Who is the finer band?

I imagine I'll end up in the minority here. I voted The Who, for a reason I can't really put into words. I've spent way more time with their catalogue?

Both damned good bands.

If the poll were Songwriter? Townsend vs. Davies my vote would flip.

Overall, I'd have to say Kinks. Lola vs. Powerman is flawless. The only Who album I've really taken to is Live at Leeds.

The Kinks are thousands percents more fun than The Who. The songs are shorter. The songs that are great hit harder and are better, shorter bursts of fun. The who have a few bangers that are amazing and the R&R Circus performance is amazing, but If I just want to hear cool songs form the mid-late 60's i lean towards the Kinks for sure. "Till the end of the day" and "Sunny Afternoon" and "You Really Got Me" and "Picture Book" and "All Day and All Night" and "Tired of Waiting" and... list goes on. Just a better Pop Band and really, that's all we are talking about here. The Who are better technically, but The Kinks were better craftsmen.

Kinks, easy.

Kniferide wrote: Fri Jan 14, 2022 9:11 pm The Kinks are thousands percents more fun than The Who. The songs are shorter. The songs that are great hit harder and are better, shorter bursts of fun.

Yup. The Kinks have never pissed me off or worn out their welcome in my ears. Ray Davies is charming and I can't really say that about anyone in The Who.

I love Baba O'Riley and I like Boris The Spider and Pinball Wizard, but most other The Who songs are tedious and have many unnecessary parts. Jon Entwhistle should have been born 10-20 years later so he could have put all that bass shredding to use in metal.

The Kinks by many country miles.

Face to Face through Muswell Hillbillies is unimpeachable (Percy doesn't count).

The Kinks by first round KO.

Tough one... but gotta go with da Who.
They released a lot of crap, but at their best they rule.

Just listen to that scorching heaven and hell performance from Live at Leeds. Come on, that's ridiculously good.

Must say though that the flawless simplicity and perfection of things like You really got me is da shit; never get tired of that ear candy. Davies may be the better songwriter.

The Who were obviously the more rocking band (which appealed to teenage me), but songwriters don't get much better than Ray Davies (appeals to me now).

I'm surprised by The Kinks domination, even though they get my vote. I guess this shows how songs are everything.

Pretty much every performer in The Who is better on their instrument and footage would indicate they were the superior live band. They blew shit up. They were hilarious. At the same time their writing became incredibly ambitious and they often had the skills to pull that stuff off.

Yet there is always something at arms reach when listening to The Who. They often feel like they're only acting like they don't give a shit. There is theater to it, so it's hard to get past a feeling of artifice (no matter how genius that artifice is). I think another part is this handsome singer who's practically an avatar for the principal songwriter. You often hear a singer singing someone else's lyrics.

The Kinks have a serviceable drummer. Their guitar leads are very effective, but not exceptional. The Davies vision seems anxious and uptight. But as everyone has already pointed out: genius songs for days.