1968 Banned Rock Classic, Ranked Among 'Greatest Songs of All Time,' Was Recorded With a Toy Drum Set
As Mick Jagger sang," "summer's here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy." By the summer of 1968, the vibe shifted from "Dancing in the Street" (which Jagger would end up covering years later with David Bowie) to one of unrest and revolution, a shift which resulted in perhaps the most political Rolling Stones song of all time: "Street Fighting Man."
Released on Beggar's Banquet, "Street Fighting Man" was written by Jagger and Keith Richards after the frontman attended an anti-war rally at London's U.S. Embassy where mounted police tried to control a crowd of over 20,000. As Jagger explained in a 1995 Rolling Stone interview with Jann Wenner, he was also inspired by protests happening outside of the U.K.
"It was a very strange time in France," he recalled. "But not only in France but also in America, because of the Vietnam War and these endless disruptions...I thought it was a very good thing at the time."
"There was all this violence going on," Jagger continued. "I mean, they almost toppled the government in France; [Charles] de Gaulle went into this complete funk, as he had in the past, and he went and sort of locked himself in his house in the country. And so the government was almost inactive. And the French riot police were amazing."
The way the Stones recorded "Street Fighting Man" was its own form of rebellion, in a way, in which typical methods (and even instruments) were set aside.
"'Street Fighting Man' was recorded on Keith's cassette with a 1930s toy drum kit called a London Jazz Kit Set, which I bought in an antiques shop, and which I've still got at home," Charlie Watts explained in the 2003 book According to the Rolling Stones.
"It came in a little suitcase, and there were wire brackets you put the drums in; they were like small tambourines with no jangles," Watts continued. "The snare drum was fantastic because it had a really thin skin with a snare right underneath, but only two strands of gut...Keith loved playing with the early cassette machines because they would overload, and when they overload they sounded fantastic, although you weren't meant to do that. We usually played in one of the bedrooms on tour. Keith would be sitting on a cushion playing a guitar and the tiny kit was a way of getting close to him. The drums were really loud compared to the acoustic guitar and the pitch of them would go right through the sound. You'd always have a great backbeat."
Of course, the finished product would end up becoming one of the band's most beloved songs ever (decades later, Rolling Stone ranked it at #301 on a list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"), but when "Street Fighting Man" was first released, nobody really got to hear it on the radio. Due to the nature of the lyrics, pretty much every radio station in the U.S. refused to play the song, per Far Out.
"I'm rather pleased to hear they have banned ["Street Fighting Man"]. The last time they banned one of our records in America, it sold a million," Jagger said at the time, referring to "Let's Spend the Night Together."
When he was told "Street Fighting Man" was considered to be subversive, Jagger agreed.
"Of course it's subversive! It's stupid to think you can start a revolution with a record. I wish you could," he said, according to The Rolling Stones: Off the Record.
Over half a century later, millions of people still share that wish. At the time of this writing, "Street Fighting Man" has 66,754,242 streams on Spotify alone.
Related: 1971 Rock Classic, Ranked Among 'Best Guitar Solos of All Time,' Was Recorded by Accident
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published July 14, 2026 at 8:00 PM.