The Kinks’ Ray Davies asked “who the f*ck is Moby” after he said ‘Lola’ was “gross and transphobic”, Dave Davies reveals
The Kinks‘ guitarist Dave Davies has shared his brother, Ray Davies’, reaction to Moby calling their song ‘Lola’ “gross and transphobic”.
“‘Lola’ by The Kinks came up on a Spotify playlist, and I thought the lyrics were gross and transphobic,” Moby said in a recent interview with The Guardian, before adding, “I like their early music, but I was really taken aback at how unevolved the lyrics are.”
This led to Dave taking to X to fire back at the criticism from Moby, writing, “I don’t wanna show the guy up, but Moby should be careful what he says.”
Referring to the pioneering San Francisco drag group, Davies continued: “The Cockettes and their friends used to follow us around on tour. We appreciated them.”
He added, “Why is Moby being so rude about this simple song? We’re not trans phobic. Why does he have to have a go at us?”
The track, released in 1970, finds Ray singing that the titular character of Lola “walks like a woman but talks like a man” and was inspired by their manager Robert Wace, who once spent a night dancing with a transgender woman.
Now, Dave has spoken to The Telegraph in-depth following criticism from Moby, and firstly asked the interviewer, “Who is Moby?” He then shared that his brother, Ray, had the same response, asking him on the phone, “Who the f*ck is Moby?”
Dave added of his brother’s response to the media storm caused by Moby’s comments, “He wasn’t happy at all.”
The guitarist then recalled his initial reaction to the song and explained that the band were also friendly with members of the transgender community, sharing, “It was fun and quite beautiful. It was about real people and real people’s antics. There is nothing nasty about it. And we had a lot of people like that backstage, which is what happens when you are called the Kinks. What we learned growing up in that band is that everyone is different: No one is one thing.”
Dave then said that “people were quite shocked by it,” which is supported by the fact that many radio stations would only play a heavily-edited version of ‘Lola’.
He added, “But we loved it, and the world seemed to love it too. No one mentioned the word transphobia then. I don’t think the word existed.”
The Kinks icon then said that Moby’s accusation of transphobia made him “worried that it could turn people against us because it can feel like people are becoming weirder by the day” and noted that it “can be dangerous to smear people”.
The guitarist labelled Moby’s comment as “a clumsy mistake”, but believes “we should be grateful that we live in a world where people are free to make music and say what they want to say.”
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