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Ryan Paris

THE HIT HAMMER REQUESTS: Van Halen's "You Really Got Me"
















(The Hit Hammer Requests are requests from people who want me to review songs that did NOT hit #1, but still charted on the Hot 100. Right now, there is only one request per person, but if you're reading this, and you haven't already sent me a request, feel free to do so. I will try to do a request once a week, while still continuing my main project of reviewing each #1 song on the Hot 100)


Van Halen - "You Really Got Me"

Peak Date: March 24, 1978

Peak Position: #36

#1 Song At That Time: "Night Fever" by the Bee Gees

Requestor: Mark Paris











In 1964, the British Invasion changed music rapidly. Gone were the days of the teen idols and the sappy love songs, and it was then time for some more exciting rock bangers that our friends across the Atlantic were giving us. The bands we think of first, and rightfully so, are the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, but other bands deserve some attention too. One of those bands were the Kinks, a group fronted by two brothers, Ray and Dave Davies. Their first song that became a major hit in the U.S. was "You Really Got Me", a simple song that the Kinks described as being about "street love". But it's also a hell of a banger too, and overall, is one of my favorite songs to come from any British Invasion group. (The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" peaked at #7 in 1964. It's a 10) But "You Really Got Me" wouldn't only start the careers of the Kinks. Another rock band would take the song and put their own little spin on it, and they would have a hit with it too, albeit a fairly minor one.


That band would be Van Halen, a band that was founded by the Dutch brothers Eddie and Alex, who named the band after their own last name. When Van Halen were in their earliest days, they released a lot of stupid songs, but they were songs that you couldn't help but enjoy. Those would be songs like "Jamie's Cryin'" and "Ice Cream Man", which neither of those songs were amazing, but they were easily enjoyable, and featured lead singer David Lee Roth's usual cat calling ways and his signature screams and yelps. But their debut album Van Halen also had some pretty awesome bangers on it, with one of those being the cover of the Kinks' classic hit. According to Eddie, the band's guitar god, he wasn't in favor of the band releasing "You Really Got Me" as their debut single. It all started when Eddie had been talking with some of the members of the band Angel. Eddie and Angel's drummer, Barry Brandt, were both bragging about their material, and somewhere in the midst of all that, Eddie showed Brandt Van Halen's cover of "You Really Got Me", and he told him they were planning on releasing it in the future. In a classic dick move, Brandt, along with the rest of Angel, started working on their own version of "You Really Got Me" in an attempt to get it released before Van Halen did. Of course as anyone would expect, Van Halen was not having any of this. They rush-released "You Really Got Me", and it became the group's debut single. Even though Eddie would have rather seen something like "Jamie's Cryin'" be the group's first release, "You Really Got Me" did well for itself, peaking at #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the heart of the disco era.


The Kinks' version of the song is a classic staple of British Invasion rock, with no outstanding guitar solos or any of the yelps that Roth always provides in Van Halen's music. They do, however, break out into a frenzy right before their own guitar solo, which is part of what makes their own version ridiculously fun. Van Halen's take on the song is a shameless goof, and in no way is trying to bring up any 1960's nostalgia. All it is, is a band in their beginning just trying to play some great rock and roll music, and to let everyone know what their sound is, and hopefully become staples on the rock circuit. They did just that, and it's not hard to see why. Just like the rest of the songs on the Van Halen album, it's an insane whirlwind of glammy hair metal rock, before hair metal was even a thing. But most importantly, it showed everyone just how talented this band was. Roth howls and screams his way through the song, reaching all his notes effortlessly, and bringing a tear-the-house-down vibe with it, which would become a Van Halen staple later on. Alex Van Halen would become known as one of the drumming greats in music's history, and of course, there's Eddie. Often times with "You Really Got Me", a mesmerizing, holy f****** s*** moment in rock's history comes before it, with Eddie's guitar solo "Eruption". (A link to that solo will be HERE if you have never seen it. I promise you'll be amazed) Eddie shreds his guitar's fretboard in the song, puts it back together, and shreds it again. While "You Really Got Me" doesn't feature the god-like guitar playing that "Eruption" has, it's still an amazing piece of electrical guitar heaven. (Even though I prefer the Kinks' version, the Van Halen guitar solo is better than the Kinks' guitar solo without a doubt) This is exactly what Van Halen needed, and they never looked back. They kept rolling and rolling, putting out more amazing rock material, including a #1 hit in 1984 with "Jump", that will obviously appear in the Hit Hammer series of reviewing each #1 song. The band kept touring and performing until Eddie was diagnosed with cancer, which would kill him in 2020, just a couple weeks before me writing this post.


Sometimes with covers, we wonder what the original artist thinks of the newfound twist on their song. As for the Kinks, their opinions differ. Dave absolutely despises Van Halen's version. He's quoted as saying ""There's the thing: good art isn't always about having the comfiest technique. I shouldn't encourage him, but I'm sure Eddie Van Halen played better when he was drunk." He also has said that he's been congratulated after some of his shows for a "good cover of Van Halen's song". Ray, on the other hand, said that he likes Van Halen's version because it "made him laugh". Here's my thing: If someone is going to cover your song, you could only hope that they do it justice. Van Halen did that, and so much more. It's not the original, and we all know that a remake is never as good as the original, but it's still a damn good cover of a damn good song.


GRADE: 9/10


(Thanks to my dad for this special request! And R.I.P. Eddie Van Halen)



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