100 GREAT SONGS FROM THE BRITISH INVASION: DEDICATED FOLLOWER OF FASHION- THE KINKS

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The Kinks – Dedicated Follower of Fashion 1966 - YouTube

100 Great Songs From The British Invasion: 1963-1966. Dedicated Follower Of Fashion- As I reach the end of this feature- this is the 94th song from the British Invasion that I’ve featured- I still have a couple of songs from The Kinks to fit in- certainly one of my favorite rock groups. The earlier hit- A Well Respected Man and this one Dedicated Follower Of Fashion were the two songs that I heard in the late 70’s as I was getting into music- that turned me on to The Kinks. ‘Dedicated Follower Of Fashion’ is Ray Davies poke at the Carnaby Street shops and the fashion scene in Swinging London in the mid- 1960s. Davies claims that he wrote the song in one sitting- trying the lyrics out on a typewriter with no revisions. Davies has said the song was inspired by a fight he had with a fashion designer at a party–“I got pissed off with [a fashion designer at a party] always going on about fashion. I was just saying you don’t have to be anything; you decide what you want to be and you just walk down the street and if you’re good the world will change as you walk past. I just wanted it to be the individual who created his own fashion. … [It was] a terrible brawl. I kicked him, and I kicked his girlfriend up the arse.”

While the song was a big hit in the UK- Davies has said that the song triggered some identity crisis in his life-“With ‘A Dedicated Follower of Fashion’ such a hit, people started coming up to me on the street and singing the chorus in my face: ‘Oh yes he is, oh yes he is,’ as if to say that I knew who I was. Unfortunately, my inner and somewhat distorted sense of reality told me that this was not who I wanted to be: I didn’t know who I was.”

Ray’s brother Dave has said that ‘Dedicated Follower Of Fashion’ was ‘terrible.’

  • Single: ‘Dedicated Follower Of Fashion”- The Kinks
  • Record Company- Reprise
  • Genre: Pop Rock
  • Written by Ray Davies
  • Time: 3:05
  • B-side: ‘Sittin’ On My Sofa’
  • Album-Kinks Kontroversy
  • Grade: A
  • Peaked at #38 in US Billboard Hot 100. #4 in UK Singles Chart and #1 in Netherlands and New Zealand.

8 responses to “100 GREAT SONGS FROM THE BRITISH INVASION: DEDICATED FOLLOWER OF FASHION- THE KINKS”

  3. This one has a tartly satiric edge to it without losing its humour. That line about pulling his frilly nylon panties up and feeling a dedicated follower of fashion – genius.

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