1964 Classic Rock Hit Ranked Among ‘The Greatest Songs of All Time’ Became a Career-Defining Anthem —‘A Love Song for Street Kids’

In 1964, the Kinks released what would become their breakthrough hit with the song “You Really Got Me.” The single, from the English rock band’s self-titled 1964 album, peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Nov. 28. 1964 and became an international hit, firmly establishing the band as one of the top British crossover acts of the 1960s.

Rolling Stone ranked “You Really Got Me” as one of the greatest songs of all time, describing the Ray Davies-penned classic as a “deliberately raw rave-up” with an “immortal, blistering riff.”

“The song came out of a working-class environment,” Kinks guitarist Dave Davies once told the outlet. “People fighting for something.”

The song defined the Kinks

Early on, the Davies brothers knew they had a hit with “You Really Got Me.” Originally inspired by a female fan he spotted dancing at a club, Ray Davies proclaimed it to be his all-time greatest song.

“When I left the studio, I felt great. It may sound conceited, but I knew it was a great record,” he once said of ‘You Really Got Me,” per Ultimate Classic Rock. “I said I’d never write another song like it, and I haven’t.”

Dave Davies described the breakout Kinks hit as “such a pure record.” “It’s a love song for street kids,” he was quoted as saying in the book, You Really Got Me: The Story of the Kinks. “They’re not going to wine and dine you, even if they knew how to chat you up. ‘I want you—come ‘ere.”

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The Kinks song was covered by Van Halen

In 1978, Van Halen released a cover version of “You Really Got Me” on their debut album. While the song was a radio hit, Dave Davies felt it missed the mark.

“When I first heard Van Halen’s version of ‘You Really Got Me,’ I laughed,” the Kinks legend told Guitar Player in an interview. “It just seemed so exaggerated. It really misses the point of the whole meaning of the song: four working-class guys, struggling to do something different. In the original record, you can sense that in its energy, the roughness. It’s very impure.”

Still, Davies acknowledged that the Kinks had a big influence on later bands.

“It’s always very flattering for people to copy you,” he said. “We’ve been copied more than a lot of people would care to admit. Ray’s music has impressed upon and influenced a lot of people in many different ways.”

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