10 Greatest Rock Anthems Of All Time

As the British Invasion started making its way across the Atlantic, the entire rock genre was still just a baby. Though the sheer power of acts like Elvis Presley and Little Richard had started everything off right, the arrival of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones on American shores ensured that the genre was in it for the long haul. Out of all the bands to reignite the rock genre, the Kinks were the first to really give it some teeth with You Really Got Me.

For all of the harshness that's going on here though, the crux of the song was actually written as a jazzier arrangement, with Ray Davies originally envisioning the song's riff played out with a horn section. Once it got into the hands of his brother Dave though, the chunky power chords didn't sound anything like what the rock and roll of old was. This was the beginning of something a lot more vicious.

Along with the opening strains of Cream or Led Zeppelin, this became the go to anthem for anyone interested in the heavier side of rock, leading to Van Halen immortalizing the tune again and becoming the garage rock staple in practice spaces across the world. While the Beatles and Stones would eventually refine their own metallic approach, the Kinks were the godfathers who set the heaviness wars in motion.