Why the Rolling Stones Stopped Playing 'Brown Sugar' in 2021

The Rolling Stones’ 1971 hit “Brown Sugar” has always been a strange one to sing along to. The lyrics describe the rape of enslaved women on a plantation, with lines about “how come you taste so good” delivered over one of the band’s catchiest riffs. By the 2020s, the disconnect between the song’s danceable groove and its subject matter had become impossible to ignore.

The band finally pulled it from their 2021 tour setlist. Mick Jagger told the Los Angeles Times that they didn’t want to “just roll on and on” oblivious to the social context, and that the song had become “a bit of a headache.” He also acknowledged that fans had been uncomfortable for years. The decision wasn’t a boycott—the song isn’t banned, they just quietly stopped playing it. In a way, it’s the same choice they made in the 1970s when they stopped performing “Street Fighting Man” during politically tense eras: adapt or sound tone-deaf.