Kinks

If all that The Kinks contributed to the rock ‘n’ roll canon was the riff to 1964’s “You Really Got Me,” they’d still be legends today.

With those nasty, distorted guitar chords, the London group (formed a year prior) transformed the British Invasion into a genuine act of war, teaching the first generations of punks and metalheads how to turn it up to 11.

However, the violence implicit in The Kinks’ early music tended to manifest in actual onstage fisticuffs (often between frontman Ray Davies and his guitarist brother Dave), saddling the group with a rough-cat reputation that would see them denied touring visas for the U.S.