{"id":724160,"date":"2026-04-13T04:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T04:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/724160\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T04:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T04:04:14","slug":"1964-classic-rock-hit-ranked-among-the-greatest-songs-of-all-time-became-a-career-defining-anthem-for-the-kinks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/724160\/","title":{"rendered":"1964 Classic Rock Hit Ranked Among \u2018The Greatest Songs of All Time\u2019 Became a Career-Defining Anthem for the Kinks"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1964, the Kinks released what would become their breakthrough hit with the song \u201cYou Really Got Me.\u201d<\/a> The single, from the English rock band\u2019s self-titled 1964 album, peaked at No. 7\u00a0on the Billboard Hot\u00a0100<\/a> on Nov. 28. 1964 and became an international hit, firmly establishing the band as one of the top British crossover acts of the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Rolling Stone<\/a> ranked \u201cYou Really Got Me\u201d as one of the greatest songs of all time, describing the Ray Davies<\/strong>-penned classic as a \u201cdeliberately raw rave-up\u201d with an \u201cimmortal, blistering riff.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The song defined the Kinks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Early on, the Davies brothers knew they had a hit with \u201cYou Really Got Me.\u201d Originally inspired by a female fan he spotted dancing at a club, Ray Davies proclaimed it to be his all-time greatest song.<\/p>\n

“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<\/a>. “I said I’d never write another song like it, and I haven’t.”<\/p>\n

Dave Davies described the breakout Kinks hit as \u201csuch a pure record.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s a love song for street kids,\u201d he was quoted as saying in the book, You Really Got Me: The Story of the Kinks<\/a>. \u201cThey\u2019re not going to wine and dine you, even if they knew how to chat you up. \u2018I want you\u2014come \u2018ere.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: 1966 Rock Hit Featured a Producer\u2019s Scream You May Have Missed<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Kinks song was covered by Van Halen<\/p>\n

In 1978, Van Halen released a cover version of \u201cYou Really Got Me\u201d on their debut album. While the song was a radio hit, Dave Davies felt it missed the mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first heard Van Halen\u2019s version of \u2018You Really Got Me,\u2019 I laughed,\u201d the Kinks legend told Guitar Player<\/a> in an interview. \u201cIt 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\u2019s very impure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Davies acknowledged that the Kinks had a big influence on later bands.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always very flattering for people to copy you,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been copied more than a lot of people would care to admit. Ray\u2019s music<\/a> has impressed upon and influenced a lot of people in many different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfac<\/strong>SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox<\/strong><\/a>\ud83c\udfac<\/strong><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Parade<\/a> on Apr 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1964, the Kinks released what would become their breakthrough hit with the song \u201cYou Really Got Me.\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":724161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[29],"tags":[300132,300133,171,300134,300136,975,240406,300135,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-724160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-dave-davies","tag-english-rock-band","tag-entertainment","tag-kinks","tag-kinks-hit","tag-music","tag-ray-davies","tag-ray-davies-penned","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116395420359738849","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}