I am a big fan of The Kinks, but this video is straight up goofy. I still love the song, but the video is so bad it is good. Rather than tell this Kinks story for myself, I will rely on that great fountain of knowledge, Wikipedia:

The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Their music was influenced by a wide range of genres, including rhythm and blues, British music hall, folk, and country. Ray Davies (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Dave Davies (lead guitar, vocals) remained members throughout the group’s 32-year run.

The Kinks first came to prominence in 1964 with their third single, “You Really Got Me”, written by Ray Davies. It became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching the Top 10 in the United States. Between the mid-1960s and early 1970s, the group released a string of commercially and critically successful singles and LPs, and gained a reputation for songs and concept albums reflecting English culture and lifestyle, fuelled by Ray Davies’ observational writing style. The Kinks broke up in 1996, a result of the commercial failures of their last few albums and creative tension between the Davies brothers.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK-Po-IGY8k]

This second track is from The Kinks as well and most of us know it from a great, if underappreciated, movie known as The Darjeeling Limited. It encompasses everything we love about travel, both the movie and the song. I have had this song on my iPod and in my ears for trips to Asia, Africa, Europe, and even Ohio. I love it so much to let it be the cornerstone of my travel anthem playlist. It never disappoints.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lshQ2LL0-3Y]

I wanted to not hyperlink anything in this post for some reason. It made me feel retro.

By Michael Gallagher

My name is Michael Sean Gallagher. I am a Lecturer in Digital Education at the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. I am Co-Founder and Director of Panoply Digital, a consultancy dedicated to ICT and mobile for development (M4D); we have worked with USAID, GSMA, UN Habitat, Cambridge University and more on education and development projects. I was a researcher on the Near Futures Teaching project, a project that explores how teaching at The University of Edinburgh unfold over the coming decades, as technology, social trends, patterns of mobility, new methods and new media continue to shift what it means to be at university. Previously, I was the Research Associate on the NERC, ESRC, and AHRC Global Challenges Research Fund sponsored GCRF Research for Emergency Aftershock Forecasting (REAR) project. I was an Assistant Professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (한국외국어대학교) in Seoul, Korea. I have also completed a doctorate at University College London (formerly the independent Institute of Education, University of London) on mobile learning in the humanities in Korea.

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