"Celluloid Heroes" is a song performed by

the Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...

and written by their lead

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and principal songwriter,

Ray Davies Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for the Rock music, rock band the Kinks, which he led, with his younger brother Dave Davies, Dave pro ...

. It debuted on their 1972 album ''

Everybody's in Show-Biz ''Everybody's in Show-Biz'' is the eleventh studio album released by the English rock group the Kinks, released in 1972. A double album, the first disc features studio recordings, while the second disc documents a two-night Carnegie Hall stand. ...

''. The song names several famous actors of 20th century film, and also mentions Los Angeles's

Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It runs through the Hollywood, East Hollywood, Little Armenia, Thai Town, and Los Feliz districts. Its western terminus is at Sunset Plaza Drive in the Hollyw ...

, alluding to its

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

. The actors mentioned are

Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress and a premier star during Hollywood's Silent film, silent and early Classical Hollywood cinema, golden eras. Regarded as one of the g ...

Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor who starred in several well-known sile ...

Bela Lugosi Blaskó Béla Ferenc Dezső (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), better known by the stage name Bela Lugosi ( ; ), was a Hungarian–American actor. He was best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the horror film classic Dracula (19 ...

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous charac ...

, and

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Ninnian Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last survivi ...

, although the verse mentioning the latter three is omitted in some recorded versions of the song (e.g. on '' One for the Road'').

Background

An ode to classic

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

icons, "Celluloid Heroes" analyses the juxtaposition between success and failure in the context of American show business.

, who wrote the song, had spent time in Hollywood and found amusement in "the ironic fact that the stars were on the street and you could walk all over them." He explained the song's meaning: The song has since been singled out by

Dave Davies David Russell Gordon Davies ( '; born 3 February 1947) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the English rock band the Kinks, led by his older brother (and principal writer and singer) ...

as a standout track by the band: "One of my favorite songs ever, by anybody. I remember when we were just starting out down the road with tidying up the lyrics. That really filled me with a lot of emotion because it is quite an incredible idea anyway, all those

ovie Ovie is a given name, nickname and surname. It translates to king in the Isoko language of Delta State in southern Nigeria. Nickname * Alexander Ovechkin (born 1985), Russian ice hockey player * Ovie Alston (1905–1989), American jazz trumpete ...

stars, names and handprints being on those stars. There are all these great stars immortalized on pavement, in concrete." Kinks keyboardist

John Gosling John Gosling may refer to: *John Gosling (The Kinks musician) (1948–2023), British keyboardist in The Kinks *John Gosling (Psychic TV musician) (born 1963), British big beat and industrial musician *John Gosling (cricketer, born 1833) (1833–188 ...

was similarly effusive, recalling, "When Ray put down the vocals to that, I stood in awe of the man!"

Release and reception

The track was released as the second single from the album. In the UK, the single features the full album version which runs to over six minutes, but the US single used a more corporate-radio-friendly edit which is almost two minutes shorter. Although their previous single had been a top 20 hit on the UK Singles Chart, "Celluloid Heroes" failed to chart. The song appears on the band's live album '' One for the Road'' (1980) and was re-recorded for the 2009 album ''

The Kinks Choral Collection ''The Kinks Choral Collection'' is an album, released 15 June 2009 in the UK and 10 November 2009 in the US, by Ray Davies and the Crouch End Festival Chorus. The album features new studio recordings of Ray Davies' compositions, all but one of wh ...

''. The song was also the title track of a 1976 collection featuring material originally released while recording for the RCA label, ''The Kinks' Greatest: Celluloid Heroes''. ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' said of the studio single release that "Ray Davies' masterpiece song about glitter and glory along Sunset Strip displays the Kinks at their very best and should be a smash." Reviewing the live single, ''

'' called it "perhaps one of Ray Davies' finest compositions."

List of actors mentioned in the lyrics

Cover versions

Joan Jett Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin; September 22, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actress. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music#J, Godmother of Punk", she is regarded as a Pop icon, rock icon and ...

recorded this song for her all-covers album '' The Hit List''. *A live performance of this track (featuring Ray Davies) appeared as the B-side to

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Sayreville, New Jersey in 1983. The band consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarists John Shanks and Phil X, percussionist Everett Bradley ...

's 2002 single " Misunderstood". *

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai ( ; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a Transcription (music), transc ...

recorded a cover of this song on his album '' The Elusive Light and Sound Vol. 1''. *British actor and singer

Tim Curry Timothy James Curry (born 19 April 1946) is an English actor and singer. He rose to prominence as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the musical film '' The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975), reprising the role he had originated in the 1973 London, 1974 L ...

frequently performed this song during his tours in the late 70s. *Finnish singer-songwriter

Juice Leskinen Juhani Juice Leskinen (born Pauli Matti Juhani Leskinen; 19 February 1950 – 24 November 2006), better known as Juice Leskinen ( as if the word ''juice'' were Finnish) was one of the most important and successful Finnish singer-songwriters of ...

translated and recorded this song in Finnish as "Paperitähdet". *Renaissance-inspired folk rock band

Blackmore's Night Blackmore's Night is a British-American neo-medieval folk rock band formed in 1997, consisting mainly of Ritchie Blackmore (acoustic guitar, hurdy gurdy, mandola, mandolin, nyckelharpa, and electric guitar) and Candice Night (lead vocals, lyr ...

recorded the song for their album ''

Autumn Sky ''Autumn Sky'' is the eighth studio album by British-American folk-rock band Blackmore's Night. It is dedicated to their daughter Autumn Esmerelda Blackmore, who was born on 27 May 2010. It was released on 3 September 2010 in Europe and on 18 ...

''. *The song appeared on Ray Davies' 2010 album ''

See My Friends "See My Friends" (sometimes titled "See My Friend") is a song by the English rock band the Kinks, written by the group's singer and guitarist, Ray Davies. Released in July 1965, it reached number 10 on the ''Record Retailer'' chart. The song in ...

'', featuring

Jon Bon Jovi John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and Lead vocalist, frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was fo ...

and

Richie Sambora Richard Stephen Sambora (born July 11, 1959) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Bon Jovi from 1983 to 2013. He and lead singer Jon Bon Jovi formed the main songwriting unit for the ...

. *Australian actor

Reg Livermore Reginald Dawson Livermore (born 11 December 1938) is an Australian actor, singer, theatrical performer, designer, director, lyricist and writer and former television presenter. Biography Early life From a young age, Livermore demonstrated an ...

performs the song in his Betty Blokk-Buster Follies show, the song also appears on the soundtrack. *Australian singer

Jeannie Lewis Jean Ethel "Jeannie" Lewis (born 8 January 1945) is an Australian musician and stage performer whose work covers many different styles such as folk, jazz, Latin, blues, opera, rock and fusion.McFarlane'Jeannie Lewis'entry. Archived frothe origin ...

recorded the song on the 1974 album ''Looking Backwards to Tomorrow''. There is YouTube footage of her performing the song on ''

The Norman Gunston Show Norman Gunston is a satirical TV character performed by Australian actor and comedian Garry McDonald. Norman Gunston was primarily well known in his native Australia, and to a lesser extent, the United States during the mid to late 1970s. He wa ...

''. *

Pauly Shore Paul Montgomery Shore (born February 1, 1968) is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for his roles in 1990s comedy films. Shore began as a stand-up comedian at the age of 17, before becoming an MTV VJ in 1989. This led to a starring ...

covered the song on his YouTube channel in 2020.

References

{{Authority control 1972 singles The Kinks songs Songs written by Ray Davies Song recordings produced by Ray Davies RCA Records singles Songs about Los Angeles Songs about actors Hollywood, Los Angeles in fiction Songs about Marilyn Monroe Cultural depictions of Rudolph Valentino Cultural depictions of Greta Garbo Cultural depictions of Bela Lugosi 1972 songs