Johnny Thunder (song)

[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.

[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.

[17] Davies is credited as the song's producer,[18] while Pye's in-house engineer Alan "Mac" MacKenzie operated the four-track mixing console.

[10] "Johnny Thunder" was among the songs Davies sent to Reprise Records in mid-1968 for Four More Respected Gentlemen, a US-only album planned for late 1968, though the LP was aborted before its release.

[22] Davies expressed his desire in a November 1970 interview with Rolling Stone magazine that the English rock band the Who cover the song and personally phoned Pete Townshend to raise the possibility.