“Just get through it”: The rockstar Dave Davies called an “arsehole”
They often say it’s never a good idea to meet your heroes just in case the reality of what they’re like as an individual shatters and perception you might have of them as being an affable person that you’d love to hang out with. Not everyone in the world lives a saintly existence, and celebrities are no different, so why would anyone inherently expect them all to constantly be on their best behaviour or even have any decorum whatsoever? Dave Davies of the Kinks found out the hard way that getting an opportunity to play alongside his idol wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
As a member of one of the most celebrated bands of the 1960s psychedelic pop movement, and as a key figure in the British Invasion, Davies and his brother Ray are also perceived by many to be idols themselves. However, their regular encounters with other stars ought to have given him an indication that it’s often the case that they can be curmudgeonly so-and-sos or even boorish brutes with little to no consideration for those around them.
Growing up, the Davies brothers were introduced to a wide variety of music, from jazz to music hall, by their parents and older sisters, but they eventually discovered the power of rock and roll music that served as a great inspiration for some of the band’s earliest material. Among Dave’s biggest heroes were Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis, two titans of the rock and roll explosion from the ‘50s, and their innovations as guitarists were things that he would end up incorporating into his own playing style.
While Davies lamented the fact that he never got to play alongside Berry prior to his retirement and passing, he did get an opportunity to perform with Lewis at a tribute gig that he had been invited to be a part of. As someone that he describes a “big hero” from when he was younger, you would have thought that Davies would have been thrilled about this, but it would quickly transpire that it was quite the opposite.
In a 2011 interview with Classic Rock, he spoke of his only encounter with ‘The Killer’ and how it was far from being a positive experience. “That was a big mistake,” he began to explain to the magazine, before going on a lengthy tirade about Lewis’ churlish attitude.
“When we got going I soon realised that Jerry Lee Lewis was an arsehole,” Davies continued. “A complete arsehole. I quickly decided to just get on with it and get through it. He had a terrible personality. He didn’t treat people well at all. Maybe he was like that because he was surrounded by arseholes himself.”
It’s true that the people you associate with can have a dramatic effect on your own behaviour, but Lewis was notorious for being a nasty piece of work, so it shouldn’t have come as any surprise that he turned out to be as unpersonable as he did. “You know, he could win all the accolades he wants,” Davies remarked, “but on his deathbed he’ll have to look at himself. When I had my stroke I came very close to death myself, so I know how that feels.” Judging by what Lewis was like, I hardly imagine he had any moments of existential contemplation before he croaked it, but you never know.
