Forty-four years ago today (January 28th, 1978) Van Halen released their debut single, one that would ultimately become the band’s breakthrough song – “You Really Got Me”.
Released to just 35 radio stations initially, the single would gain steady airplay on 140 radio stations around the country within just a month and peaked at #25 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
The first hit single but certainly not the last for Van Halen. Of the close to 60 singles the band would release over the next three decades, 13 hit number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart. During the 1980s, they along with the band Heart had more Billboard Hot 100 hits, 15, than any other hard rock or heavy metal band.
Here is the Van Halen News Desk‘s in-depth look back at Van Halen’s “You Really Got Me”:
“I’ll never forget hearing “You Really Got Me” at two o’clock in the morning the very first time on the radio. I ran and woke up my mom and dad, going, “We’re on the radio! We’re on the radio!” And it’s like that every time, even 13 albums later. I still get just as excited hearing us on the radio now as I did then.”
—Eddie Van Halen
“You Really Got Me” is the third track on Van Halen (Originally written and released by The Kinks in 1964).
Warner Bros. chose “You Really Got Me” to herald the coming of the new colossus. The band was bummed that their record company decided the band’s first release was to be a cover song instead of an original. “It bummed me out that our first single was somebody else’s tune,” Ed says. Even so, Van Halen’s revamped cover made the song their own with their three-part harmonies, Eddie’s raucous guitar tone, and the world’s first taste of his revolutionary tapping technique.
Eddie recalled playing a tape of the finished album in late 1977 for drummer Barry Brandt from the rival Sunset Strip club act Angel, only to learn a week later that Angel were in the studio bashing out their own hard rock version of the Kinks’ song. Templeman and Warner Bros. scrambled to rush Van Halen’s single into stores first. The song snuck up on a few rock radio stations and soon took hold nationally. The precision-tooled cover took Van Halen into the Top 40 pop charts in United States and the United Kingdom, a sort of American invasion. Eddie was at home when he heard the song on the radio for the first time at 2 A.M. He ran into his parents’ bedroom and woke them up shouting, “Mom! Dad! We’re on the radio!”
The single was released in early 1978 with “Atomic Punk” as a B-Side. Initially released to only 35 radio stations, this song was added to 26 more the very next week. Within one month it was getting airplay on 140 stations across the country.
The lurching, staccato sound at he end of the guitar solo was performed by Eddie bending the G string at the 7th fret and turning his pickup toggle switch back and forth on his Ibanez Destroyer “Shark.” His neck pickup was disengaged and when he toggled back and forth it allowed the note to sound as if it was being turned off and on. Eddie demonstrated this technique in the video for the song.
The song was included on the soundtrack of the movie “Night Shift” as well as a 1996 Nissan Commercial.
Listen to the Backing Track, with NO VOCALS:
Official Music Video:
Lyrics:
Girl, you really got me now
You got me so I don’t know what I’m doin’
Girl, you really got me now
You got me so I can’t sleep at night
Girl, you really got me now
You got me so I don’t know where I’m goin’, yeah
Oh Girl, you really got me now
You got me so I can’t sleep at night
You really got me
You really got me
You really got me
Please, don’t ever let me be
I only wanna be by your side
Please, don’t ever let me be
I only wanna be by your side
Girl, you really got me now
You got me so I don’t know what I’m doin’, yeah
Oh yeah, you really got me now
Got me so I can’t sleep at night
You really got me
You really got me
You really got me
Oh no, no, ah
Girl, you really got me now
You got me so I don’t know what I’m doin’
Ah girl, you really got me now
You got me so I can’t sleep at night
Girl, you really got me now
You got me so I don’t know where I’m goin’, yeah
Oh yeah, you really got me now
Got me so I can’t sleep at night
You really got me
You really got me
You really got me
Oh Oh Oh
