Initially one of the most popular British Invasion groups, the Kinks saw major commercial opportunity in the US, but the resultant tour was plagued with issues between the band, their management, local promoters and the American music unions.

Ray resolved the ban in early 1969, and the Kinks staged a comeback tour later that year, but they did not achieve regular commercial success in the country again until the late 1970s.

[6] After witnessing the enormous commercial success experienced in the US by the Beatles in 1964, Page was hoping to break the Kinks into the American market before the Rolling Stones, who he felt had been underpromoted.

[35][36] On 9 April, a concert in Copenhagen, Denmark, descended into a riot between fans and police;[37] the incident was covered by the Associated Press newswire and reported on in newspapers across the US.

[39][40] Tensions within the group were more elevated than usual following a violent intra-band dispute on 19 May at a concert in Cardiff, Wales, where Avory struck Dave in the head with a hi-hat stand.

[44] The band initially considered replacing Avory with a different drummer, but their managers pressurised them into downplaying the incident, both to avoid police charges and to allow them to fulfil their commitments, including the imminent US tour.

[53] The band wore matching red jackets, frilly shirts, black trousers and Chelsea boots,[55] all of which were custom-ordered from Bermans & Nathans, a major theatrical costumier in London.

[56] Page commissioned the outfits in April 1964 as part of his early efforts to rework the band's image,[57] providing them with a distinctive look, similar in effect to the collarless suits the Beatles wore in 1963.

[61][62][nb 2] Sound quality at the band's shows was poor, as the often weak PA systems at the venues struggled to compete with the loud screams of fans.

[74] Page saw his own role as mainly promotional, dealing with stage management and public relations, while Curtis handled custodial duties, such as organising transport, meals and sleeping arrangements.

[87] British groups often found the regulations of the AFM and AFTRA overly complicated,[88] and some complained about the requirements to pay hundreds of dollars in fees for each visit.

[93] He was further disappointed by the poor financial returns of the band's February visit and was unhappy about leaving his wife Rasa at home with their first-born child, who was born weeks earlier in mid-May.

The same day of their arrival, the band appeared on The Clay Cole Show to promote their latest single "Set Me Free",[31][96] which entered the Hot 100 the week before and peaked a month later at number 23.

The venue's marquee initially incorrectly advertised "The Kings", and a dispute arose when the Kinks, the Supremes and the Dave Clark Five realised that promoter Sid Bernstein had promised each group that they would be topping the bill.

[98][99] Problems continued at the following day's performance in Philadelphia, where Page was arrested and briefly jailed for failing to pay a local tax as demanded by a union official.

[104] Upon their arrival in New York, the band were unable to enter their hotel for about two hours owing to a large crowd; and on other nights fans clung to the side of their moving vehicle or smashed its windows with their fists.

[114][nb 4] Band biographer Jon Savage writes that compared to the British Invasion's "packaged pop groups", like the Dave Clark Five and Herman's Hermits, the Kinks instead presented as "brooding, dark, androgynous mutants" whose attitudes seemed anarchic to Middle America.

[105][117][nb 5] Ray further sensed disgust on the part of those in the American music business, whose unhappiness with disruption of their industry by British acts was compounded when the Kinks' appearances were drawing less money than originally expected.

[121] A week before the band's 27 June show in Stockton, California, promoter Betty Kaye cancelled the concert because of poor advance-ticket sales,[105] an action she expected to lose her around US$3,500 (equivalent to US$34,000 in 2023).

[26][nb 6] The band and their management experienced regular issues with local promoters, who often looked for reasons to avoid paying the full amount required by contract.

[121][nb 8] The same week, Page met Cher as she finished sessions for her debut album at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood, and he convinced her to record "I Go to Sleep" as well.

Talmy anticipated Page attempting to usurp his role and had filed a legal notice before the band left England advising them to not record in the US without him, but the session proceeded anyway.

[49][139] In his place, he arranged for the band to be led by both Curtis and temporary tour manager Don Zacharlini, a local businessman who owned a chain of laundromats.

[112][nb 12] Quaife and Avory remained in the US for an extra ten days sightseeing southern California with Zacharlini;[112][155] Ray and Dave arrived home in London on 11 July and immediately conveyed their angry feelings about Page to Wace.

[199][nb 19] The biographer Thomas M. Kitts alternatively suggests that the AFM's sanctions against the Kinks were motivated by a desire "to make an example of some young English musicians who, the union believed, were taking work from Americans".

Kitts adds that the Kinks proved an easier target than the Rolling Stones, who, despite their presentation as one of teenage rebellion, often remained on agreeable terms with officials and promoters.

[205] The situation left the Kinks comparatively isolated from American influence and changes in its music scene,[206] guiding the band away from their earlier blues-based riffing towards a distinctly English style.

[208][210] Ray later suggested that visiting America ended his envy of the country's music,[112] leading him to abandon attempts to "Americanise" his accent while withdrawing into what he later termed "complete Englishness and quaintness".

[217] The band steadily lost American fans,[218][219] but they retained a cult following and received favourable coverage from America's nascent underground rock press.

[227] According to the academic Carey Fleiner, the ban serves as a "rallying cry" for the band's fans when arguing why they do not enjoy the same long-term "multinational corporate brand" as the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.