Attitude (The Kinks song)

1979 song by The Kinks

"Attitude"

Song by The Kinks
from the album  Low Budget
Released| 10 July 1979 (US)
7 September 1979 (UK)[1]
Recorded| January 1979 - June 1979 at the Power Station and Blue Rock Studios, New York
Genre| Rock
Length| 3:47
Label| Arista Records
Songwriter(s)| Ray Davies
Producer(s)| Ray Davies
Low Budget track listing

11 tracks

Side one

1. "Attitude"
2. "Catch Me Now I'm Falling"
3. "Pressure"
4. "National Health"
5. "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman"

Side two

1.   2. "Low Budget"
3. "In a Space"
4. "Little Bit of Emotion"
5. "A Gallon of Gas"
6. "Misery"
7. "Moving Pictures"

"Attitude" is a song by the British rock band The Kinks, released on their album, Low Budget. It was written by Ray Davies.

## Background

[edit]

"Attitude" was a late addition to the Low Budget album, as it was not featured in early running orders of the album (songs such as "Destroyer", "Massive Reductions", and "Give the People What They Want" were used instead in early versions.)[2]

## Release

[edit]

"Attitude" was first released on the Low Budget album in 1979 as the opening track of said LP. The next year, a live version of the track appeared on the One for the Road album. This version would appear afterwards as the B-side of the live "You Really Got Me" single that same year. The song has also appeared on compilation albums such as The Kinks Greatest 1970-1986 and Picture Book.

## Critical opinion

[edit]

"Attitude" was called "possibly [The Kinks'] best hard rocker of the era" by AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine, who also referred to the song as a highlight from Low Budget.[3] Richard Gilliam (also of AllMusic) said, "Favorably reminiscent of the best songs of their British Invasion days, 'Attitude' is a straight-forward, hard-rock effort, laced, of course, with front man Ray Davies’s energetically satirical vocals. The lead track on their 1979 Low Budget album, the song mocks the superficiality of the emerging image-obsessed 1980s. There’s a welcome maturity to the effort – as if Davies is more than willing to adopt the motifs of the era to enhance the substance of his message. Sociological considerations aside, this is a solidly good song musically, and one of the Kinks best mid-career hard-rock efforts."[4] Rolling Stone said, "[Ray Davies's] muse takes a short vacation for 'Attitude,' which is humorlessly accusatory almost to the point of being reactionary."[5]

On his Facebook account, Dave Davies praised the song as "one of my fave Kinks tracks."[6]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Kinks, The - Low Budget". discogs.com. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
2. ^ Hinman, Doug. All Day and All of the Night. p. 230.
3. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The Kinks: Low Budget > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
4. ^ Gilliam, Richard. "AllMusic 'Attitude'".
5. ^ Fricke, Davie (20 September 1979). "The Kinks: Low Budget". Rolling Stone (RS 300). Straight Arrow. ISSN 0035-791X. Archived from the original on 2 October 2007.
6. ^ Davies, Dave. "Dave Davies - October 16, 2013". Facebook.

* v
* t
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The Kinks singles discography

1960s singles
(UK & US)|

1964
"Long Tall Sally"
"You Still Want Me"
"You Really Got Me"
"All Day and All of the Night"

1965
"Tired of Waiting for You"
"Ev'rybody's Gonna Be Happy"
"Set Me Free"
"See My Friends"
"Who'll Be the Next in Line"
"A Well Respected Man"
"Till the End of the Day"

1966
"Dedicated Follower of Fashion"
"Sunny Afternoon"
"Dead End Street"

1967
"Mister Pleasant"
"Waterloo Sunset"
"Death of a Clown" (Dave Davies solo)
"Autumn Almanac"
"Susannah's Still Alive" (Dave Davies solo)

1968
"Wonderboy"
"Days"
"Lincoln County" (Dave Davies solo)

1969
"Starstruck"
"Hold My Hand" (Dave Davies solo)
"Plastic Man"
"Drivin'"
"The Village Green Preservation Society"
"Shangri-La"
"Victoria"

1970s singles
(UK & US)|

1970
"Lola"
"Apeman"

1971
"God's Children"
"20th Century Man"

1972
"Supersonic Rocket Ship"
"Celluloid Heroes"

1973
"One of the Survivors"
"Sitting in the Midday Sun"
"Sweet Lady Genevieve"
"Where Have All the Good Times Gone"

1974
"Money Talks"
"Mirror of Love"
"Mirror of Love" (band version)
"Holiday Romance"
"Preservation"

1975
"Everybody's a Star (Starmaker)"
"Ducks on the Wall"
"You Can't Stop the Music"

1976
"I'm in Disgrace"
"No More Looking Back"

1977
"Sleepwalker"
"Juke Box Music"
"Father Christmas"

1978
"A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy"
"Live Life"
"Black Messiah"

1979
"(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman"
"A Gallon of Gas"
"Catch Me Now I'm Falling"
"Moving Pictures"
"Pressure"

1980s singles
(UK & US)|

1980
"Lola" (live)
"You Really Got Me" (live)

1981
"Better Things"
"Destroyer"
"Predictable"

1982
"Come Dancing"

1983
"Don't Forget to Dance"

1984
"Good Day"
"Do It Again"

1985
"Living on a Thin Line" (radio promo only)
"Summer's Gone"

1986
"Rock 'n' Roll Cities"
"How Are You"

1987
"Lost and Found"

1988
"The Road"

1989
"Down All the Days (Till 1992)"

1990s singles
(UK & US)|

1990
"How Do I Get Close"

1993
"Only a Dream"
"Scattered"

Other singles
(non-UK/US)|

1966
"Dandy" (Europe)

1969
"Picture Book" (Australia)
"Australia" (Australia)

1983
"State of Confusion" (Germany)

1991
"Did Ya" (Europe)

Other songs|

"So Mystifying"
"Bald Headed Woman"
"Stop Your Sobbing"
"Dancing in the Street"
"I Need You"
"I Go to Sleep"
"I'm Not Like Everybody Else"
"Big Black Smoke"
"Party Line"
"Rosy Won't You Please Come Home"
"Love Me Till the Sun Shines"
"David Watts"
"Two Sisters"
"Polly"
"She's Got Everything"
"Do You Remember Walter?"
"Johnny Thunder"
"Last of the Steam-Powered Trains"
"Big Sky"
"Sitting by the Riverside"
"Animal Farm"
"Village Green"
"Phenomenal Cat"
"All of My Friends Were There"
"Wicked Annabella"
"Monica"
"People Take Pictures of Each Other"
"Berkeley Mews"
"Mr. Churchill Says"
"Strangers"
"This Time Tomorrow"
"Rats"
"Got to Be Free"
"Have a Cuppa Tea"
"Oklahoma U.S.A."
"Muswell Hillbilly"
"Sitting in My Hotel"
"The Hard Way"
"Life Goes On"
"Misfits"
"Attitude"
"Low Budget"
"Give the People What They Want"
"Heart of Gold"

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