One true greatness.

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and a song came on in the background, the Kinks ‘Sunny Afternoon’. I said to him, I think song for song the Kinks have the best catalogue of all the British bands of the classic 1960’s era.

Think about it: ‘Waterloo Sunset’, ‘You Really Got Me’, ‘All Day and All of the Night’, ‘Dedicated Follower of Fashion’, ‘Days’, ‘Stop Your Sobbing’, ‘Picture Book’, ‘See My Friends’, then later ‘Apeman’ or ‘Lola’.

My friend agreed with me. In his best songs, the Kinks’ songwriter, Ray Davies, shrunk the world to the size of a front room. He sang songs of suburbia. Kitchen sink dramas. Davies had an ear for a riff and a feel for the vernacular.

Were the Kinks the best band of the sixties? No. That’s the Beatles. Put aside personal taste – Stones v Beatles – the grandeur of the Fab Four’s musical vision exceeds all others. Yes, some bands did certain things better than the Beatles: Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, the Zombies, Moody Blues, the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield to name some.

But the Beatles did it all.

Like Bob Dylan. No one moved the dial of what was considered popular music more than Dylan.

Anyway, what I am getting at is, what is the best?

The Kinks were phenomenal, the Beatles were the best. Elvis was incendiary but Dylan was the best.

If everything is great nothing is great. Not everyone agrees with me, I suggested recently that a poll listing the best 100 Australian books was ludicrous. The same applies to any nation. My God, the abuse I received, it was like I had slandered someone’s grandmother.

Some suggested I should read more. Now, in my defence, I have a library of 18 thousand books, I have written eleven books of my own, I have written a feature documentary, I am writing a libretto for an opera and I have a PhD, but okay, if you say so, I should read more.

But I stand by it. A top 100 is ludicrous. Top ten maybe. But what if you had to pick just one, who would it be and why? Who is your Beatles or Dylan? No second prizes and certainly no top 100!

Music, art, literature: choose just one. It may not be your favourite, it may not be to your taste, it may not accord to your politics or identity, but it is a work of genius.