You Really Got Me
August 4, 1964
You Really Got Me is the title of a rock song that was written by Ray Davies and performed by his band The Kinks in 1964.
Genesis
In the summer of 1964 the band had come under great pressure from their record company Pye, after their first two singles were unsuccessful. It now had to be a success. The song was originally written as a jazz piece in the style of Gerry Mulligan. Ray Davies for it settled on the piano by Jimmy Giuffres composition Train and the River ( first recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles on December 3, 1956 The Jimmy Giuffre 3 LP, January 1957) inspired and developed, which consists of only two notes riff that Dave Davies played on the guitar. Ray Davis wanted with You Really Got Me write a similar song like Louie Louie by the Kingsmen. You Really Got Me came about when Dave Davies tried to play the chords of Louie Louie. In another interview in 1998 he described the song as a tribute to the great blues people Leadbelly and Big Bill Broonzy. To the guitar riff for the track, the song should have inspired him Tequila the Champs.
Overall, took music producer Shel Talmy with the Kinks song You Really Got Me three times in three London studios around. The first intake of 18 March 1964 in the London Regent Sound Studios had a slow blues feel; it was underlaid much reverb. From Shel Talmy believed her, that she would also become a hit. Ray Davis was but at a faster pace. On June 15, 1964 was born in the Pye Studios ( Studio 2 ) a tempo richer version, whose production costs of £ 85 Talmy had to pay himself. This, too, Davies was not satisfied. Next admission date was July 12, 1964 in the IBC Studios, where together with It 's All Right an even faster version was leveled on a 3-track Ampex. She was selected for the subsequent single.
The distinctive Verzerrersound guitar guitarist Dave Davies reached by sliced the speaker cone of his El Pico guitar amplifier with a razor blade and needles stuck into it. The guitar signal was then passed on to a Vox AC -30. As a guitar he put the semi- acoustic Harmony Meteor one.
From this last recording session was one of the earliest hits, the use of power chords made , produced and influenced by rock musicians in the styles of heavy metal and punk rock. The American musicologist Robert Walser writes that it " was the first hit, which was built around power chords " of, and the critic Denise Sullivan of Allmusic writes that " ' You Really Got Me', a song template for the Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Genre " is.
Occupation
Publications recently passed as a full official cast to the group members Ray Davies (vocals and rhythm guitar ), Dave Davies ( lead guitar ) and Pete Quaife ( bass). These were supported by session musicians Bobby Graham ( drums) and Arthur Greenslade (Piano). The actual drummer Mick Avory Kinks played only tambourine.
The guitar solo of the piece has triggered one of the most enduring myths of rock music. It is argued that it would not have been the lead guitarist of the Kinks, Dave Davies played, but by the former session musicians Jimmy Page, who later in the Yardbirds and later Led Zeppelin founded. Among other things, it claimed Jon Lord, later of Deep Purple keyboard player who wants to have played on the piano recording. Jimmy Page himself has always denied this, however; In an interview he said: " I have not played on ' You Really Got Me' and so he is [ Ray Davies ] pissed. " producer Shel Talmy has ended the controversy in an interview as follows: " Honestly, Jimmy Page does not have the solo on ' You Really Got me' played, what I have said to people about 5,000 times, who insisted that it was him. The reason why I put Jimmy on the Kinks' plates, was that Ray Davis did not want to really play the guitar and sing at the same time. That said, Jimmy was playing rhythm guitar. "
Publication and success
The title You Really Got Me / It's All Right ( Pye Records 7N.15673 ) were released on August 4, 1964 as the third single of the band. It reached # 1 in the UK singles charts in Germany only 39th place The single was the breakthrough for the band and established it as one of the top acts of the British Invasion in the U.S., where it reached # 7. It sold 250,000 copies in the UK and over 750,000 in the U.S., it became the first million-seller of the band worldwide.
The music magazine Rolling Stone placed the pieces in place 82 of its top 500 songs of all time and at number 4 of the "100 best guitar songs of all time ". In 2005 the song was voted in a BBC radio vote for best British song in the decade 1955-1965. The same year, Q magazine placed it at number 9 in its list of the "100 best guitar songs ". 2009, it was by VH1 number 57 of the " best hard rock songs " set.
Cover versions
From You Really Got Me, there are at least 61 cover versions. The American hard rock band Van Halen coverte the song in 1978 on their debut album Van Halen. He became a popular radio hit that brought the band's career on the road, similar to this had been 14 years previously at the kinks of the case.
Other cover versions there of, among other things:
- Mott the Hoople as an instrumental version on the album Mott the Hoople (1969 )
- Robert Palmer on the album Double Fun (1978 )
- Oingo Boingo Only A Lad on their album (1981 )
- Helen Schneider on the album Schneider with the Kick ( 1981)
- Sly and the Family Stone on the album Is not But The One Way (1982 )
- King Size Dick un the Fädije Mer gonn nohm FC ( 1983)
- Eve 6, whose version is included in the soundtrack of The New Guy (2002)
- Metallica with Ray Davies on his solo album See My Friends (2010)
- Ali Campbell on his album Great British Songs ( 2010)