“One of my favourite Rolling Stones songs”: The track that changed Keith Richards’ approach
Devoted to the age-old sounds of blues, The Rolling Stones came to define the era of rock rebellion during the 1960s, lending a voice to the anarchic post-war generation in Britain. From ‘Satisfaction’ to ‘The Last Time’, the band’s distinctive sound helped to elevate them to become one of the world’s most renowned rock and roll outfits. Today, over six decades later, the group are still together and still touring the world, even in their elderly years. How many other bands can boast such an enduring career in the music industry?
Even the most successful rock bands only tend to stay together for a few years before splintering off into solo careers or replacing the core of their line-up. Take The Beatles, for instance, who only managed to last just over a decade together before splitting up. The Rolling Stones, on the other hand, have remained pretty consistent in their output since their initial formation under Brian Jones back in 1962.
A key aspect of the Stones’ endlessly enduring career is their aptitude for sonic diversity, continuously adapting their sound to different styles and eras, rather than remaining rooted in their ‘60s heyday forever. That ever-evolving songwriting style is largely owed to the infallible songwriting partnership of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Beginning during the mid-1960s, that partnership spurred the Stones on to colossal commercial success and gave the singer and guitarist a chance to flex their creative muscles.
Towards the end of the 1960s, as the tide of popular music began to shift away from teen-focused pop-rock into something much more bold and expansive, The Rolling Stones recognised a need for development. Immersing themselves in the psychedelic exploration and political activism of the hippie counterculture, the group experimented with their output, imbuing their work with a more overt and defiant sense of political commentary. This political era of the Stones is perhaps most evident on tracks like ‘Sympathy for the Devil’, and the 1968 masterpiece, ‘Street Fighting Man’.
Released the same month as the Democratic National Convention riots in Chicago, the song’s lyrics were inspired by the uptick in activism, protests, and rioting in the USA. In contrast to groups like The Beatles, who advocated peaceful protest, the Stones seemed to support the rioters in America, commanding audiences to stand up against authority and fight for their rights. For Keith Richards, however, the song brought with it another form of revolution.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal in 2013, Richards reflected on how ‘Street Fighting Man’ changed his musical outlook entirely. “‘Street Fighting Man’ is one of my favourite Rolling Stones songs,” he shared. “Probably because the music came together through a series of accidents and experimentation. We recorded it in a totally different way than anything we had done up until that point, and the results were pretty exciting and unexpected.”
Part of this experimentation for Richards revolved around the then-new technology of compact cassette recorders. “I bought one, but as I watched the small tape-cartridge reels turn, I began to think of the machine not as a dictation device but as a mini recording studio,” the guitarist recalled. “The problem is I couldn’t use an electric guitar to record on it. The sound just overwhelmed the mic and speaker. I tried an acoustic guitar instead and got this dry, crisp guitar sound on the tape—the exact sound I had been looking for on the song.”
This understated, acoustic guitar, which acts as the introduction to the song, perfectly reflected the grassroots protest movement of the counterculture age. Hippies were often seen strumming acoustic guitars and singing songs of peace, and Richards’ riff paid an essential nod to that scene, before developing into a much more rousing, aggressive call to arms. It is innovations and happy accidents like ‘Street Fighting Man’ which have made The Rolling Stones one of rock and roll’s only constants over the past six decades.
