On This Day in 1968, The Rolling Stones Released a Controversial Tune That Was Banned by Radio—and Later Hated by Mick Jagger

Anti-war sentiment was ripe in the 1960s, as what many deemed an unjust conflict unfolded in Vietnam. Music-wise, however, protest songs were largely the purview of folk artists like Bob Dylan. The Rolling Stones, at the height of their fame, had largely stuck to more pedestrian matters in their songwriting. However, that changed in March 1968 when frontman Mick Jagger joined 25,000 demonstrators at London’s Grosvenor Square in protesting the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. From there, one of the Stones’ most blatantly political songs was born — “Street Fighting Man,” released Aug. 31, 1968.

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This Rolling Stones Song Was Banned From the Radio

“Street Fighting Man” is yet another example of the Mick Jagger-Keith Richards powerhouse songwriting combination. The lyrics see Jagger declaring, “Summer’s here and the time is right / For fighting in the street, boy.

“[We] were both in Paris in May during the violent protests by students demanding reforms. The French cops were pretty nasty about it,” Richards recalled in a 2013 interview with The Wall Street Journal. “As we traveled around, Mick and I would look at each other and realize something big was happening in two major capitols of the world and that our generation was bursting at the seams.”

Many radio stations balked at the song’s perceived call to arms: “I’ll shout and scream, I’ll kill the king / I’ll rail at all his servants.” Chicago stations in particular steered clear, as “Street Fighting Man” arrived on the heels of violent clashes between police and anti-Vietnam War protesters at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. 

Because so many refused to play it, “Street Fighting Man” barely cracked the Top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 — quite the opposite of the band’s previous single, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” Still, nearly six decades later, it is still regarded as the Rolling Stones at their snarling, rebellious best.

[RELATED: The Rolling Stones Song They Wrote in Response to “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”]

It’s Keith Richards’ Favorite

Mick Jagger has since soured on “Street Fighting Man,” telling Rolling Stone in 1995, “I don’t really like it that much. I thought it was a very good thing at the time.”

Keith Richards, however, has expressed quite the opposite perspective, calling it one of his favorite Rolling Stones songs.

“When we were completely done recording ‘Street Fighting Man’ and played back the master, I just smiled,” the guitarist said in 2013. “It’s the kind of record you love to make—and they don’t come that often.”

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