Tom Dunne: At least Moby has reminded us all how good the Kinks are

Don't worry about Moby's throwaway comment — just go listen to the magnificence of The Kinks 

The Kinks in 1964: Clockwise, from left, Mick Avory, Dave Davies, Pete Quaife, singer Ray Davies. Photo: Tom Hustler/Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty

Moby’s attack on The Kinks’ song Lola — if you can call it that, a one-line jab in a glib Q&A, in which he also (more controversially) admits to liking Céline Dion — has had one very positive effect: people are talking about The Kinks’ music. And they should. They were brilliant.

Moby’s beef with Lola is that it is “gross and vulgar”. He is amazed, he says, at how “unevolved” the lyric is. I’ve asked him to come to my office at 12. This won’t end well for him.

The Kinks had an almost unprecedented run of 12 top 10 singles in the UK and introduced an Indian influence to their music way before The Beatles. Pete Townshend of The Who described that influence in See My Friends as “the first reasonable use of drone in popular music”. Take note, fans of My Bloody Valentine and Lankum.

They might even have challenged the Beatles’/Stones’ dominance in the USA had they not been banned from touring there by the American Federation of Musicians. But still, Sunny Afternoon was the biggest hit of the summer of 1966. As for Waterloo Sunset, well, where would you even begin?

It has been described as “the most beautiful song in the English language” and as “the most beautiful song of the rock and roll era”. Davies says it wasn’t Terence Stamp and Julie Christie in the song, but they are the star-crossed lovers most of us imagine, sitting gazing on the Waterloo sunset, in total, absolute paradise.

Davies wrote it while recovering from a full nervous and physical breakdown which he suffered at the height of the band’s fame in 1966. “Every day I look at the world from my window,” he wrote, as he observed life going on outside without him, as the Thames made its way to the sea and the sun set on empire.

It was the sensitive, observant writer of this song, and the almost as beautiful Days, Where Have All the Good Times Gone, and Stop Your Sobbing, who wrote Lola in 1970. It was kind of a comeback single, their first real hit since Autumn Almanac in 1967.

There are various takes on its inspiration. Ray said it was inspired by the experience of his manager, who had spent a night dancing with a cross-dresser in Paris. But there was also his own dinner date with Candy Darling, one of the Warhol crew and one of the first pioneers for transgender visibility.

Guitarist Dave Davies (Ray’s brother) says it was more to do with time spent in Soho with a friend of theirs called Michael McGrath, who invited them to secret clubs which were frequented by drag artists and transsexuals. Either way, Ray was adamant: “It really doesn’t matter what sex Lola is,” he said. “I think she’s alright.” 

The bigger controversy at the time was the use of Coca-Cola in the lyric. The BBC saw it as product placement. It was banned and hastily re-recorded with the lyric “Cherry Cola” instead. Most of us just loved the way he spelled out the ‘C-O-L-A, Cola’ bit — a pure genius hook.

Jayne County, formerly Wayne County in an American punk rock band, loved the song. She has been gender-nonconforming from an early age and has inspired artists like Patti Smith, Lou Reed, and David Bowie, not least with her song Man Enough to Be a Woman.

She described in a letter to Dave Davies how Lola had been a song to “break the ice” and propel what had been a “hush-hush subject to the forefront”. It was the song that propelled The Kinks into the modern world, a “world full of all kinds of people! Bisexual, gay, trans — not just a world full of straight heterosexuals.”

But it was edgy, as was so much of The Kinks’ music, which might help explain why they were so embraced by the punk community. The Jam, The Pretenders, The Romantics, and The Knack all covered their songs. Van Halen’s debut was a cover of You Really Got Me.

Moby, I’m sure, will be on the naughty step for some time after this. I’d suggest punishing him by making him listen to Celine Dion, but that wouldn’t really work, would it? Can you be punished by not listening to her?

For the rest of you, can I recommend some Kinks music ASAP? Luke Kelly’s version of Days is a triumph. Album-wise, The Village Green Preservation Society is a great start. Go forth and enjoy.