One of the most influential guitar tones in the history of rock and roll comes off 1964’s Kinks. Its lead single “You Really Got Me” inspired artists like Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix in subsequent years to crank up the distortion and fuzz, effectively reshaping the sonic landscape of rock and roll for decades to come. Originally penned as a slow-moving jazz blues number, the original recording of the song was effectively unrecognizable compared to the final version. It was slower and waltzier, soaked in reverb that effectively buried the iconic lead guitar tone deep in the mix. The band was entirely displeased with the outcome and after a protracted battle with the record company on who would pay for additional studio time, The Kinks management team agreed to step in and front the money for the band to re-record.
And then magic struck. In a fit of rage due to a breakup with his high school sweetheart, guitarist Dave Davies was fooling around with a razor blade and decided to slash the speaker cone of his green Elpico amplifier. The tone that came out of the amp was loud and abrasive, perfect for the approach the band wanted to take with the song, and after producer Shel Talmy further tweaked things during the recording process (running both a clean and distorted channel in parallel to make the sound even huger) the rest was history. “You Really Got Me” soared to the top of the chart, The Kinks became a key player in the British Invasion of the 60’s, and rock and roll was forever changed.
Standout Songs: “You Really Got Me”, “So Mystifying”, “Too Much Monkey Business”
