Johnny Thunder (song)
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| "Johnny Thunder" | |
|---|---|
| Song by the Kinks | |
| from the album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society | |
| Released | 22 November 1968 |
| Recorded | 29 March 1968 |
| Studio | Pye, London |
| Genre | Rock |
| Length | 2:33 |
| Label | Pye |
| Songwriter | Ray Davies |
| Producer | Ray Davies |
| Official audio | |
| "Johnny Thunder" on YouTube | |
"Johnny Thunder" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their sixth studio album, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968). Written and sung by Ray Davies, the song was recorded in March 1968. Davies was inspired to write the song after seeing the 1953 film The Wild One, basing it on Marlon Brando's character Johnny as well as on a classmate Davies admired as a child. A rock song, its recording features a countermelody played by Dave Davies on electric guitar, wordless vocal harmonies and one of the album's few instances of a single-tracked vocal by Ray.
"Johnny Thunder" is one of several character studies on Village Green. The lyrics describe a motorbike rider who rebels against conformity while surviving on a diet of water and lightning. Ray expressed desires publicly and privately to Pete Townshend that the Who cover the song, and Dave later suggested Townshend incorporated the song's opening riff into his songwriting. John Genzale of New York Dolls used the song's title for his stage name, Johnny Thunders.
["Johnny Thunder" is a composite character based] on two people I knew. [One was] someone I didn't want to fall out with. He was a bit older than I was at school, a complete hero, he was an outsider as well, the rebel. There's still part that character that drives me. Johnny Thunder is somebody I still look up to, I changed his real name, but Johnny Thunder seemed to be a great idea.[1]
Ray Davies composed "Johnny Thunder" after watching László Benedek's 1953 film The Wild One,[2] which had been banned by British censors until February 1968.[3] Described by Dave Davies in an August 1968 interview as "the local hound" and "[a] real swine",[4] the song's lead character is a motorbike rider and an enemy of conformity who survives on a diet of water and lightning,[5] seen by author Barry J. Faulk as a clichéd notion of a rebel.[6]
The Johnny Thunder character is based in part on someone Ray Davies admired while in school, leading authors Rob Jovanovic and Johnny Rogan to describe the song as a rewrite of his similarly themed 1967 composition "David Watts".[7] The character is also based on The Wild One's lead character Johnny, as played by Marlon Brando,[8] a misunderstood biker questioned by others as to what he has to rebel against.[9] Author Andy Miller thinks the name Johnny Thunder is a variation on Marlon Brando,[10] while Rogan suggests Davies may have drawn it from the comic book hero of the same name, who had been reintroduced into the Justice Society of America in April 1965.[11][nb 1]
A rock song,[13] "Johnny Thunder" represents one of several character studies which appear on The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society.[14] Author Thomas M. Kitts connects the song thematically to other characters on the album who try to slow down or reject time altogether, like in the songs "Sitting by the Riverside" and "Wicked Annabella".[15]
