According to Dave Davies, the Kinks were always open-minded about LGBTQ+ issues.
In a new conversation with Classic Rock History, the guitarist was asked why they chose to write ‘Lola,’ referring to a progressive look at gender and whether they were worried about any backlash.
He replied, “Interesting question. You’re right; it has become much more common to talk about gay people within the arts and in general. But back then, it wasn’t. All the members of The Kinks were always very open-minded when it came to gay people and the way that people view sex in general.”
“Also, it was more common to talk about those things within our business than within the public sector. So, no, we weren’t concerned with backlash. We just did what came to us and did our best to stay creative,” Davies explained.
A follow-up question asked whether Davies thinks ‘Lola’ helped the LGBT community gain more acceptance in music and beyond. The musician responded, “Yeah, I think so. Many people have said, ‘Oh, man, ‘Lola’ showed me a different view of the world and helped me grow up. Thank you for that.'”
“When you’re young, you don’t always realize or fully understand the differences between people. And you don’t always understand how these things can affect people. But we had many friends that were bi-sexual or in transition, so it was pretty common and maybe more common than people used to think,” he added.
“But actually nowadays, it’s really quite a very common subject, gender — talking about ‘girls will be boys and boys will be girls,'” Davies also shared in another interview. “We’re going through a big change in attitude and feeling and ‘what are we?’ and ‘why are we?’ — so, it’s very topical now.”
‘Lola’ appeared on the Kinks’ 1970 album ‘Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One.’ Ray Davies wrote the track.
