‘You Really Got Me’: How The Kinks provided rock and roll’s most pivotal chord
A frustrating part of the discussions surrounding music is when people deem something to be “overrated” purely based on how it sounds. Granted, the sound of music is most certainly the most important aspect of it, but some tracks and bands withstand the test of time not just because of the music they made and how it sounded but also because of its impact. The Kinks can certainly attest to this.
When you listen to the track ‘You Really Got Me’ now, given how much rock music has come on since and the complicated nature of so many rock songs, you might not see anything too extraordinary in the track; however, it set the groundwork that a great deal of rock music was built upon. As such, when people say it’s one of the best and most important tracks ever written, there is no sign of an overstatement.
“This was a radical-sounding record,” recalled Stevie Van Zandt of the E Street Band, “When this came on the Top 30 radio, it was completely new to us. It went very high, as did ‘All Day And All Of The Night’. It was radical, and you have to give [producer] Shel Talmy credit for that.”
The production of the song was undoubtedly a big part of its impact. It utilised distortion, which wasn’t a popular effect in music at the time. It was the first time a song sounded angry, packed with the energy that went on to define rock music. Granted, it would become much more exaggerated, but you wouldn’t have the piercing sound of Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page solos if not for The Kinks, showing the change that a bit of distortion could bring to a song.
Another one of the most significant facets of the song was the use of the power chord. Whether you play guitar or not, you will notice from now on when you listen to rock music that all your favourite riffs and rhythm sections are the product of power chords. ‘Highway To Hell’, ‘Iron Man’, and ‘The Seeker’ are all different songs that have power chords at their centre. They drive a track and provide the hard-hitting sound that makes rock music so easy to headbang to.
It’s a simple formula. The root and the fifth of a chord are played simultaneously, with some levels of distortion added. It sounds simple now, but this form of playing, paired with those production methods, formed the foundation of rock music. We associate the genre with rebellion and parties, which means you need a powerful foundation behind it, and this can only ever be achieved when you utilise power chords like The Kinks did.
While you might listen to ‘You Really Got Me’ these days and not see anything in particular that stands out, there is no escaping that rock music wouldn’t sound the same without it. It remains one of the most influential songs ever written.
