The Kinks’ Dave Davies Slams Moby Over “Lola” Criticism: “I Am Highly Insulted”

News The Kinks’ Dave Davies Slams Moby Over “Lola” Criticism: “I Am Highly Insulted” The DJ and producer recently called the Kinks’ 1970 hit “gross and transphobic” in an interview with The Guardian By Walden Green March 23, 2026 Save this story Save this story Over the weekend, Moby participated in The Guardian ’s “ Honest Playlist ” column, which asks musicians and other celebrities to compile a list of songs based on specific prompts. For “The song I can no longer listen to,” the producer and DJ opted for “Lola” by the Kinks . “Lola by the Kinks came up on a Spotify playlist, and I thought the lyrics were gross and transphobic,” he said. “I like their early music, but I was really taken aback at how unevolved the lyrics are.” Kinks guitarist Dave Davies then responded to Moby’s comments about “Lola,” which was written by the band’s frontman and Davies’ brother, Ray. “I am highly insulted that Moby would accuse my brother of being ‘unevolved’ or transphobic in any way,” he wrote on X . Davies also shared a statement from the pioneering transgender punk artist Jayne County. In it, she writes: “Lola will always be one of those songs that for me ‘broke the ice’ so to speak! A song that breaks down barriers and brings a used to be, hush, hush subject to the forefront and makes it sound perfectly natural to be singing a song about a ‘girl’ named Lola! I don’t think the radio stations picked up on the subject matter but a lot of the fans did and that's what really matters!” Read County’s full words below. “Lola” was released in June 1970 as the lead single from that year’s Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround Part One . Whether the song’s subject is a trans woman or a cross-dresser remains a longstanding point of contention. “It really doesn’t matter what sex Lola is,” Ray Davies told Record Mirror in an interview around the time of release. “I think she’s all right.” As “Lola” climbed the charts, UK radio DJs took to fading out the song before its final-verse reve...