WCSX Classic Cuts: A Rock and Roll Fantasy
WCSX Classic Cuts
The Kinks: A Rock and Roll Fantasy
The Hook: The death of Elvis Presley altered the ending of The Kinks’ “A Rock and Roll Fantasy” — and helped keep them going, at least for a couple of decades longer.
Album: Misfits
Year: 1978
Writer: Ray Davies
Stats: Peaked at number-30 on the Billboard Hot 100
Background: The Kinks definitely had their ups and downs long before they finally broke up in 1996. Ray Davies explains that his song “A Rock and Roll Fantasy” was about one of those down times and reveals what saved the band for what turned out to be almost another two decades.
Ray Davies on the meaning of “A Rock and Roll Fantasy” and how Elvis Presley’s death ties in with the song. OC:…keep going. :19
“I started writing that song about my brother and I breaking up the band – and it’s evident in the lyric. And the next day the television comes on and Elvis Presley’s died. It was like having a film or a story with no ending and that provided the ending and the impetus for us to keep going.”