1966 Folk Rock Hit, Written in 15 Minutes, Ranked Among ‘Best Protest Songs' Of All Time
The 1960s defined a generation of cultural rebellions through powerful soundtracks and released singles seen as protest tracks. The Canadian-American rock band Buffalo Springfield released a folk-rock single that skyrocketed on the charts and became known as an anti-war song during the Vietnam War.
"For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound)", also known simply as "For What It's Worth", was released in December 1966 by the band as a single. The track landed at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Cashbox, with it later rereleased for their first self-titled album in 1967. It was also included in Rolling Stone's Greatest Songs of All Time and Best Protest Songs of All Time.
What made the song popular on the charts was how audiences perceived its lyrics. According to Rolling Stone, Stephen Still got the inspiration while walking into Hollywood to listen to music on the Sunset Strip. What he encountered were hundreds of young adults protesting a new curfew and the closing of a club called Pandora's Box.
"The commercial merchants on Sunset Boulevard in a certain area decided that the element of young people on the street every night was not conducive to commercial enterprise," Stills said. "A bunch of kids got together on a street corner and said we aren't moving. About three busloads of Los Angeles police showed up, who looked very much like storm troopers. … And I looked at it and said, ‘Jesus, America is in great danger.'"
"For What It's Worth" ended up going beyond Los Angeles into the Vietnam War, with its lyrics said to be open to interpretation. Lyrics like "a man with a gun over there" and "young people speaking their minds/Getting so much resistance from behind" became a sign of rock counterculture.
He would later tell The Los Angeles Times that everything intertwined at that moment, from the war, the chaos on the Strip, groups of LAPD, and angry clubgoers. Stills quickly made his way back home, where he wrote the track in 15 minutes, and it was later recorded in the studio in a one-day session.
Oddly enough, the track's title doesn't appear in the lyrics. According to reports, Still played the track for their manager and said, "Let me play you a song, for what it's worth." The second half of the track's title was credited to Ahmet Ertegun to make it more recognizable.
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This story was originally published May 24, 2026 at 12:59 PM.