Five controversial songs by The Rolling Stones that need to be forgotten

After forming in 1962, The Rolling Stones quickly defined the decade alongside other British bands like The Beatles and The Kinks. The 1960s was a significant time in the development of counterculture, rock music and youth movements, and The Rolling Stones, with their gritty style, were widely influential in this cultural shift.

The band might have started out as a blues cover band, but it didn’t take long for the Stones to solidify themselves as talented songwriters in their own right. This was mainly down to the pairing between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, becoming known as one of music’s most notable songwriting duos.

Over the years, the Stones continued to dominate the charts, releasing hit songs and performing live for millions of fans. While The Beatles were done by 1970, their rivals kept going – and continue to do so – making them one of the only surviving bands from the 1960s to actively record and tour.

Naturally, during their long, prolific career, in which the members indulged in the iconic ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’ lifestyle, many poor decisions were made. Some of these, however, were songs. From lyrics objectifying women to questionable racially-charged lines, here are five controversial cuts from The Rolling Stones that we’d rather not hear again.

Perhaps the most obvious choice, but an essential contribution to this list, ‘Brown Sugar’ sees Jagger ignorantly explore a relationship with a black woman. Released in 1970, the song appeared on Sticky Fingers and became a smash hit. Yet, the song tackles its themes incredibly insensitively, with Jagger singing about slave owners whipping and raping black female slaves.

However, after broaching the subject, Jagger begins objectifying and infantilising his black lover with lines like “Brown sugar, how come you taste so good?/ Brown sugar, just like a young girl should”.

Talking to Rolling Stone in 1995, Jagger expressed regret over writing the lyrics, stating, “God knows what I’m on about in that song. It’s such a mishmash. All the nasty subjects in one go… I didn’t think about it at the time. I never would write that song now.”

Released in 1981, almost 20 years after the Stones burst onto the scene, ‘Little T&A’ is an uncomfortable celebration of groupies (many of whom were underage during the 1960s and 1970s). Written by Richards, the song, which appeared on Tattoo You, sees the guitarist sing lines such as “She’s my little rock ‘n’ roll, ah hah/ My X and X with soul, baby.” The musician appears to only think of these young women as sexual body parts rather than, you know, autonomous humans.

Richards once described his inspiration behind the song to Rolling Stone: “Every good time I’ve had with somebody I’d met for a night or two and never seen again. And also about the shit that sometimes goes down when you just sort of bump into people unknowingly, and not knowing the scene you’re walking in on, you know? You pick up a chick and end up spending the night in the tank, you know?”

If you’ve ever wanted to hear Jagger sing the word “X” almost 60 times in four minutes, look no further than ‘Star Star’. While spewing a common swear word isn’t much of a big deal – unless you want to play the song on the radio – its lines like “your tricks with fruit was kinda cute/ I bet you keep your pussy clean” and “Lead guitars and movie stars/ Get their tongues beneath your hood” that make us want to erase the song from our memory.

Moreover, Jagger’s attempt to criticise a woman by repeatedly calling her a “starX” is ironic, as he wasn’t exactly a saint himself. Thus, the song exudes a chauvinistic, contradictory sentiment that has certainly not aged well.

While Jagger claims that ‘Some Girls’ was intended to satirise racist and sexist attitudes that women face, with songs such as ‘Brown Sugar’ under his belt, the musician is in no place to criticise other men. Instead, Jagger’s offensive statements, such as “Black girls just wanna get X all night” and “Chinese girls are so gentle/They’re really such a tease,” only perpetuate harmful stereotypes.

The song was released in 1978 and was met with disgust from civil rights and feminist groups. For example, Reverend Jesse Jackson called the song a “racial insult” that “degrades blacks and women”. In response, Atlantic Records’ Ahmet Ertegun said, “Mick assured me that it was a parody of the type of people who hold these attitudes. Mick has great respect for blacks. He owes his whole being, his whole musical career, to black people.”

Jagger seemed to have a penchant for writing sexist lyrics, attempting to defend his questionable choices as satire and jokes. Yet, it’s hard to brush off songs like ‘Under My Thumb’ when Jagger’s lyrics actively encourage a view of women as submissive animals (“Under my thumb/ Is a Siamese cat of a girl”). In the song, Jagger sings about asserting his dominance over a woman – one that cannot dare look at another man while he is free to do as he pleases.

Jagger once told Rolling Stone, “It’s a bit of a jokey number, really. It’s not really an anti-feminist song any more than any of the others… It’s in reply to a girl who was a very pushy woman.” Yet, if the song is based on a real “pushy woman” from Jagger’s life, it’s hard not to assume that the musician didn’t secretly enjoy his misogynistic lyrical take-down.

One of the songs I hate the most (and there is a LONG list) -is Mick Jagger and David Bowie’s rendition of “Dancing in the Street.” Absolute dreck...

I agree and a lot of artist collaborations are like that.

The problem with collaborations is that the artists have minimal time in the studio with each other so they just cobble something together that doesn't even begin to measure up to their usual standards.

Some other examples of lame collaborations:

Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder "Ebony And Ivory"
Neil Diamond & Barbara Streisand "You Don't Bring Me Flowers"
Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney "Say Say Say"

In fact, all the Paul McCartney collaborations are lame, lame, lame.

Then you have the worst collaborations of all when a bunch of artists get together in the name of some cause like hunger in Africa. Thus, the "We Are The World" dreck by USA For Africa and the companion effort in England by Band Aid "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

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