You Really Got Me

You Really Got Me is Nick Hasted’s illuminating biography of The Kinks, drawing on years of in-depth interviews with Ray and Dave Davies and shedding new light on a turbulent 30-year career scarred by suicide attempts, on-stage fights and recurring mental breakdowns. The Kinks’ distorted fuzz cut through popular music like a chainsaw and unexpectedly propelled two brothers from North London straight to the heights of stardom, to stand alongside The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. With exclusive interviews Nick Hasted untangles this turbulence: Why The Kinks became the only British group to be banned from America at the height of their success; why original bassist Pete Quaife quit in 1968; Ray Davies’ fraught relationship with Chrissie Hynde; how The Kinks’ later years rehabilitated their reputation in America. Updated to include details of the hit musical Sunny Afternoon and an up-to-the-minute report on the troubled relationship between the Davies brothers, You Really Got Me is the ultimate Kinks biography. “Keen eyed critique of a most contrary band” Uncut “Hasted is illuminating” Guardian

You Really Got Me is a slow burn, friends-to-lovers, rock star romance with explosive sexual chemistry and a soulful rocker who falls for his bandmate’s sister. “Slater Vaughn might just be the best book boyfriend I’ve ever come across.” – Obsessed with Romance If Emmie Valencia can get her brother’s band to the next level, her career will be set. So, if she has to live with five hard-partying guys, it’s worth the sacrifice. And the sizzling connection between her and the cocky, smoking hot, lead singer? Not a problem. She’s been there before and has the broken heart to show for it. She won’t make that mistake again. Slater Vaughn’s not what he seems. Sure, he’s hot, he’s sexy, and no one can captivate a crowd the way he does. But there’s another side he doesn’t show anyone…except Emmie. She sees right through him, past the wounds, down to his soul. And once he falls, there’s no turning back. So, it’s a cruel twist of fate that right when Emmie lets down her guard and falls in love, she scores a national tour for the band. They’re opening for the sexy, wildly talented, It girl of the moment. A woman so similar to Slater…it’s like they were meant for each other. But Slater’s not giving up. He’s all-in. Which means, if Emmie wants her happy ever after, she’ll just have to take a leap of faith.

Emerging from the same British music boom that birthed the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Dave and Ray Davies’s band, the Kinks, became one of England’s most influential groups. Remembered best for such singles as “You Really Got Me,” “Lola,” and “Sunny Afternoon,” the Kinks produced 24 studio albums between 1964 and 1996. The Kinks’ prolific and varied catalog have made them both a mirror of and a counterfoil to nearly five decades of British and American culture. The Kinks: A Thoroughly English Phenomenon examines the music and performance of this quintessentially English band and shows how aspects of everyday life such as work, play, buying a house, driving a car, drinking tea, getting drunk, and getting laid, affected and shaped their creative output. Through an investigation of their music, lyrics, and image, Carey Fleiner shows how the Kinks reflected both the ordinary and the absurd, sometimes confronting topics with anger and sometimes with self-deprecating humor. The Kinks follows the band’s trajectory more or less chronologically and explores themes such as growing up in post-war Britain, the packaging and exploitation of the “British Invasion” bands, satire and self-consciousness, sexuality and gender-bending, social and political pessimism, the comforts of family, and the effects of fame and fandom. Fleiner’s investigation into the influences on and impact of the Kinks’ music takes readers on an engaging adventure through the musical culture of the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, revealing how the Kinks created an undeniable sound and image that still attracts new followers today.

In August 1964 The Kinks released their third single. After a little noticed debut and a follow-up that had failed to chart at all, Pye Records were threatening to annul the group’s contract. But with its unforgettable distorted guitar riff, 'You Really Got Me’ went on to reach No.1, entering the US Top Ten later the same year. Followed by a string of hits, it marked the breakthrough of one of Britain’s most innovative and influential bands, and a turning point in the fortunes of two brothers whose troubled story is as tumultuous and characterful as the music they produced: Ray and Dave Davies. Born into a deeply musical working-class family in London’s Muswell Hill, Ray and Dave grew up in a city recovering from the bombs and privations of the Second World War. More than any other musicians of the Sixties, they crafted the soundtrack that made it swing again. In songs such as ‘Dedicated Follower of Fashion’, ‘Sunny Afternoon’ – which toppled The Beatles to become the hit of Summer 1966 – ‘Waterloo Sunset’, ‘Days’ and ‘Lola’, they drew on music hall, folk and rhythm and blues to craft a peculiarly English pop idiom, inspiring generations of songwriters from David Bowie to Jarvis Cocker and Damon Albarn. Pocked by sibling rivalry, furious on-stage violence, walkouts, overdoses, a career-throttling ban from the US, gross self-indulgence, and the band's curious rebirth as eighties stadium rockers, the story laid bare in God Save The Kinks is one of the greatest in British pop history.

NOW UPDATED WITH A NEW EPILOGUE In the summer of 1964, aged twenty, Ray Davies led the Kinks to fame with their number one hit ‘You Really Got Me’. Within months, they were established among the pop elite, swamped by fans and fast becoming renowned for the rioting at their gigs. But Ray’s journey from working-class Muswell Hill to the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame was tumultuous in the extreme, featuring breakdowns, bitter lawsuits, spectacular punch-ups and a ban from entering the USA. His relationship with his brother Dave is surely the most ferocious and abusive in music history. Based on countless interviews conducted over several decades, this richly detailed and revelatory biography presents the most frank and intimate portrait yet of Ray Davies.

A strange and charming collection of hilariously absurd poetry, writing, and illustration from one of today's most popular young comedians?Ķ Bo Burnham was a precocious teenager living in his parents' attic when he started posting material on YouTube. 100 million people viewed those videos, turning Bo into an online sensation with a huge and dedicated following. Bo taped his first of two Comedy Central specials four days after his 18th birthday, making him the youngest to do so in the channel's history. Now Bo is a rising star in the comedy world, revered for his utterly original and intelligent voice. And, he can SIIIIIIIIING! In Egghead, Bo brings his brand of brainy, emotional comedy to the page in the form of off-kilter poems, thoughts, and more. Teaming up with his longtime friend, artist, and illustrator Chance Bone, Bo takes on everything from death to farts in this weird book that will make you think, laugh and think, "why did I just laugh?"

This book helps to recognize key points in creating and maintaining boundaries in everyday relationships involving coworkers, friends, family, and intimate relationships.

"Daniel Randolph Deal is a Southern aristocrat, having the required bloodline, but little of the nobility. A man resistant to the folly of ethics, he prefers a selective, self-indulgent morality. He is a confessed hedonist, albeit responsibly so."--Back cover