Dave Davies of The Kinks recently shared his candid thoughts on Van Halen’s famous cover of “You Really Got Me.” He labeled it disrespectful to the original song’s meaning in an interview with Guitar Player.
Davies has expressed his disappointment with how Van Halen interpreted the classic Kinks track. He differed it with other covers he found more respectful.
“When I first heard Van Halen’s version of ‘You Really Got Me,’ I laughed,” Davies said. “It just seemed so exaggerated.”
The guitarist discussed why he felt the cover missed the essence of the original song.
“It really misses the point of the whole meaning of the song: four working-class guys, struggling to do something different,” he continued.
“In the original record, you can sense that in its energy, the roughness. It’s very impure. The Van Halen thing; it’s very accomplished and flashy, but what does it mean?”
Davies also lauded The Stranglers’ cover of another Kinks song as a more respectful interpretation.
“Whereas when the Stranglers did ‘All Day and All of the Night,’ I thought it was much more respectful, because they actually tried to get a similar snare drum sound and guitar sound, which I thought was strange,” he said. “I can’t imagine anybody wanting to do that anyway.”
“But at least it seemed more respectful to the original concept and feeling,” Davies added. “Even the solo was like the original solo, which I thought was really nice and sweet.”
Davies’ criticism of Van Halen’s interpretation becomes more meaningful when considering the original song’s creation and cultural impact.
