How One of the Best-Selling Songs of 1966 Proved That Rock Was Ready to Make a Change

The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It, Black” is presented as a sign that rock was moving away from its gentler early-1960s sound towards darker, more intense music. Its success in 1966 showed that listeners were ready for songs that explored unsettling themes and pushed beyond familiar rock conventions.

The song’s lyrics evoke grief and a desire for darkness, while its sitar gives the arrangement an unusual sound for rock at the time. Mick Jagger said writing about death was not an original idea, but depended on how it was handled. The article argues that the hit helped pave the way for psychedelia and other changes in rock during the later 1960s.