pete townshend played guitar on you really got me.
pete townshend played guitar on you really got me.
who played guitar on you really got me?
pete townshend
while ray davies had been instructed at the time to write "beatle-type" material for commercial reasons, "you really got me" was written as a more r&b-based composition. the song is centred on a guitar riff by dave davies, which has since been referred to as "instantly identifiable." american musicologist robert walser described "you really got me" as "the first hit song built around power chords." the song has since been labeled as an early influence of the heavy metal genre, with critic denise sullivan of allmusic writing, you really got me' remains a blueprint song in the hard rock and heavy metal arsenal." however, dave davies has since rejected the idea that the song is heavy metal, saying "i've never really like that term, heavy metal. i think, in all humility, it was the first heavy guitar riff rock record. just because of the sound—if you played it on a ukulele, it might not have been so powerful."
you really got me
"you really got me" was released as the band's third single on 4 august 1964, backed with "it's alright". within three days of the single's release, "you really got me" began to appear on local charts. eventually, the song climbed to the top of the british charts, the band's first single to do so. ray davies later claimed that, due to the single's high demand, pye records put all their other records on hold to solely produce copies of "you really got me". due to the high level of success the single achieved in the uk, a rush-release of "you really got me" was put out in the us on 2 september 1964, despite being delayed from its initial release date of 26 august. although it did not enter the charts until 26 september, the record rose to number seven on the "billboard" hot 100. the song later appeared on the band's debut album, "kinks", with the title of the american release of the album being changed to "you really got me". plans for ray to sing versions of the song in french, german, spanish, and japanese for their respective markets were proposed by shel talmy, but they never materialized.
you really got me