Kinks Refute BBC Doc Saying Jimmy Page Played on ‘You Really Got Me’
The Kinks are refuting a new BBC Radio 2 documentary that once again alleges the long-debunked myth that Jimmy Page played on their 1964 hit, “You Really Got Me.”
“BBC tells lies about Dave Davies and the Kinks in their new documentary,” Dave Davies wrote in an all-caps message on Facebook, urging fans to tweet the facts at the show’s producer Kellie Redmond and host Danny Baker. “I, Dave Davies, invented the distorted guitar sound and played the solo on ‘You Really Got Me’ and Ray Davies played rhythm guitar. We never used ANY other guitarists on any Kinks hits.”
Baker’s documentary on London’s famed Denmark Street — known as the city’s own Tin Pan Alley — simply states that Page, a session musician at the time, played on the track, though other iterations of the legend have credited him for the song’s distinct guitar tone and solo.
The Kinks themselves, producer Shel Talmy and even Page have all denied the legend’s validity over the years. (You can check out Dave Davies’ own account of how he came up with the song’s signature distorted sound in this VH1 clip.) And as recently as 2013, Talmy told The Guardian, “contrary to myth, Jimmy didn’t play on ‘You Really Got Me,'” though the producer maintained that Page played rhythm guitar on a few Kinks tracks so that Ray wouldn’t have to play and sing at the same time.
False as it is, the resurfacing of the “You Really Got Me” myth does coincide with the Kinks’ own 50th anniversary, which the band may or may not celebrate together. Back in June, the Davies brothers said they were discussing the possibility of a reunion tour, though they both agreed that they would want to record a new album before hitting the road.