If John Wayne Gacy had been an asshole, a lot of nightmarish things might've never happened. The notorious serial killer tortured, raped, and murdered at least 33 young men and boys after luring them into his house. If he'd been an asshole, Gacy, who was executed via lethal injection in 1994, might not have been able to commit all those atrocities. Unfortunately, he "was so nice." That's what the Kinks' Dave Davies says, anyway.
In 1965, two years before he was first arrested for sexually assaulting a teenage boy, Gacy lived in Springfield, Illinois and worked as a shoe salesman. He was active with his local chapter of the Jaycees, a civic organization for young people. As Best Classic Bands points out, the Kinks embarked on an ill-fated US tour in 1965, and the fifth stop on that run was a badly attended gig at Springfield's Illinois State Armory. The Jaycees promoted that show, and Gacy apparently invited the band to stay at his house. The Kinks did go to Gacy's house for some drinks, but they didn't stay there. In a 2014 interview, Ray Davies told Louder Sound about going to Gacy's place:
I didn’t stick around, but I think [bassist] Pete Quaife hung out there. I don’t know what the guy claimed to be at that time. You’d meet a lot of people like that, hanging out with promoters. That could have been a potentially scary time. I’ve worked with a lot of dodgy people in my time, without knowing their connections.
The Kinks/Gacy connection has apparently been known for some time, but Smashing Pumpkins mastermind Billy Corgan just heard about it from Dave Davies, Ray's brother and former bandmate. Earlier this week, Davies was a guest on Corgan's podcast The Magnificent Others, and the two of them were discussing Davies' 1967 solo song "Death Of A Clown." Davies, now 79, explained, "I was always scared of clowns... They're horrible! Frightening!" No argument here, buddy.
Corgan, a bit of a clown apologist, asked, "Did you know where I grew up in Chicago we had the serial killer clown, John Wayne Gacy?" Davies responded, "I met him! He was so nice! I just couldn't believe it!" Davies told the story and admitted that he was scared of Gacy once he found out that they'd met. You can watch that weird little exchange below, around the 22:26 mark.
