10 Rock Songs That Have NOT Aged Well
6. Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones (1971)
This is the most instantly recognisable riff in Keith Richards' repertoire - and one of the most enjoyable songs to do your best Jagger strut to - which makes it all the more painful when you realise what the lyrics are harking on about it.
For years the consensus was that the term 'Brown Sugar' referred to brown heroin. But the metaphor is twofold. The lyrics spell out, quite plainly, that this song is both about an infatuation for hard drugs and black women; comparing the two as if they are vices to be resisted. Already this feels like murky water.
Jagger attempted to draw comparisons with the slave trade, the heroin epidemic of the '70s, and his own love interests, Claudia Lennear and Marsha Hunt. The result was a swirling mess of metaphor and allegory that only becomes more troubling the more you listen to it. The lyrics allude to the abuse of black slaves by their masters, and the infatuation with young black girls as sex objects.
Mick himself has stated that he missed the mark on this one - which we can all agree on.