No matter how cool and successful you are, getting to meet an idol who helped shape your path is an amazing moment. Shock rocker Alice Cooper, 77, who holds both of those labels, is no different. Recently, the ground-breaking classic rock band The Kinks posted a video of Cooper meeting the band’s guitarist and singer Dave Davies , 78, in 2024 for the first time.
Cooper immediately tells Davies, “I can’t tell you what an influence you guys have been to us. We learned every Kinks song and we never got to play with you guys.”
Davies recalled in kind: “Nearly in 1982… in Anaheim,” they said in unison.
“You’re right,” Cooper acknowledged, then laughed. “I got sober the year after that.”
@thekinksofficial 1 year since Dave Davies met Alice Cooper! What a combo 🤘🏻 #thekinks #alicecooper #rock #classicrock @Alice Cooper
♬ original sound – thekinksofficial
Fans of both Cooper and The Kinks were enamored with the brief but meaningful interaction.
“When a legend meets a legend,” swooned one fan.
“Dave looks genuinely happy! Great to see!! No airs or pretense between two legends,” affirmed another.
“To me The Kinks were finally balanced between Pop and Rock,” wrote another fan. “And an amazing influence on both genres…”
“One of, if not the best groups ever. So many great songs with beautiful hooks, hardly praised for their influence,” added another, referencing Cooper’s sincere praise.
Related: Keanu Reeves Was Babysat by ‘70s Shock-Rock Icon, 77
The Kinks: A History of Being Underrated
Though full of soothing voices and pop moments, The Kinks were undeniably some of the forefathers of electric punk. Powered by the original warring brothers Ray and Dave Davies, along with bassist Pete Quaife and drummer Mick Avory, the band is also credited with helping heavy metal and grunge get off the ground. However, their egregious in-fighting, failure to conquer the U.S. in the ’60s, as well as struggles with management, hindered them from reaching the heights their sound clearly could have.
“As the Seventies rolled round The Kinks moved distinctly out of the mainstream… They shunned the burgeoning heavy metal crowd, which they had helped to create with the distorted guitars of You Really Got Me, resisted ‘going glam’ and drifted away from the hallucinogenic fantasy world of progressive rock,” wrote God Save The Kinks author Rob Jovanovic. “Instead they drifted into skits about schooldays.”
However, it’s fair to say today they have cemented their legacy as not only great performers but legendary songwriters.
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