Like most mid-1960s British rockers, the Kinks started out as an R&B group before they helped invent hard rock and ventured into sardonic, Beatles-inspired pop and refreshingly unpretentious rock opera with an English music-hall tinge. Ray Davies' biting lyrical wit and brother Dave's primal power chords proved an unbeatable and tremendously influential combination. For as long as the notoriously combative siblings could comfortably coexist, the Kinks continued to ply their intelligent brand of Brit-rock.