“street fighting man” is the most valuable picture sleeve in the world

Estimated reading time is 10 minutes.

IN MAY 1968, the Rolling Stones released “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” which was a worldwide smash. While it topped the Cash Box Top 100 in the US, for some inexplicable reason it stalled at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. In August, the group followed with “Street Fighting Man,” the lead single from their upcoming album. 

The new single was of a quality similar if not quite equal to that of Jumpin’ Jack Flash. While it was released in several major markets around the world, it was not released in the UK. Street Fighting Man debuted on both Billboard and Cash Box on September 9, indicating a release date of approximately August 26.

The Rolling Stones’ Street Fighting Man was banned in the US in 1968.

Everyone assumed that another top-tenner was on the way. Such was not the case: reputedly, radio programmers and disc jockeys around the country misconstrued the meaning of the song. Relying on the title instead of the lyrics for the record’s message, apparently, they believed that the song was a call to arms!

Certainly, the song’s title could give anyone cause for pause: are the bloody Rolling Stones trying to incite a riot? That would not have been difficult to imagine at the time. For those of us who lived through that time, 1968 is remembered for the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Bobby Kennedy, followed by a summer of mostly Black riots in mostly Black neighborhoods in several cities.

Portions of this article were originally published as “Is ‘Street Fighting Man’ The Most Valuable Picture Sleeve In The World?”

 

A-side of US picture sleeve for the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man."

B-side of US picture sleeve for the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man."
The sleeve above was sold by Heritage Auctions in July 2021. Despite being graded only VG-EX (confirmed by the photos in the ad), it sold for $81,250!

My name is called Disturbance

These were, of course, put to shame by the violent police riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. Unfortunately for the Stones, the Chicago cops started bashing body parts started on August 26, the day that Street Fighting Man was apparently released in the US.

So, despite my political/cultural bona fides—which can be described as left-of-left-of-center and were formed a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away—I can understand radio station personnel quaking in their boots at the prospect of playing this record. And not.

Having to deal with the possibility of their station’s switchboard lighting up with irate callers would not have been worth the benefit of playing the record.

But the actual message of the song is not in the title, it’s in the lyrics. And the actual message is not one of anarchy, but ennui:

Everywhere I hear the sound
of marching, charging feet, boy.
Because summer’s here and the time is right
for fighting in the street, boy.

Well now, what can a poor boy do,
except to sing for a rock and roll band?
Because in sleepy London town,
there’s just no place for a street fighting man.

Hey! Think the time is right for palace revolution.
Because where I live the game to play is compromise solution.

Well now, what can a poor boy do,
except to sing for a rock and roll band?
Because in sleepy London town,
there’s just no place for a street fighting man.

Hey! Said my name is called Disturbance.
I’ll shout and scream!
I’ll kill the king!
I’ll rail at all his servants!

Well now, what can a poor boy do,
except to sing for a rock and roll band?
Because in sleepy London town,
there’s just no place for a street fighting man.

Rather than inciting riots, the song seems to concern the recognition and resignation of the singer to the fact that he’s not a revolutionary. He’s just a singer in a rock & roll band, perhaps a frustrated revolutionary wannabe at best.

Or, he could be saying that he is a revolutionary, but there’s just no place for him because no one else is interested.

 

Spetember 9, 1968, Meldoy Maker with article about "Street Fighting Man" being banned on the radio in US.
The supposed banning of “Street Fighting Man” by some AM radio stations in the US in 1968 caused the UK’s leading music weekly, Melody Maker, to run a front-page story on the event.

Banned in the USA!

London Records had ordered picture sleeves for the single, which was the norm for any single by the Rolling Stones in the US. But the norm was usually a posed photo of the group, which ranged from the striking (such as Let’s Spend The Night Together) to the just plain silly (think of Jumpin’ Jack Flash).

For London 45-909Street Fighting Man / No Expectations, someone in London’s graphics department opted for another kind of image. The sleeve was a plain black and white photo with a rather garish orange border. But it wasn’t the border that caused anyone’s eyes to turn to the sleeve. Here is how Bonhams described the sleeve in its catalog:

Street Fighting Man was the first picture sleeve released by the Stones that did not feature an image of the band. The single was first released in August of 1968, just before the Chicago Democratic National Convention, where riots broke out between demonstrators and the Chicago police force.

The Stones’ picture sleeve used two images depicting police brutality taken from one of the many riots that had broken out in over one hundred U.S. cities [earlier] that year. The record company deemed the sleeve to be inappropriate and it was immediately withdrawn.

No one knows for sure how many examples of this sleeve have survived but most collectors estimate the number to be between ten and eighteen copies, placing it among the rarest pieces of Rolling Stones memorabilia.”

The poor wanker in London’s art department—who may go forever unnamed and therefore unenshrined—could have been oblivious to his environment and simply thought the photo appropriate for a record with such a title. We will probably never know if any heads rolled or positions were terminated due to the ensuing fiasco.

 

Street Fighting Man: rejected "public urinal" cover art for BEGGARS BANQUET album.
This photo of a public restroom is what the Stones wanted for the front cover of Beggars Banquet Fortunately, someone with taste at Decca was willing to go toe-to-toe with Jagger and refused to use it, delaying the release of the album by months.

What can a poor boy do?

No one seems to actually know the real story of what happened to the Street Fighting Man picture sleeve. Many websites state that the single was “originally released with a controversial picture sleeve” (or something similar). This may be incorrect: the sleeve may not have been released to the public. Or, it may have been released to a small test market. The incredible rarity of the sleeve over the past forty years would seem to argue in favor of the former, not the latter.

I think it’s safe to assume that someone in a position of authority in London Records saw the sleeve and said, “No way in hell is that going out on my watch!” (If anyone from London has stepped forward and claimed credit for killing this sleeve in an interview with a magazine or blog, I am unaware of it.)

Now, when a picture sleeve for a new single by a major record-selling artist is manufactured, it is mass-produced on a large scale. While we may never know how many were made, we can assume that thousands were printed.

We can also assume that every one of those sleeves went through some kind of mechanical destruction (paper shredders?). It is possible that not a single sleeve found its way onto the racks of retail stores anywhere in America in 1968.

Daring to assign a number to how many copies of the sleeve escaped destruction is not something that I am willing to do but very, very few have been found in the fifty-five years since.

 

Street Fighting Man: front cover "R.S.V.P." art for BEGGARS BANQUET album.
Instead of a public urinal, the Stones settled for this bland yet tasteful cover intended to resemble a formal invitation. “R.S.V.P.” (“répondez s’il vous plaît”) is French and means “please respond.”

Avid Record Collector’s Price Guide

A few copies of the picture sleeve did escape the shredder—possibly by a few sticky-fingered London employees—and they can be found for sale on a rare occasion. They are among the most valuable record-related collectibles in the world! Below find my take on the few documented sales of this sleeve found on the Internet.

  In 2008, a copy graded VG++++++  was offered on eBay and while the seller may have been displaying a sense of humor about grading the sleeve with redundant plus signs, the image of the sleeve used on the ad is heavily marred by record indentation and wear. That is, the sleeve looks to have been VG at best with no plus signs necessary. Nonetheless, it sold for $9,001.

  In 2011, Bonhams sold a copy (lot #2264) without noting a grade. If the photos of the sleeve that were used in the auction are those of the sleeve for sale, then it appears to have been in near mint (NM) condition. Given its beautiful condition and being sold by so prestigious a firm, it commanded a hefty $17,080!

  In 2015, an ungraded copy was auctioned on eBay. While the seller did not assign any grade to it, he did state that the sleeve has a couple of bends, white spots near the edges, and very slight fading in the coloration. He also noted, “This is not a verified sleeve, the gloss of the paper around on the edges is possibly questionable and hard to compare without seeing it in hand.”

That the damage didn’t dissuade several bidders is understandable—after all, it was the first copy offered for sale on eBay in six years! But the fact that its authenticity was questioned by the seller makes this transaction rather extraordinary. Nonetheless, it sold for $17,1000!

   In 2017, an ungraded copy sold for $3,199. This is an absurdly low price which I believe was achieved by the seller’s absurdly bad advertisement. The seller did not verify the authenticity of the sleeve nor did he grade the sleeve!

The seller included an excellent photo of the sleeve but did not assure bidders that the item in the photo was actually the item for sale. He packaged the American sleeve with a Canadian record, which must have confused bidders already not confused by the above!

•  In 2020, a copy graded VG+ sold for $18,1000 on eBay.

•  In 2021, a copy graded VG-EX6 was sold for $81,250 by Heritage Auctions.

•  In 2022, a copy graded VG  sold for $22,600 on eBay.

•  In 2022, a copy graded VG+ was sold for $25,000 by Heritage Auctions. (This was actually an untrimmed, production copy of the sleeve that the owner had matted and framed, so it’s rather a different critter from the rest of the sales listed here.)

 

 
Untrimmed copy of US picture sleeve for the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man" that has been matted and mounted.
This is an incomplete “Street Fighting Man” picture sleeve that needs folding and gluing to become an actual picture sleeve. It has been professionally matted and mounted, which would turn off many buyers.

The world’s first $100,000 picture sleeve

Since none of the Street Fighting Man sleeves that have sold recently were in near NM condition, we can extrapolate the price such a gem might fetch should it be offered for sale. For the projected values below, I used the ratios of assigned values of records by condition used in virtually all price guides (my own included).

I only referred to the three most recent sales as the value of the sleeve appears to be escalating in the past few years.

•  Based on the $18,100 in VG+ condition from the 2020 eBay sale above, the extrapolated NM value would be approximately $36,000-$44,000.

•  Based on the $81,250 in VG-EX6 condition from the 2021 Heritage Auctions sale above, the extrapolated NM value would be approximately $160,00-$220,000.

•  Based on the $22,600 in VG condition from the 2022 eBay sale above, the extrapolated NM value would be approximately $100,000-$113,000.

 So, the US Street Fighting Man could become the first $100,000 picture sleeve should a NM copy be found and publicly (and properly) auctioned. Of course, it may not happen tomorrow . . .

 

A-side of US picture sleeve for the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man."

B-side of US picture sleeve for the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man."
The sleeve above was auctioned on eBay in November 2022. Despite being graded only VG (confirmed by the photos in the ad), it sold for $22,600!

Reproductions exist

Several reproductions of the Street Fighting Man picture sleeve exist and usually sell as collectibles. In fact, some of the five-figure sales above may have been for fake sleeves. Even when repros are advertised as repros, they can sell for hundreds of dollars.

The Rolling Stones’ 1968 single ‘Street Fighting Man’ was banned in the US and all the picture sleeves were destroyed by London Records. Click To Tweet

Photo used on A-side of US picture sleeve for the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man."

FEATURED IMAGE: The photo at the top of this page was cropped from this photo. It’s not known when or where this was taken but the photo on the No Expectations side of the sleeve is believed to have been taken in Los Angeles.

For more on Rolling Stones’ Street Fighting Man picture sleeves, click here.

 


 

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