"20th Century Man" is a song recorded by British rock band The Kinks. It was released as a single in December 1971 from the band's 1971 LP Muswell Hillbillies, an album with blues and country roots. It centered on such themes as poverty, housing development, alienation, the welfare state, and other troubles of the modern world.

In "20th Century Man", the singer expresses his regrets and worries about the modern world, "This is the age of machinery, a mechanical nightmare", and that there is "too much aggravation". As such, the singer claims that he's "gotta get out of here", and that "we've gotta find a solution". As part of the refrain he exclaims he's "a twentieth century man but I don't want to die here". As the song progresses he criticizes modern art claiming he prefers time-honored masters such as William Shakespeare, Rembrandt van Rijn, Titian, Leonardo da Vinci and Thomas Gainsborough ("You keep all your smart modern painters, I'll take Rembrandt, Titian, Da Vinci and Gainsborough"). The song culminates with a bridge, in which he explains that he was born into a welfare state, "ruled by bureaucracy", as he claims. The singer also claims that he's "Got no privacy", and "got no liberty". The song finishes with a resounding protest against these "20th century men".

National Review named the song number 10 on their list of the Top 50 conservative rock songs.

"20th Century Man" is a slight departure from the rest of the songs on Muswell Hillbillies, with a heavier rock sound and beat. It begins with a gentle strum on the acoustic guitar, but slowly rises and changes into a powerful rock song (see "synopsis" section). It is worthy of mention that Muswell Hillbillies featured purposely dated recording techniques, to give it an antiquated feel. "20th Century Man" was, however, recorded separately with then modern recording equipment.

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