I remember buying the album when this came out. It is absolutely criminal that the single failed even to reach the charts - this is a total masterpiece of song crafting.

@sebastianblack6506

Жыл бұрын

Probably a bit too long to make the Billboard Top 10, great song regardless.

@drewgordon27

Жыл бұрын

I was 14 when this album came out and heard Celluloid Heroes on a Boston FM station. I immediately bought the album.

@corvettedm1

Жыл бұрын

San Francisco is where I would listen and it was very popular

@timwest78

Ай бұрын

Without a doubt their best song

"if you covered him with garbage George Sanders would still have style" what a line! My fave Kinks track

@John_Chu

Жыл бұрын

Sanders had just committed suicide the month before The Kinks recorded this song and album. Sanders left this final note: "Dear World: I am leaving because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool-good luck." It has been since revealed that Sanders was suffering from the early effects of dementia. He was 65.

@agnetesorensenelbom5085

Жыл бұрын

@@John_Chu 😥❤😇

@Peter-oh3hc

Жыл бұрын

​@@John_Chu so sad. didn't know that. Thanks

@lannydante9390

Жыл бұрын

One of the greatest lines of any song!

@corvettedm1

Жыл бұрын

It’s so strange I just listened to this one. The lyrics were so important in it. I’m 70 years old and I never really knew any of these stars. After I listened I learned a little about each one!

Thanks for playing the Kinks the most underrated band of all time.

@alabhaois

7 ай бұрын

I really don’t think they’re underrated-after all, Ray was knighted not long ago (deservedly so). I’ve seen them five times, each performance better than the last. Long Live the Kinks!!! 🎸🎸

@ricardojaviersalinaslleren7034

3 ай бұрын

@@alabhaois As long as they´re not considered the best band of all time, or top 2 or 3, theyr underrated

If I could like this a thousand times I would, The Kinks are such a great band.

Such a beautifully emotional song. It never fails to get to me the way he sings, "Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain and celluloid heroes never really die."

One of the best bands all time.

The Kinks were a group that were wsy ahead of their time..i appreciate their music more now than i did back then..their lyrics are super ❤

One of the most beautiful songs Ray Davies ever wrote. It's criminal it was never a hit. I bought the single when it was released

Ray Davies (pronounced Davis) is an absolute genius, on par with the best songwriters of his time. He composed one of the most beautiful pop songs ever -- "Waterloo Sunset." This is another fantastic song, much too under-rated in its time. Thanks David and Harri.

Ray Davies another genius who wrote some amazing music and made you think at the same time, this is a beautiful song and illustrates the price of fame.

I really like this song. The subject matter is very good.

Great great great.

Kinks very best. I think Ray was also thinking of his own life and climb to stardom.

This has always been one of my favorite Kinks songs.

Treat yourself to the live version. Has an incredible intro, features keyboards and Dave Davies guitar talent.

@rodjohnson2632

Жыл бұрын

Yes, the live version is fantastic!

@jimwilson5148

Жыл бұрын

A great version, but it skips the lines about George Sanders and Mickey Rooney.

@rodjohnson2632

Жыл бұрын

@@jimwilson5148 Hmm, I guess I didn't notice those missing parts, I'll have to have another listen.

@lannydante9390

Жыл бұрын

Dave is awesome in the beginning of the song - kinks forever!

How a masterpiece of music and storytelling, that was released as a single in 1982, never even entered the charts is totally UNBELIEVABLE, and even criminal in my opinion!!

The Kinkswere so creative. I've walked that boulevard with that song lilting through my brain.

@alabhaois

3 ай бұрын

And their music hasn't aged-- it's still relevant, still stuns 💌💌

Ray Davies vocal phrasing is just first class. Really puts meaning into the written words.

Great reaction. The Kinks were such great songwriters and musicians. Thanks.

This song was inspired by Hollywood's famous Walk of Fame, & all the stars - in the pavement - that commemorate celebrities. And it's also about just how fleeting stardom & fame can be. How many stars, that were huge once, that are now forgotten.

@Jessica_Roth

Жыл бұрын

"Sic transit gloria mundi" "Part of the journey is the end" Sheer brilliance. A bit of a shocker that the Kinks couldn't maintain their sales momentum after "Lola", honestly.

At first you think this song is about "show biz", but it's really about the "human biz"!

Love this song. Sad but great.

The message of this song is simple . Famous show biz people have the same trials and tribulations of non famous people

Ray Davies is one of the all time great songwriters ever.

This song makes me cry every time I hear it. The Kinks were one of the best bands ever.

Underrated, under appreciated and underplayed… masterpiece!!

Love The Kinks. I’ve seen this title over the decades but never listened to it before. Thanks for playing. It’s a good one 👍🏽

50 years later, and this song still moves me so deeply. A masterpiece of songwriting.

Another one of those remarkable tunes that you could hear any day on the local FM radio stations in the '70s!

Wow, I have never heard this. Thank you fir surprising me again!

The Live Album One for the Road. It's shorter but it's amazing live.

This song is truly one that will live forever, I'm so grateful to have seen them a few times and was able to hear them play it live

It's been said of many but to me I consider the Kinks extremely underrated. A truly great, diverse and original band.

One of my favs!

Great choice!

The kinks are an unbelievable band. They have so many songs that the public doesn’t even know, but are so good. When I went and saw them for the first time, I wasn’t very aware of what they played. The crowd was so into the entire show. When this song started, I didn’t even know what it was. But I heard people whispering . “they’re gonna do it” the guy next to me said this is what I came for. The whole crowd sat down and listened. I have loved this song ever cents. It was my favorite show of all time. And the list of people I have seen you wouldn’t believe. Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, the who Tom Petty Eagles, Joe Cocker, The Guess Who, Muddy Waters, J Geils, Fleetwood Mac and that’s just off the top of my head. Yet the kinks played my favorite show.

@lannydante9390

Жыл бұрын

Right on the money - 700 songs in their catalog- so many songs that should have been hits - I’m 73 been a fan since 1964 - even when they were banned- songs I’ve been listening to of late…..around the dial - holiday romance- artificial man - I need you - 2 sisters- alcohol live - celluloid Heroes live - holiday live - ladies of the night - big sky - dreams - moments- pictures on the sand - rock n roll fantasy- the list goes on and on - GSTK!

My favorite Kinks song.

Grand Hotel, Greta Garbo, “I want to be alone”. Sunset Boulevard final scene, Betty Davis “all right, Mr. Deville I’m ready for my close-up”. To Have and Have Not, Lauren Bacall “You know how to whistle Steve? Just put your lips together and blow”, talking to Humphrey Bogart. Watch some classic movies, you’ll understand this song better.

@bearballin

Жыл бұрын

Gloria Swanson starred as "Nora Desmond" in Sunset Boulevard, not Betty Davis.

Thanks Harri, The Kinks are a favourite of mine along with Eric B & The Animals from the 60’s, they were different from other great bands back then & when I think of British bands from 60’s these two always come to mind - and of course The Beatles !!☮️💜

My favorite Kinks song, with Come Dancing a close 2nd.

It was written once that "The Rolling Stones are pornographic, but The Kinks are geographic". Ray's songwriting is legendary!

When I saw you get up and applaud, Harri, I must say that I followed your lead and did the same. "Celluloid Heroes" has been among my favorite songs since the first time I heard it after purchasing the album "Everybody's in Show-Biz" upon release back in Aug. '72. Fifty-one years later and I still get goosebumps when I hear Ray Davies sing this classic. I hope you will give a listen to the title track of the Kinks "Village Green Preservation Society" album, Harri, another beautiful song. Spending this Sunday afternoon listening to "Celluloid Heroes" with you has been a blast, Harri!

I can always pass on LOLA, but this song and Rock And Roll Fantasy hold legendary status with me. There are plenty other really good Kinks songs, as well.

About time someone listened to that song , I’ve been pushing it for a long time .

Really have to be a fan of old timey movies to appreciate this song, which I am so I recognize all of them.

Thanks for doing this song - only an Englishman could capture the true essence of Hollywood like this. The whole LP that this is from is about being famous and being on the road, often times about the rigors of that fame. And also about how everyone is a star in their own world/lives. For a completely different mood you should give a listen to Ducks On the Wall, a true piece of R&R energy.

@tkengathegrateful4844

Жыл бұрын

They're Welsh ... but that's ok, so was Henry VIII. 🙂

@sukie584

Жыл бұрын

@@tkengathegrateful4844 the Davies brothers are from London.

@jeffmartin1026

Жыл бұрын

@@tkengathegrateful4844 After all these years I never knew this about them. Thanks for the info!

@tkengathegrateful4844

Жыл бұрын

@@jeffmartin1026 Well put me in overshoes and call me a duck, so they are. With their last name and looking so damn Welsh, I assumed they were Welsh.

@timarmstrong3251

Жыл бұрын

@@tkengathegrateful4844 They are the absolutely quintessential London band. Half of their songs are about London in some way.

I love this song. Joan Jett also did a cover of this song and its almost as good as the original by The Kinks. I !ove how this song uses the Hollywood Walk of Fame to tell a story.

One of my favorite Kinks songs

Thank yo so much for this request David!! This is my favorite Kinks song. Great commentary from Harri 🌺✌️

Way back this song gave me my first insight that being famous wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Love me some Ray Davis🥰☮️

best Kinks song.

My favorite Kinks song I believe is '20th Century Man'.

one of my most memorable concert experiences was seeing the kinks at the hollywood palladium in the 90s. they played celluloid heroes,and when they got to the line "you can see all the stars as they walk along hollywood blvd." everyone pointed outside toward the boulevard which was a couple of miles away. still gives me chills thinking about it.

Harri youre a pleasure to watch✌

Harri, I’m so glad you were able to get this reaction posted; your comments were right on and as brilliant as the song. Thanks.

Great song, story and reaction! Thanks. Kinks a great, yet often overlooked band. Asgroups go they are way up there!

A true lyrical gem.

This is great live....

You're a gentleman Harri!

What a fantastic track from the Kinks. I was almost in tears.

That is why there is a band called the kinks

Great song! As a great follow-up to this song I would recommend "Stars" by Janis Ian. I think you would like it.

One of the great Ray Davies compositions. It's mainly about Ray Davies and his melancholic disposition. It's a warning about getting lost in fantasy. If you listen to his songs he expresses his wish to escape from the harshness of modern life. He himself fell into despair at times hoping to regain an idyllic past. Or escape into the future with hopes of an idealized world there. In Celluloid Heroes he wants to suspend his own life in a fantasy world of films that has never and can never exist. He is saying that these wonderful stars of classic film can't save us. They are fantasy, and you can't get lost in a world that doesn't exist. The stars themselves were often lost souls themselves. Ray suffered a lot of deep mental anguish in his life and the past, nor the future nor movies could redeem him. It's a very sad song on a personal level. I find the saddest Ray Davies song to be Young and Innocent days, about despairing over lost younger days....

Glad you enjoyed it, Harri....perhaps the most tragic injustice in all of The Kinks failed singles...should have been number one!!!

I hadn't heard this. Thank you ❤

Very first concert I attended in 1981, then the album came out! WOW! My fave song from that album! Please treat yourself to the live version! ❤ 🇨🇦

@lannydante9390

Жыл бұрын

Yes the beginning solo by Dave ….priceless! Of late listening to ….around the dial - I need you - holiday romance - artificial man.

thanks so much, Harri! This is one of my favorites by the Kinks... they were brilliant and did so many different genres... always with cleverness and humor.. hope you react to more from them!

Their song Destroyer rocks as hard as anything ever, Love it!

Every track they did was a short story, fantastic band that at long last getting the credit they deserved cheers for posting

The Kinks were huge & had a lot of hits. I especially love their music from the 60's & 70's. You've done a lot of their songs. Some other favorites are "All Day & All Of The Night", "Set Me Free", "Tired Of Waiting For You", "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion", "Dead End Street", "Waterloo Sunset" etc.

GOD SAVE THE KING AND GOD SAVE THE K I N K S !

I confess I hadn't heard this song until a couple of years ago, absolutely beautiful

A superb song from one of my favorites of the time, The Kinks. Very well done David T and Harri!

Still gets me... love it ❤

A favorite from the past that few people get a chance to hear these days - thanx for what you do Harry.

The Kinks put out so much music. It takes a long time to listen to all their songs but just think of the time they spent making it. They were a workforce . Truly Amazing . One of my favorite albums is Muswell Hillbilly's . But the # 1 album for me is the ''Village green preservation society'' .The first Kinks album i bought. It's good music .Everyone give a big hand to Harribest reactions for all he does, in this fairly new line of work that is ignored by the music industry . One more thing, It's a shame what Hollywood has turned into.

Thanks at @Harribest. Lovely man and a true music fan. Learnt to appreciate stuff cus of u big man. Much love and keep em coming

great choice … one of the best Kinks songs

This song never played on the radio where I lived when I was a kid. I was a Kinks fan growing up -- even saw them live in the 80s -- but it wasn't until I was in an LA restaurant in the early 90s that I first heard this song. I couldn't believe I didn't know it already, but back then to hear a song you either had to have the record or your local radio stations had to play it. The other great Kinks song I didn't know until much later was "Father Christmas".

My favorite Kinks song. Thanks Harri.

❤❤❤

Be careful what you wish for, you might get it ....

Ray Davies is in my top 5 lyricists of all time

Thanks for requesting this David! I love this song from when I first heard it on the Everybody’s In Show Biz album 50 years ago!!! I think Harry is the first person to do a reaction to it. Maybe “Here Comes Yet Another Day” can be next.

What an beautiful song

I love The kinks and I love this song it is a very good album

Oh Mr Davies, there are no words....

Great choice. This is such a deep song

You nailed the message early on in your reaction. Bless you Sir! You're doing good work on your channel, please don't stop brother.

my first time too. some I ve heard.

One of the greatest songs ever written, thanks for this reaction.

A quick lil' Hollywood history story from my generation... to be pass'd on. Thanx Harri.

@ronaldstokes4841

Жыл бұрын

...by th' way, near the end is a pic of Leslie Howard with Bette Davis. He was a British actor and WWII spy who was Churchill's decoy on a separate secret flight from the front in France back to England. Nazis shot the plane down thinkin' it was Churchill. All kill'd. There's a few variations of the story about how he died but I like this one.

Love it Harri , one of my favorite Kinks songs. The Kings are great.

Thats the idea -nice.

it's funny how youtube has become sort of like Hollywood. and you've become a star (you've got the play button)

so many amazing songs by the Kinks , check out misfits. please do streetheat under my thumb , from under heaven over hell or here comes the night .

From the same album, try Sitting in my Hotel and Supersonic Rocket Ship (which surprisingly showed up on Avengers Endgame).

thanks man. this is one of my faves. keep on rockin

A truly special song here Love you

Love it!