Earworm of the Day: The Kinks - Death of a Clown

2012 is shaping up to be the year of "dude rock" -- at least in my world.

In the past couple weeks, I've added not only the Kinks, but the Stones, Springsteen (see below), and some favorites from the late 90s like Wilco and the Old 97s to my iPod. I've always listened to "dude" music, but trying to write about music from a feminist lens above everything else has relegated a lot of it to "guilty pleasure" status. And while I know it's possible to like un-feminist (or at least, not explicitly feminist) things without having to turn in your lady card. it does feel hypocritical to write about someone like Beth Ditto or JD Samson and when I'm done listen to the same music, well, my dad does.

The Kinks: The contrarian's choice for the "Beatles or Stones" question. Artistically, I'd go with The Beatles while the drunken Karaoker in me picks the Stones. But the Kinks fascinated me in a way that neither of those two did. They were so patently British, which contributed to their less than stellar popularity stateside, and vulnerable in an unnamable way -- at least compared to Lennon's obvious ennui and Mick's posturing.