Mick Jagger apologizes for Some Girls racist lyrics

Mick Jagger apologizes for racist lyrics in "Some Girls" on October 6, 1978.

Some Girls is the 14th British and 16th American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1978 on Rolling Stones Records, catalogue COC 39108. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200, and became the band's biggest-selling album in the United States, and has been certified by the RIAA as having six million copies sold as of 2000.

Mick Jagger is generally regarded as the principal creative force behind Some Girls, a conception that, though disputable (Richards was present at all of the sessions), is plausible considering Richards' various legal entanglements at the time (see below).

Jagger claimed in a 1995 interview to have written a great number of the album's songs (though when the amount was pointed out to him he denied that the record was mostly his own), including its signature song, "Miss You". In addition to punk, Jagger claims to have been influenced by dance music, most notably disco, during the recording of Some Girls, and cites New York City as a major inspiration for the album, an explanation for his lyrical preoccupation with the city throughout.

There was some controversy surrounded the lyrics that Mick Jagger wrote to the title song, an extended musing on women of various nationalities and races.

The line "Black girls just wanna get fucked all night" drew strong protests from various groups, including Jesse Jackson's PUSH. Jagger famously replied, "I've always said, you can't take a joke, it's too fucking bad," although he was reportedly more conciliatory to Jackson in private, as he claimed the song was intended as a parody of racist attitudes. Saturday Night Live cast member Garrett Morris would have the final say on the controversy with a mock-editorial on the show's Weekend Update segment: After giving the impression that he was going to openly criticize the Stones, he quoted a sanitized version of the "Black girls just..." line, then stated "I have one thing to say to you, Mr. Mick Jagger... where are these women?!?"


Retro History for October 6 The 50s 60s 70s 80s

Retro History For The Decade 1980

1988 Oakland A's sweep Boston Red Sox in 4 games for AL pennant
1987 Military coup leader Major-General Sitiveni Rabuka declares Fiji a republic
1986 Russian nuclear sub sinks in Atlantic Ocean
1985 Marita Koch of Germany sets 400m woman's record (47.6) in Australia
1985 Yankee Phil Niekro becomes 18th pitcher to win 300 games and also at 46 becomes oldest to pitch a shut-out beating Toronto 8-0
1984 Ayako Okamoto wins LPGA Hitachi Ladies British Golf Open
1983 Buffalo Bill quarterback Joe Ferguson passes 419 yards with 5 TDs
1983 China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1983 Islander's Mike Bossy's 25th career hat trick
1983 New York Jets announce they are leaving Shea for Meadowlands
1983 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R.
1982 Auburn's Al Del Greco kicks 6 field goals
1982 Fokker's Fellowship crashes at Moerdijk, Netherlands, 17-22 die
1980 Guyana adopts constitution
1980 John Lydon sentenced to 3 months on assault charges

Retro History For The Decade 1970

1979 Harry Drake set long distance footbow shot record of 2,006 yards 1'9"
1979 Pope John Paul II is 1st Pope to visit White House
1978 Hannah H Gray inaugurated as 1st female head of U.S. university (Chic)
1978 Iraq declares Ayatollah Khomeini an undesirable person
1978 Mick Jagger apologizes for racist lyrics in "Some Girls"
1978 Royals' George Brett hits 3 home runs, Yankees win championship game 3, 6-5
1977 DL Coburns "Gin Game," premieres in New York City
1977 Yankees win AL pennant by rallying for 3 runs in 9th to beat Kansas City Royals 5-3 in 5th and deciding playoff game
1976 "Gang of Four" arrested in Beijing
1976 Cubans DC-8 crashes after bomb attack
1976 John Hathaway completes 50,600 mile bicycle tour of every continent
1976 President Ford says there is "no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe"
1974 "Mack and Mabel," opens at Majestic Theater New York City for 66 performances
1974 Carole Jo Skala wins LPGA Sacramento Union Ladies Golf Classic
1973 Yom Kippur War begins as Syria and Egypt attack Israel
1972 22-car train carrying 2,000 pilgrims derails, kills 208 in Mexico

Retro History For The Decade 1960

1969 WMPB TV channel 67 in Baltimore, MD (PBS) begins broadcasting
1967 Haight-Ashbury hippies throw a funneral to mark end of hippies
1967 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test
1966 Oriole Jim Palmer, 20, is youngest to pitch a World Series shutout
1966 Partial meltdown at Detroits's Fermi 1 nuclear reactor
1965 Supremes release "I Hear a Symphony"
1965 William Goodhart's "Generation," premieres in New York City
1964 "Cambridge Circus" opens at Plymouth Theater New York City for 23 performances
1963 Barbra Streisand appears on "Judy Garland Show"
1963 Los Angeles Dodgers sweep New York Yankees, in 60th World Series
1962 16th NHL All-Star Game: Toronto beat All4-Stars -1 at Toronto
1962 U.S. performs atmospheric nuclear test at Johnston Island
1961 John F. Kennedy advises Americans to build fallout shelters
1961 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear tests at Kapustin Yar and Novaya Zemlya U.S.S.R.

Retro History For The Decade 1950

1959 Single game World Series attendence record set (92,706 in LA)
1959 Soviet Luna 3, 1st successful photographic spacecraft, impacts Moon
1958 U.S. nuclear sub USS Seawolfe remains record 60 days under pole
1957 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya U.S.S.R.
1957 Wiffi Smith wins LPGA United Voluntary Services Golf Open
1956 Dmitri Shostakovich's 6th Iron quartet premieres in Leningrad
1956 Dr. Albert Sabin discovers oral polio vaccine
1956 South African politician "Kobie" Coetsee marries Helena E Malan
1955 LSD made illegal in U.S.
1953 WTVM TV channel 9 in Columbus, Georgia (ABC) begins broadcasting
1951 Stalin proclaims Russia has atom bomb

Have a groovy vintage retro day!


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Vintage Retro Music & Retro Pop Culture is our passion and what we LOVE. We keep it going everyday for the love of producing it for you to enjoy. Thanks for viewing. Much Peace! Mick Jagger apologizes for Some Girls racist lyrics on October 6, 1978.