Shel Talmy

Chicago-born producer Shel Talmy and the Kinks revolutionized rock with the distorted-guitar attack of “You Really Got Me,” so impressing Pete Townshend that the Who leader wrote “I Can’t Explain” as a Kinks-like song to lure Talmy to produce them too. Talmy did, starting with “My Generation,” and also produced the Easybeats (“Friday on My Mind”), the Creation (“Making Time”) and a young David Bowie while continuing with the Kinks. Now living in Los Angeles, Talmy has tales to tell about all of them, including how the Kinks and the Who behaved in the studio, what Jimmy Page really did on “You Really Got Me” and how corrupt the music business can be. You’ll want to listen All Day and All of the Night.