"Attitude" is a song by the British rock band

The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhyt ...

, released on their album, '' Low Budget''. It was written by

Ray Davies Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter for the rock band the Kinks, which he led with his younger brother Dave on lead guitar and backing voc ...

Background

"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.)

Release

"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 "You Really Got Me" is a song written by Ray Davies for English rock band the Kinks. The song, originally performed in a more blues-oriented style, was inspired by artists such as Lead Belly and Big Bill Broonzy. Two versions of the song were ...

" single that same year. The song has also appeared on compilation albums such as ''The Kinks Greatest 1970-1986'' and ''

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''.

Critical opinion

"Attitude" was called "possibly

he Kinks' He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

best hard rocker of the era" by ''

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'' critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine, who also referred to the song as a highlight from ''Low Budget''. 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." ''

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'' said, " ay Davies'smuse takes a short vacation for 'Attitude,' which is humorlessly accusatory almost to the point of being reactionary." On his

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account,

Dave Davies David Russell Gordon Davies (born 3 February 1947) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the English rock band the Kinks, which also featured his elder brother Ray Davies. He was in ...

praised the song as "one of my fave Kinks tracks."

References

{{authority control The Kinks songs Songs written by Ray Davies Song recordings produced by Ray Davies 1979 songs