Dave Davies, the founding guitarist of The Kinks, has publicly withdrawn his endorsement of a new biography of the legendary British rock band. The book contains significant factual errors about the group’s early recording sessions.
The biography in question is The Kinks: The Day-By-Day Story (also titled All Day and All of the Night), written by Doug Hinman and Andrew Sandoval and released in February 2026. Davies had signed copies of the book for charity before having the opportunity to thoroughly review its contents.
“I cannot endorse the new Kinks book by Doug Hinman and Andrew Sandoval because there’s misinformation in it about our early recording sessions,” Davies said. “I signed some copies for charity before I had read the errors. I’m optimistic that a correction or two will be issued in due course.”
The primary source of Davies’ anger centers on a long-standing and false claim that has plagued the band’s history for decades. The biography perpetuates the myth that Jimmy Page, the legendary guitarist of Led Zeppelin, played on classic Kinks tracks including “All Day and All of the Night” and “I Need You.”
Davies vehemently denied these claims and expressed his exasperation at the persistence of this misinformation. “All those f*king years ago why don’t they leave me alone,” he said. “That little bit of rhythm guitar on all day and all the night is Ray. Jimmy Page did not play rhythm guitar on all day and all the night. And Jimmy Page did not put distortion on ‘I Need You’ either. F*king hell.”
Jimmy Page himself has previously confirmed that the rumor is entirely false. Page stated that he was not involved with The Kinks’ recordings. His session work during that era included playing on The Who’s “I Can’t Explain,” but he had no involvement with The Kinks’ material. Davies has repeatedly emphasized that he never even knew Page personally, making the persistent attribution of his work to the Led Zeppelin guitarist all the more frustrating.
The actual origin of the distinctive distorted sound that defined “You Really Got Me” and made it such a groundbreaking 1964 hit was far more creative and hands-on than the false narrative suggests. Davies himself created the iconic guitar tone by slashing his amplifier speaker cone with a razor blade. This innovative approach to achieving distortion was entirely Davies’ own invention and represented a crucial moment in the development of rock music’s sonic palette.
Davies has taken matters into his own hands in recent weeks to combat this misinformation. He corrected a Wikipedia entry about the band and issued video statements on July 6 and July 8, 2026, to clarify the historical record and set the facts straight. Despite these efforts, Davies expressed his weariness with having to repeatedly deny the same false claims. “I can only say no so many times,” he noted, underscoring the exhaustion that comes with fighting persistent historical inaccuracies about one’s own life and work.
The authors have defended the book’s integrity. Andrew Sandoval claimed it represents the “most definitive research-based account” of the band’s history available. However, Davies’ public withdrawal of his endorsement raises serious questions about the accuracy of the biography. The fact that Davies was not given the opportunity to proofread the book before its release in February 2026 has only compounded the controversy surrounding its credibility.
