“Mother's Little Helper” by The Rolling Stones

"Mother's Little Helper" throws open Aftermath, the Rolling Stones' April 1966 album, at least in Britain; American buyers got it instead as a July single while the band were out on their fifth tour of the States. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote it, and the band cut it in December 1965 as folk rock with an Eastern tang.

The subject was new territory for pop: suburban housewives getting through the day on doctor-prescribed tranquilisers like Valium, and where that road can end. Reviewers at the time liked it better than the Stones' American fans did, and it put an edge of subversion on the band's name. Later writers have lined it up next to the Kinks' "A Well Respected Man", and they still argue over whether Jagger is jeering at elders who scold the young about drugs or pitying women stuck in hollow lives.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.