Van Halen Version
| "You Really Got Me" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Van Halen | ||||
| from the album Van Halen | ||||
| B-side | "Atomic Punk" | |||
| Released | 1978 | |||
| Format | 7" 45 RPM | |||
| Recorded | September–October 1977 | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, heavy metal | |||
| Length | 2:35 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Writer(s) | Ray Davies | |||
| Producer | Ted Templeman | |||
| Van Halen singles chronology | ||||
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U.S. hard rock band Van Halen recorded "You Really Got Me" for their 1978 debut album, Van Halen. It was a popular radio hit which helped jump-start the band's career, as it had done for The Kinks 14 years earlier. The song was used on the soundtrack for the early Ron Howard film Night Shift. On the radio, it has been frequently played together with "Eruption," the instrumental that precedes it on the album. This version was the soundtrack of the celebrated, award-winning 1996 Nissan commercial Toys in which "Nick", driving a toy Nissan 300ZX, entices "Roxanne" out on a date, to "Tad"'s dismay. Mattel sued, but settled. It was also used by Nissan for its Japanese commercials. This version later appeared in the 2003 video game Karaoke Revolution and the 2006 video game Guitar Hero II. The Guitar Hero II version is itself a cover, however, the song was later revisited as a master recording in the Van Halen-themed Guitar Hero game, Guitar Hero: Van Halen.
The Kinks' Dave Davies has gone on record as having a personal dislike of Van Halen's cover of the song and believes "They (Van Halen) would be penniless without The Kinks". He also told of how Kinks fans have approached him and congratulated him on performing a "great cover of the Van Halen song", and how Van Halen fans have approached him to accuse him of "ripping off Van Halen". Ray Davies, on the other hand, liked it.
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