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The Rolling Stones find controversy (once again) at the Superbowl Halftime 2006

Feb. 5, 2006: The Stones played three songs during the half-time show of The Super Bowl in Detroit. Later on the Stones expressed their displeasure of having Mick Jagger’s microphone turned down during “Start Me Up”. The line “you make a dead man come” was cut short, plus a barnyard reference to “cocks” in the Stones’ new song Rough Justice also disappeared.

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Right, the Super Bowl halftime show—one of the biggest stages in the world, where rock legends get to do their thing… unless, of course, the censors have other plans. Enter the Rolling Stones in 2006, strutting into Detroit’s Ford Field like the rock gods they are, ready to give the crowd some good ol’ fashioned, riff-heavy magic. But the TV overlords at ABC? Yeah, they had the volume knob and a big, fat mute button.

The Stones ripped into three songs: Start Me Up, Rough Justice and (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. And right when Mick Jagger was about to deliver that iconic line—“you make a dead man come”—bam! His mic was turned down. Because apparently, a double entendre in a song that’s been around since 1981 was suddenly too spicy for American audiences.

But wait, there’s more! Rough Justice, a new track from A Bigger Bang, also got the censorship treatment. Specifically, the line about a certain barnyard animal (ahem “cocks” ahem) mysteriously vanished into the ether. Because, you know, viewers could totally handle beer commercials with women in bikinis wrestling in mud, but a rooster reference? Unforgivable.

The Stones, being the Stones, weren’t exactly thrilled about this creative interference. Mick later expressed his shock (read: sarcasm) that his microphone had been tampered with. The band had agreed to the NFL’s terms, but that didn’t mean they had to like it. Rock and roll is about pushing boundaries, not having them arbitrarily edited by the Fun Police.

In the end, the performance was still electrifying, censorship be damned. The Rolling Stones proved, yet again, that even with a few words bleeped out, they still owned the stage. But hey, America, if you invite the world’s greatest rock and roll band to your party, maybe let them actually play?

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