[If] the Kinks haven't taught us anything else, they've showed us that you can be real and make it….

Who else but Ray Davies would sing about Waterloo Station and Muswell Hill and village greens?

It wasn't always that straightforward, though….

[With "You Really Got Me"] The Kinks proved that they could execute a pretty mean boogie with two chords and a key change….

Maybe it's the type of situation that occurs when a group achieves a measure of success before it's mature enough to handle it, but Ray Davies wrote a large number of variations on a theme of "You Really Got Me," that filled up the bulk of the early albums and B-sides.

Still, it was a fine riff, and would bands like the Stooges have existed if folks like the Kinks hadn't shown what could be achieved with a modicum of instrumental ability? And think...