History in the Making: The Kinks to Receive Definitive Netflix Documentary Treatment
In an era where the streaming platform has become the modern-day archivist of cultural history, Netflix has officially greenlit a landmark documentary series on The Kinks. This is not merely another music biopic; it is a long-overdue, deep-dive excavation into one of the most influential, turbulent, and brilliantly contradictory bands to emerge from the British Invasion. Promising to explore their inspirational life, career, and legacy, the series is poised to showcase the quartet’s resilience, their unique leadership, their inadvertent yet powerful advocacy for a new kind of masculine expression in rock, and the unstoppable, often dysfunctional spirit that forged them into true icons.
For decades, The Kinks’ story has existed in the shadow of their more universally polished contemporaries. The Beatles achieved untouchable godhood, The Rolling Stones perfected the myth of the eternal rock outlaw, and The Who became the explosive voice of a generation. The Kinks, however, were different. They were the awkward, brilliant, and fiercely British underdogs. Their story is not one of seamless global conquest, but of a perpetual battle—against the American music union that banned them for four crucial years, against the music industry machinery, and, most profoundly, against each other. This inherent conflict is the fertile ground from which this Netflix series will grow, offering a narrative rich with drama, artistry, and raw human emotion.
At the heart of this saga are the brothers Davies: Ray and Dave. Their fraternal rivalry is the engine that drove The Kinks to greatness and, ultimately, to its repeated dissolution. Ray, the songwriting visionary, the introspective observer crafting intricate short stories set to music. Dave, the charismatic, unpredictable guitar hero, the “raver” whose stage presence was as electrifying as his riffs were raw. The documentary will undoubtedly delve into this complex dynamic, a relationship that was part creative partnership, part psychological war. It is a tale of leadership not from a single helm, but from a dual command that was constantly at odds, yet inexplicably symbiotic. Their clashes were legendary, but from that friction sprang the sparks that ignited some of rock’s most enduring anthems.
It is this very music that forms the series’ glorious soundtrack. The documentary will trace their evolution from the explosive, proto-punk crunch of “You Really Got Me” and “All Day and All of the Night”—songs that literally invented heavy rock guitar—to the pinnacle of Ray Davies’s songwriting genius in the late 60s and early 70s. Albums like The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society and Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) were not mere collections of songs; they were full-blown social commentaries, poignant character studies, and elegiac love letters to a vanishing England. In an age of psychedelic excess, The Kinks were crafting nuanced narratives about forgotten shopkeepers, nostalgic tourists, and lazy Sunday afternoons. This unparalleled body of work established them not just as pop stars, but as genuine artists and social historians.
This is where the series’ promise to explore their “advocacy for men’s singing” finds its profound meaning. In the mid-60s, rock masculinity was often defined by swaggering confidence, sexual bravado, or rebellious angst. Ray Davies, however, offered something radically different: vulnerability. He sang from the perspective of the wallflower, the insecure lover, the emasculated husband, the wistful dreamer. In songs like “Waterloo Sunset,” “Days,” and “Sunny Afternoon,” he presented a masculinity that was tender, reflective, and deeply emotional. He gave voice to the quiet, often overlooked feelings of men, giving them permission to be fragile. This was not advocacy in the literal sense, but a cultural one—an expansion of what a man’s voice in popular music could sound like and what it could express. The documentary will have the opportunity to unpack this revolutionary, yet subtle, contribution to the fabric of rock music.
Furthermore, the series will chronicle their remarkable resilience. The American touring ban from 1965 to 1969, resulting from on-stage fracases and union disputes, could have been a career-ending catastrophe. Instead, it forced The Kinks inward. Isolated from the lucrative US market, they doubled down on their British identity, creating the most uniquely English and conceptually ambitious work of their career. This period of adversity didn’t break them; it defined them. Their subsequent phases—the glam-rock theatricality of the early 70s, the stadium-filling renaissance of the late 70s and early 80s with hits like “Lola” and “Come Dancing”—are all testaments to an unstoppable spirit and an ability to adapt and endure against all odds.
The legacy of The Kinks is immeasurable. Their influence echoes in the working-class storytelling of The Jam and The Smiths, the Britpop swagger of Blur and Oasis (who famously fought over the Davies brothers’ creative mantle), the jagged guitar rock of Van Halen (who covered “You Really Got Me”) and punk, and the character-driven narratives of countless modern songwriters. A definitive, meticulously researched Netflix series has the potential to finally cement their place in the pantheon, not as the fourth-best band of the 60s, but as one of the most uniquely original and important artistic forces of the 20th century.
With unprecedented access to archives, previously unseen footage, and—crucially—the participation of Ray and Dave Davies themselves, this documentary is truly “history in the making.” It is the chance to tell the complete, unvarnished story: the explosive triumphs, the bitter feuds, the timeless music, and the enduring bond of family that somehow held it all together. It is a story about what it means to be an artist, a brother, and an icon. For fans and newcomers alike, the world is about to truly see, and finally understand, how we all were really got.
