One of the first songs I remember hearing on the radio. Not when it was released (I was only 18 months old), but in the late 60s sometime. The song was still vibrant and contemporary sounding even then.
Late to the thread, but definitely excited to be part of this. About the first five songs, I find it interesting how the covers (Sally & Hog) have more of the Kinks personality to them than the three "mersey Beat" originals. Still, You Still Want Me is a great early McCartney pastiche, and You Do Something to Me is endearing, if only for the brother's harmonies. You Really Got Me ? Well, it would be part of any "100 greatest rock songs" anthology. Any "50 greatest rock songs anthology". Any "30 greatest rock songs anthology". I could go down in numbers and it would still be part of it... I like Ray's story about deciding to recut the song altogether, because the first Talmy take didn't capture it properly. How I'd love to hear the original take, myself ! In the end it's not only a great song, it's a great record. I've alway thought the whole Page rumor came from the fact he DID play on I Can't Explain by the Who (even though he's barely heard, if at all, on the recording), also produced by Talmy.
Ray has also said that Dave's amp was then plugged into a Vox AC30 on the You Really Got Me recording. Q. So Dave's original amp distortion was achieved with a knitting needle and later he also used razor blades? N.b. Ray has told of Dave taking hold of one of mum's knitting needles at home and ramming it through his speaker cone. One quote I have always liked and recalled was IIRC from a guitar magazine which stated: " The (hard rock) riff was born with the Kinks - You Really Got Me & came of age with Cream's - Sunshine Of Your Love!"
You Really Got Me was and still is an amazing piece of rock music. A stepping stone for both hard rock/heavy metal and punk/new wave!
Great post and I totally agree with you even the bit about the next single which to me is just a bit nastier in an oh so delicious way. N.b. If you have played this on guitar with a band onstage you know it is careening nirvana and brilliant to physically play and enjoy!
I guess it's another one of those minor mysteries. I went with the Dave story, for time and length purposes... and it's supposedly how it initially came about. It is altogether possible that in the studio they did it a different way too. I have read Ray talking about the knitting needles and more than once, so perhaps that's what they did in the studio. I certainly don't know the exact details, just the anecdotes
Take, Take, Take! You Really Got Me: A song that's somewhat overshadowed by the discussion about who played guitar on it (actually it was my dad! ) or if this was the first metal track. None of that matters now. It's great, it's powerful and witty bordering on the awkward. In short: The Kinks first through and through classic.
"You Really Got Me" - Excellent. Awesome. Superb. It's harder to talk about the songs that have been discussed for decades. I can't really find much new to say, except maybe "hey, did you know the Kinks released three songs in a row that start with the word "You" and end with "me"? "3 of their first 5"? This hit came at the perfect time because their first two singles did nearly nothing, especially in comparison. I'm scared to think what would have happened if this one flopped too. I'll fill out my post with a picture of the Scandinavian 7".
A couple additional thoughts/questions on YRGM. Was Ray’s wife, Rasa, an uncredited vocalist for the “aaaahhhhhh” harmony on the official version? In the live vocal BBC Radio version she is identified among the “five of the shaggy-set” in the studio to recreate the vocals and it results in a pretty good proximation of the single. In live versions from TV shows and concert bootlegs from the 60’s, when it’s the four members on stage, the harmonies are lacking by comparison. Particularly cringe-worthy is the video (on YouTube) of the 1965 NME Poll Winner’s concert where Pete Quaife attempts these harmonies. It’s probably the best evidence of why Pete was kept from doing a lead vocal on a Kinks song. And speaking of live performances of YRGM, for all the commentary over the years on whether Dave did or didn’t do that memorable lead guitar break, I find it interesting that on no other Kink’s 60’s era performances of YRGM—-from Kelvin Hall to Shindig to concert bootlegs, etc. that I have heard—does Dave come close to recreating what is on the record. Why was this? Certainly, that break is as an important characteristic of the song as the bar-chord riff. So why wouldn’t he play it that way on stage? Unless—just throwing this out there—he couldn’t do it because it really wasn’t Dave on the record. Certainly Ray, Dave, Shel Talmy, Larry Page, etc. have all disavowed Jimmy Page’s contribution to the track, and Page himself seems indifferent to claiming he did that break. And yet I have always been curious why Dave has never shut up the doubters simply by playing it the way it is on the record. Any thoughts?
Aside from the riffage, one of the things that made that record (and the early Kinks) stand out was Ray’s bizarrely disaffected singing style. This is one of the things I like about the “Sally” cover, but it showcased even better here. He almost sounds like an alien from another planet, tunnel focused on his mantra. Like LTS, this record embraces its lack of “soul” which it trades in for an almost reptilian primal cool.
Back to “the big riff”. It really has become part of rock DNA, so often heard it is often unnoticed. I sometimes catch it turning it up unexpectedly in songs. And of course The Kinks themselves got plenty of mileage out of it.
It really depends. Some folks play studio leads on stage and some don't... I always thought the One For The Road version was good, but it's been a while since I listened to it, and the Kelvin Hall I haven't listened to enough to be familiar... As a guitarist though I can say it is remarkable how in the right place, right time, you can just pull something off and surprise yourself... unfortunately it is generally sitting alone practicing lol, but sometimes it happens where it matters. I have no solid reason to believe it's not Dave. It sounds similar in style and execution to some of the other leads around this time, so I don't think it's Page
And actually thinking about it Page himself had the iconic Stairway lead, but he rarely, if ever, played it live. He took key link points and used them, but the leads were never the same as the album version
Definitely not Rasa on the studio ‘You Really Got Me’ as as per Hinman’s book, her and Ray didn’t even start dating until August 64, the month after the song was recorded: they were married that December - things moved fast in those days! The ‘shaggy set’ 5 piece radio session is from slightly later than the release of ‘YRGM’ , actually around the time of ‘ADAAOTN’, when, it seems, Rasa had already been integrated into the recording line up. As for did Dave play the solo, I’d say there’s no question of it. Occam’s razor, in that every single eyewitness agrees it was him and no eyewitnesses at all say it wasn’t would strongly suggest this. And while Ray might have a fraternal bias, I see no reason why Talmy or (Larry) Page would have any reason to lie about that, esp years later with all working relationships long severed. Add to that the fact that Jimmy Page himself has denied it and its hard to see where you would even begin to build a case for it being anyone other than Dave based on first hand evidence. And why didn’t Dave play it the same way live? Why should he? Guitarists rarely replicate studio solos exactly and often use that gap to improvise something new, unique and unrepeatable in the moment. (As indeed was almost certainly the case when he laid down the studio solo).
This is a seminal song which defines the era. One of those songs growing up that I'd heard before I heard it if that makes sense. It appears in numerous places eg films, documentaries, news reports etc etc. You can't help not liking it and for better or worse this is the song that'll likely get played on the news when Ray departs this mortal coil. Nothing wrong with that but I also feel it's representative of the 64/early 65 Kinks rather than of their career. Saying that it seems to have never left the set list no matter the period so it obviously has a soft spot in Ray's place.
It really is all over the place. Two more examples: The Doors' "My Eyes Have Seen You" and the Velvet Underground's "I'll Be Your Mirror".
When I was writing my post there were a couple of examples that I had floating in the back of my mind but I couldn’t remember what they were. Those were exactly the ones I had been racking my brain on.
