Hvem lavede det fængende, klassiske riff i The Kinks “You really got me”? På The Kinks Facebookside insisterer Dave Davies på sin egen version, der ikke involverer storebroder Ray (der har givet en anden version i sin erindringsbog X-Ray) og angriber nogle andre for at forvrænge historien:

An open letter to Rich Cohen, Random House and Slate magazine.

For the record, I would like to correct a falsehood published in author Rich Cohen’s recent book ‘The Sun & the Moon & the Rolling Stones’. In a passage about the Rolling Stones’ song Satisfaction, a song which came out in 1965, the year after our worldwide hit Kinks song ‘You Really Got Me’ written by my brother Ray was released in 1964, Mr. Cohen states that Ray and I got into ‘a fight’ after which ‘one’ of us slashed my green amp to create my famous distorted guitar sound.

Cohen states, ‘The sound was akin to the lead on the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me,” which, according to legend, resulted from a fight between Dave Davies and Ray Davies. One of the brothers cut a speaker with a razor blade, causing the same sort of snarled line Richards achieved with the fuzz pedal.’

Mr. Cohen and Slate magazine editors have refused to provide a source for this passage despite repeated requests from my staff. As I have stated in interviews and print since 1964, I was alone at home in the front room of 6 Denmark Terrace in Muswell Hill North London when I got angry because I was upset about being separated from my girlfriend. I slashed the speaker cone with a razor blade IN A FIT OF RAGE. Ray was not with me. I was alone in my ANGER. IT had nothing to do with a fight with my brother.

My friend and peer Jimi Hendrix told me some years later that he loved my guitar sound and that ‘You Really Got Me’ was a landmark record. The casual tone with which Rich Cohen dismisses my innovation is insulting and undermines my singular achievement as if it didn’t matter , A SLIGHT OF HAND. I request an immediate revision of this passage to the book and article excerpt in Slate magazine. In all modesty that guitar tone on You Really Got Me- revolutionized rock guitar and Rock guitar was never the same again. The sound was copied by generations of musicians and still is today.. including Punk rock and heavy metal musicians.

Dave Davies – May 21, 2016

Man skal altid være varsom med at tro på den slags truismer, der bygger på erindringen. Måske husker Dave Davies forkert. Og måske er det i virkeligheden uinteressant, hvordan lyden og riffet kom i stand. Det vigtigste er, at lyd og riff kom i stand i den indspilning.