The Kinks - You Really Got Me (Official Audio)

UCRs top 100 classic rock songs list brings us to #59: The Kinks "YOU REALLY GOT ME"

If you are searching for the definitive riff in all of rock and roll, we may have just the thing for you: The Kinks' 1964 gate crasher "You Really Got Me," the next entry in our list of Top 100 Classic Rock Songs.

This amazingly primal track, released in the summer of 1964 during the height of the British Invasion, inspired countless bands over many genres. It has been said that the roots of punk, heavy metal and garage rock can be traced to this two-and-a-half-minute blast of energy.

Ray Davies' simple, almost neanderthal riff — played by brother Dave Davies, and aided by perfectly a raw production from Shel Talmy — was unique to the beat groups invading our shores that year. The Beatles were more refined, the Animals more bluesy and Gerry & The Pacemakers more pop, but the Kinks were savagely loud rock and roll.

This riff really did launch a thousand songs in its wake, just ask the Who, AC/DC, the Clash, Van Halen (who had their own hit with a cover of the song), Blur and Jack White, to name a few. That surge of teen urgency channeled through that distorted guitar was a match made in heaven. Crank it up and you will see that decades later, it still knocks down walls.

One of the greatest songwriters of the rock and roll era, Ray Davies went on to compose a string of amazing singles and albums. The Kinks' catalog from 1964 through 1970 stands up to that of any of their more popular peers.