You really got me Ray and Dave

by Stephen Payne

Photograph by W. Veenman, CC BY-SA 3.0 NL <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/nl/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons

Last week we looked at the Animals, a Rhythm and blues band from Newcastle upon Tyne. They were one of the innovators of the 60s and part of the British invasion of the US. There were many great British bands that came out of this period. The who, the rolling stones, and the Beatles just to name a few. The animals were helped on their way by former Yardbirds manager Giorgio Gomelsky, but these weren’t the only young musicians he had dealings with. Two brothers by the name of Ray and Dave Davies also met him in their early days. These two brothers would go on to form the Kinks, one of the most influential bands of the period, but how did the band form?

The two brothers were born and raised in Muswell Hill in North London. They were exposed to a lot of different music growing up, Music hall from their parents and Jazz and rock and roll from their older sisters. Both the brothers learned to play guitar and played skiffle and rock and roll together. The inevitable happened, and the two brothers formed a band while at school, with their debut performance being at the school dance. They went through a number of vocalists with Rod Stewart once performing for them as he attended the same school.

The band had a few years where they performed on and off again. Ray had gone to art college, and they went through various names and line-ups. The brothers even joined other bands. Ray Davies asked Alexi Korner for advice, who put him in contact with Giorgio Gomelsky. He was then told to contact the Soho-based Dave Hunt Band, which was one of the bands he performed in.

Later on, the group managed to come back together and renamed themselves the kinks. They auditioned unsuccessfully for a number of record companies until they were eventually signed to Pye records. The band had a few covers and unsuccessful songs in 1964, Pye records threatened to fire them. On 15^th June 1964 the band released “You really got me.” This hit single was responsible for propelling the band into fame.

The band has influenced a lot of other musicians over the years with Van Halen, The Jam, and The Pretenders all covering their song. Britpop bands of the 90s such as Blur and Oasis also cited them as an influence. It’s not hard to see the impact they had on music over the years.