
0:49:35 > 0:49:37..a core riff.
0:49:37 > 0:49:43You could always tell when something was going to really work.
0:49:43 > 0:49:45It's a collaborative thing.
0:49:45 > 0:49:51We trigger each other. "Yeah, that's really good. Yeah, we should do that."
0:49:51 > 0:49:53It goes backwards and forwards.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56# In the summertime... #
0:49:56 > 0:50:00I wanted to be supportive, helping each other, helping the family out,
0:50:00 > 0:50:05and then Ray would come back a day or two later with the complete thing finished.
0:50:05 > 0:50:12# ..Everybody's looking for the sun
0:50:14 > 0:50:17# People strain their eyes to see
0:50:17 > 0:50:21# But I see you and you see me
0:50:21 > 0:50:24# And ain't that wonder? #
0:50:25 > 0:50:28Ray can write a song about anything,
0:50:28 > 0:50:32where I can't. It's got to be an emotion first.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43# I've been crying all the winter
0:50:46 > 0:50:49# I've been waiting for some good to come my way
0:50:49 > 0:50:55# But I'll wait till the summer comes along
0:50:55 > 0:50:59# Lord, have I done so much wrong?
0:50:59 > 0:51:02When you're sitting down making a song, working on it,
0:51:02 > 0:51:06are you trying to do anything other than enlarge your bank balance?
0:51:06 > 0:51:09Um... Oh, definitely, you know.
0:51:09 > 0:51:14- It's not just strictly a commercial...- Oh, no.- ..venture?
0:51:14 > 0:51:17Actually, if it was, I wouldn't be able to do it.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21- If I thought of it that way I wouldn't be able to do it. - How do you think of it?
0:51:21 > 0:51:26It's funny because, you're not going to believe me, but I don't think of it when I do it.
0:51:26 > 0:51:30You sort of have a few drinks, you sit down, and you think of something
0:51:30 > 0:51:37that somebody's said or a television programme you saw, say, somebody in Vietnam getting shot or something,
0:51:37 > 0:51:42and it, sort of, forms a pattern in your brain. Like a dream.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46Like playing, I suppose you can compare it to dreaming, as well.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49Lots of things compressed
0:51:49 > 0:51:50and it explodes.
0:51:59 > 0:52:01# You don't have to look at me
0:52:01 > 0:52:03# You don't have to smile at me
0:52:03 > 0:52:08# You just got to love me till the sun shines... #
0:52:09 > 0:52:14I started to find, as the years get to about 67, 68,
0:52:14 > 0:52:17I used to go in the studio and my hand ached,
0:52:17 > 0:52:22from just drinking and pill-popping...
0:52:24 > 0:52:28...just burning the candle at both ends.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32One day, you wake up and you think,
0:52:32 > 0:52:34"What's the point?
0:52:34 > 0:52:36"What am I doing?"
0:52:46 > 0:52:54Death Of A Clown, I wrote in that same front room at the house.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57The vibes in that room always felt happy to me.
0:52:57 > 0:53:02My sister's got married and they came to the reception in that room,
0:53:02 > 0:53:04and the family gatherings were happy.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08It was like a focus of energy.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11# My make up is dry
0:53:11 > 0:53:14# And it clags round my chin
0:53:14 > 0:53:20# I'm drowning my sorrows in whisky and gin
0:53:22 > 0:53:27# The lion tamer's whip doesn't crack any more
0:53:27 > 0:53:33# The lions, they won't bite and the tigers won't roar
0:53:35 > 0:53:42# La la-la la la la-la la
0:53:42 > 0:53:48# So let's go and drink to the death of a clown... #
0:53:50 > 0:53:55The Death Of A Clown thing just came out of what I hit on the piano,
0:53:55 > 0:53:59because I was in that mood of not being happy with
0:53:59 > 0:54:04the situation in my life and feeling like it should be something else.
0:54:04 > 0:54:09Those yearning feelings do stimulate you to want to write or play something.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12So, I expressed it in a song.
0:54:14 > 0:54:19# Let's all drink to the death of a clown.... #
0:54:21 > 0:54:23It's about the solution.
0:54:23 > 0:54:27I realised that going out, drink and drugs and girls -
0:54:27 > 0:54:32beautiful girls, as well, I might add - the lifestyle with it
0:54:32 > 0:54:36was just like the analogy within a clown -
0:54:36 > 0:54:39trying to make people laugh and in the end, just crying.
0:54:40 > 0:54:46# So won't someone help me to break up this crown
0:54:46 > 0:54:51Let's all drink to the death of a clown... #
0:54:54 > 0:54:56Everybody wanted me to go solo.
0:54:56 > 0:55:00Robert and Grenville, especially, wanted me to go on tour.
0:55:00 > 0:55:02They would do, with the money and stuff.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05They kept saying I could be a huge success.
0:55:06 > 0:55:08# Oh, Susannah's bedraggled
0:55:08 > 0:55:11# But she still wears the locket round her neck
0:55:15 > 0:55:20# She's got a picture on a table of a man who is young and able
0:55:23 > 0:55:26# Oh, Susannah's gonna cry
0:55:28 > 0:55:31# Oh, Susannah's still alive
0:55:32 > 0:55:36# Whisky or gin, that's all right
0:55:36 > 0:55:40# There's nothing in her bed at night
0:55:40 > 0:55:44# She sleeps with the covers down hoping that somebody gets in
0:55:44 > 0:55:49# It doesn't matter what she does She knows that she can't win
0:55:49 > 0:55:52# Oh, Susannah's gonna cry... #
0:55:55 > 0:56:03I did put two or three solo singles out, without the Kinks, but I thought, "No, we're a family.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06"Let's continue and see where it takes us."
0:56:06 > 0:56:09Let's hear it for Mr Death Of A Clown, Dave Davies.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13APPLAUSE
0:56:13 > 0:56:18Now, this thing about the rivalry between me and Ray,
0:56:18 > 0:56:24I didn't know anything about, until I was about 18, 19, 20 years old.
0:56:24 > 0:56:30Because it never struck me that there was any rivalry or jealousy.
0:56:30 > 0:56:34So it came as a big surprise to me when people started to talk about it.
0:56:34 > 0:56:41There's two mountain goats sparring up there.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49# Sylvilla looked into her mirror
0:56:49 > 0:56:53# Percilla looked into the washing machine
0:56:53 > 0:56:57# And the drudgery of being wed
0:56:57 > 0:57:01# She was so jealous of her sister
0:57:01 > 0:57:05# And her liberty and her smart young friends
0:57:08 > 0:57:11# She was so jealous of her sister... #
0:57:11 > 0:57:18I could say that I was a victim of a very abusive relationship,
0:57:18 > 0:57:22but that's not really what we want to do, is it? No.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26If we make a list of all the bad things that happen to us
0:57:26 > 0:57:31and moan about them, it's really unproductive.
0:57:31 > 0:57:38Even the people we don't like, or at times think we don't like, are there for a reason,
0:57:38 > 0:57:40for our own personal growth.
0:57:40 > 0:57:44The blame thing is unhelpful.
0:57:44 > 0:57:52If there hadn't been bad times, I might not have got interested in spiritual things.
0:57:53 > 0:57:58I'm thankful to have Ray as a brother, even though he's an arsehole,
0:57:58 > 0:58:02because it made me look at life differently.
0:58:02 > 0:58:04I thought, "He's my brother, I love him.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07"He does something to me that I don't like, what do I do?
0:58:07 > 0:58:12"Hit him over the head? Shoot him? What's the point of that?"
0:58:12 > 0:58:14I can't change him.
0:58:20 > 0:58:24# Picture yourself when you're getting old
0:58:27 > 0:58:32# Sat by the fireside, a-pondering on
0:58:36 > 0:58:39# Picture book Pictures of your mama
0:58:39 > 0:58:42# Taken by your papa a long time ago
0:58:42 > 0:58:47# Picture book of people with each other
0:58:47 > 0:58:51# To prove they loved each other a long time ago... #
0:58:56 > 0:59:01After three years, when we could go back to the States again,
0:59:01 > 0:59:04it was a totally, totally different mood.
0:59:04 > 0:59:07It was like starting all over again.
0:59:07 > 0:59:10Instead of all the little teeny girls screaming,
0:59:10 > 0:59:14trying to rip your clothes off, there were all these grey-faced,
0:59:14 > 0:59:18bearded men - not women.
0:59:18 > 0:59:24Really dour, kind of down beaten, lying on the floor,
0:59:24 > 0:59:26"Yeah, sure."
0:59:26 > 0:59:31The bands were heavier and serious and darker.
0:59:31 > 0:59:33It was a very dark period.
0:59:33 > 0:59:37# I am the god of hellfire, and I bring you...
0:59:37 > 0:59:41# Fire! I'll take you to burn... #
0:59:44 > 0:59:48Rock and roll had a looming sort of feeling about it.
0:59:48 > 0:59:49# Burn, burn, burn, burn!
0:59:49 > 0:59:55# Ah ha ha ha ha! Ah ha ha ha ha... #
0:59:57 > 1:00:01America went into that Vietnam zone,
1:00:01 > 1:00:03and the mood and life
1:00:03 > 1:00:07became very, very serious, all of a sudden.
1:00:07 > 1:00:11These young people, instead of them partying and smoking dope,
1:00:11 > 1:00:17wearing flowers in their hair, suddenly realised they were being called up to kill and get killed.
1:00:17 > 1:00:21# Land of hope and Gloria
1:00:21 > 1:00:24# Land of my Victoria
1:00:24 > 1:00:27# Land of hope and Gloria
1:00:27 > 1:00:32# Land of my Victoria... #
1:00:32 > 1:00:37It was hard, because the support structure started to collapse,
1:00:37 > 1:00:40with our management leaving.
1:00:44 > 1:00:46Pip leaving.
1:00:47 > 1:00:51It was kind of like in no-man's land.
1:00:51 > 1:00:56We were so out of fashion, out of touch with what people were going through.
1:00:56 > 1:01:02Fortunately, there was a cult thing about the Kinks and it was weird.
1:01:02 > 1:01:06The Americans seemed to pick up on that, where the English didn't.
1:01:06 > 1:01:10JIMI HENDRIX GUITAR RIFF
1:01:12 > 1:01:14The only time I spoke with Jimi Hendrix was when
1:01:14 > 1:01:20we sat next to each other on a plane going to Sweden, for some TV thing.
1:01:20 > 1:01:24He didn't talk a lot, but he said he thought
1:01:24 > 1:01:30You Really Got Me, the guitar sound was a landmark guitar sound.
1:01:30 > 1:01:34I always thought that, coming from him, that was,
1:01:34 > 1:01:37you know, quite a compliment.
1:01:49 > 1:01:55Mitch Mitchell, Jimi's drummer, lived for a while in my house that I rented in Muswell Hill.
1:01:55 > 1:02:00We went away on tour and he used to keep pigeons
1:02:00 > 1:02:02under the bed.
1:02:03 > 1:02:07Weird. When we got back, threw him out.
1:02:13 > 1:02:16On the back of a so-called flop,
1:02:16 > 1:02:20which I always regard as one of our best albums -
1:02:20 > 1:02:23Arthur - we started to build up again.
1:02:23 > 1:02:28I was thinking, "I don't think it's done yet, because people want this
1:02:28 > 1:02:31"and if people want this, we must be doing something right."
1:02:31 > 1:02:35# Well, sit by the fire in your Shangri-La... #
1:02:37 > 1:02:43And I knew that Ray was going through an immensely creative,
1:02:43 > 1:02:46as well as a destructive, period.
1:02:46 > 1:02:49So I thought, "We've just got to ride it out."
1:02:50 > 1:02:54I had a really, really bad time in 1973.
1:02:54 > 1:03:00It was obviously the drugs and stuff as well, but the sort of lifestyle.
1:03:00 > 1:03:05You think, "What the hell am I doing flying on a plane,
1:03:05 > 1:03:10"across the other side of the world? Horrible and I feel tired.
1:03:13 > 1:03:19"Am I supposed to be a rock star? Is that what I'm supposed to do?"
1:03:19 > 1:03:23We were playing a beer festival.
1:03:23 > 1:03:28It was a beer-sponsored thing in New York.
1:03:28 > 1:03:32I felt I was in a bad way. I could play, I could get by,
1:03:32 > 1:03:38go back to the hotel room and then it started - hearing voices.
1:03:38 > 1:03:41I'm thinking, "This is what mad people do."
1:03:41 > 1:03:48I heard stories about this woman walking down the street talking to imaginary people.
1:03:48 > 1:03:51I'd think, "Hey, fucking, hey."
1:03:54 > 1:03:58I haven't really spoken in depth about it to many people
1:03:58 > 1:04:05because it's being in the land of the insane, it's not a very nice place.
1:04:05 > 1:04:11I was sitting in a hotel room, the whole of the day on Eighth Avenue,
1:04:11 > 1:04:12looking out
1:04:12 > 1:04:16and hearing these voices saying, "Jump out of the window."
1:04:16 > 1:04:20It's like me saying to you, "Julian, come on, jump, jump.
1:04:20 > 1:04:22"Go on, jump."
1:04:22 > 1:04:24And there's nobody there.
1:04:25 > 1:04:28My senses all kind of...
1:04:28 > 1:04:29All over the place.
1:04:29 > 1:04:36I'm trying to function, get up and sleep and trying to get up,
1:04:36 > 1:04:42tune my guitar and I suddenly said, "Please let's get back to England, let's get back home,
1:04:42 > 1:04:45"see what the fuck's going on here."
1:04:45 > 1:04:47And it was awful.
1:04:49 > 1:04:51I called it a psychic death.
1:04:55 > 1:05:00I felt that there must be ways to combat this, and Ray did,
1:05:00 > 1:05:06trapped in his own hell, his own world, and I was trapped in mine.
1:05:06 > 1:05:12We were brothers living only a few miles apart and we couldn't connect in that way.
1:05:12 > 1:05:17I decided the only way that I was going to get out of this hell,
1:05:17 > 1:05:23my own little private hell, was to work on it myself.
1:05:25 > 1:05:31The mind's so easily persuaded in so many different directions.
1:05:33 > 1:05:39Use the imagination to make it work for us, instead of against us.
1:05:39 > 1:05:43It's restructuring your thought process - reprogramming.
1:05:43 > 1:05:49When you feel, "I can't get out of bed, can't get out of bed, I'm too depressed."
1:05:49 > 1:05:54It just drags you down and down and down,
1:05:54 > 1:05:57into an abyss that some people can't get out of.
1:06:06 > 1:06:10And there's the ruins of an old monastery.
1:06:11 > 1:06:16I don't know if I can get up there, but quite an exceptional place.
1:06:24 > 1:06:26I got interested in spiritualism.
1:06:26 > 1:06:31I knew a bit about astrology and a bit about yoga and I thought,
1:06:31 > 1:06:36"I'll get into a regime where I can do my yoga every day and do some meditation."
1:06:36 > 1:06:43The yogis talk about working on the energy of the mind and knock it into shape, for Christ's sake.
1:06:43 > 1:06:46I became more introvert.
1:06:46 > 1:06:49From being, like,
1:06:49 > 1:06:51out there, I was more like this.
1:06:55 > 1:07:00Sensitivity has a price and I think, all that money does,
1:07:00 > 1:07:04it creates a moat around your life.
1:07:07 > 1:07:11You might be sensitive, but you are protected from experience.
1:07:11 > 1:07:14Although we were written off at this point,
1:07:14 > 1:07:19the Kinks did succeed in coming back to conquer America again.
1:07:21 > 1:07:23# And it's back where we started
1:07:23 > 1:07:27- # Here we go round again - Here we go round again
1:07:27 > 1:07:33# Back where you started Do it again, do it again... #
1:07:44 > 1:07:47There's no such thing as failing at anything.
1:07:47 > 1:07:51You don't fail, you have an experience.
1:07:51 > 1:07:54It is a means to progress further.
1:08:01 > 1:08:07I think Kinks' music is music of hope
1:08:07 > 1:08:10and humour and reality.
1:08:15 > 1:08:19People do fuck up, they do mess up, they trip up.
1:08:26 > 1:08:33Martin, my eldest son, and I decided it would be cool
1:08:33 > 1:08:39if we made a film about my mystical journey.
1:08:46 > 1:08:54An introduction to so many aspects of magic, the golden dawn, occultism,
1:08:54 > 1:09:00spiritualism and all the allied areas that you can investigate.
1:09:00 > 1:09:06It has been a main thread throughout my life and career through the Kinks, anyway.
1:09:06 > 1:09:11It isn't like something I just woke up one day and thought, "Oh, that's interesting."
1:09:11 > 1:09:18It's tying to understand mystical elements in our lives that are very real.
1:09:18 > 1:09:24HE SINGS "JERUSALEM": # And did those feet in ancient times
1:09:24 > 1:09:32# Walk upon England's mountain green?.. #
1:09:32 > 1:09:34Sorry!
1:09:34 > 1:09:39It is better for us to control our own minds than
1:09:39 > 1:09:45someone else do it for us, like some organised religion might do.
1:09:45 > 1:09:52The main battle we all have is about inside, with ourselves.
1:09:52 > 1:09:57I think, in the '70s, when I went through that bad time, I think
1:09:57 > 1:10:02when I went within, wondering if I could play any more,
1:10:02 > 1:10:08kind of motivated me to think maybe I could use this energy for some sort of healing.
1:10:09 > 1:10:11When you're playing music,
1:10:11 > 1:10:19on the big stage with thousands and thousands of people, there is a helluva lot of energy flowing around
1:10:19 > 1:10:23that auditorium that most people don't even know about.
1:10:23 > 1:10:25It's what's entertainment is.
1:10:25 > 1:10:33It's about bringing people up and out of their isolation,
1:10:33 > 1:10:35that they can join the party.
1:10:54 > 1:10:58The Aschere Project is something I put together with my son Russell,
1:10:58 > 1:11:02who is a very accomplished musician in his own right.
1:11:02 > 1:11:08He sent me some ideas on MP3s. I went for a drive over Exmoor
1:11:08 > 1:11:13and walked across the sea and I listened to this music and thought,
1:11:13 > 1:11:16"I can see this story emerging."
1:11:18 > 1:11:26# When you sleep I am there with you
1:11:27 > 1:11:34# When you wake, I will protect you
1:11:36 > 1:11:43# When you dream I will show you... #
1:11:44 > 1:11:52It's a love story between a man and a woman that are separated by time and space.
1:11:52 > 1:11:56The night skies in Exmoor, with the stars, inspired the thought
1:11:56 > 1:12:02of separation, the girls, one side of the universe, and the guys, stuck on earth.
1:12:02 > 1:12:06They devise a mystical way to get back together.
1:12:09 > 1:12:15If it gets a bit too way out, it's still just about love and lovers.
1:12:21 > 1:12:27It's also the underlying thread in the album is the love between a father and a son working together.
1:12:27 > 1:12:34When you are actually immersed in a creative thing with your own son,
1:12:34 > 1:12:37it is like joy.
1:12:41 > 1:12:47All these ideas I get, if I can get them from here or here into a bit of
1:12:47 > 1:12:53music and put some words with it, that is me functioning at my best.
1:12:59 > 1:13:05Ray and I have talked about doing new Kinks recordings, but it doesn't feel right to me.
1:13:05 > 1:13:09It's like trying to repaint a Rembrandt or something.
1:13:09 > 1:13:13Those wonderful pieces of music weren't done like that.
1:13:13 > 1:13:18They sort of appeared through Ray's consciousness
1:13:18 > 1:13:23and my energy and the other people around us.
1:13:23 > 1:13:29It's the imperfections that helped develop us as a spiritual being.
1:13:29 > 1:13:32Getting back to that thing I was talking about earlier,
1:13:32 > 1:13:39about finding those moments of clarity or moments of oneness.
1:13:39 > 1:13:41Maybe a second, a split second.
1:13:41 > 1:13:48- # Waterloo sunset's fine - Waterloo sunset's fine... #
1:13:51 > 1:13:53So many times me and Ray have been on stage
1:13:53 > 1:14:00and something will happen and we'll look at each other and we'll know the whole atmosphere has changed.
1:14:00 > 1:14:04In a way, Ray and I were magicians, without realising it,
1:14:04 > 1:14:07purely because of that love bond.
1:14:07 > 1:14:14So, playing something together, it automatically had that love vibration.
1:14:14 > 1:14:19Maybe it is good that you get two people that think totally different.
1:14:19 > 1:14:22Because it is something opposite in front of us,
1:14:22 > 1:14:27it helps us try and figure out how we fit into the whole thing.
1:14:28 > 1:14:32# Waterloo sunset's fine. #
1:14:37 > 1:14:39APPLAUSE
1:14:39 > 1:14:46I once read somewhere that Ray said, if he had to do it all over again, he'd change every single thing.
1:14:46 > 1:14:53That's so amazingly funny or curious because I wouldn't change any of it.
1:15:01 > 1:15:05# Where are you going to? I don't mind
1:15:07 > 1:15:12# I have killed my world and I have killed my time
1:15:13 > 1:15:17# So where do I go? What will I see?
1:15:17 > 1:15:24# I see many people coming after me
1:15:26 > 1:15:31# So where you going to? I don't mind
1:15:31 > 1:15:37# And if I lived too long I'm afraid I'll die
1:15:37 > 1:15:43# To peace we find Tell you what I'll do
1:15:43 > 1:15:47# Everything I own I will share with you
1:15:49 > 1:15:53# Strangers on this road, we are one
1:15:55 > 1:15:59# We are not two, we are one
1:16:00 > 1:16:05# Strangers, on this road, we are one
1:16:07 > 1:16:10# We are not two, we are one
1:16:17 > 1:16:22# I'm not like everybody else
1:16:22 > 1:16:30# I'm not like everybody else. #
1:16:30 > 1:16:33Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd