🔥 A Song That Was Never Supposed to Be a Hit
If you ask most people what Rolling Stones song defines the sound of a stadium, chances are high they’ll say Start Me Up. Its opening riff, jagged and electrifying, has become one of the most recognizable moments in rock history. And yet, for years, the song almost didn’t exist in the form we know it.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards originally wrote Start Me Up in the mid-1970s, during the band’s experimental period. At that time, reggae was sweeping through London, and the Stones wanted to catch the wave. They recorded more than forty reggae versions of the song, slow and laid-back, with none of the fire it would later unleash. Keith later joked: “We nearly lost it, buried under reggae.”
It wasn’t until years later, during sessions for the 1981 album Tattoo You, that an engineer accidentally stumbled across a forgotten rock ’n’ roll take buried in the vaults. The band dusted it off, added Jagger’s sneering vocals, and within days realized they had struck gold.
⚡ The Riff That Ignited Stadiums
Keith Richards’ opening guitar riff to Start Me Up is more than just an introduction — it’s a lightning bolt. With only a few chords, Keith set the stage for an anthem that could fill any arena with raw electricity. Unlike some of the Stones’ bluesier riffs, this one was sharp, clean, and instantly explosive, designed to cut through the roar of tens of thousands of fans.
In live performances, the song often comes in like a gunshot, immediately whipping the crowd into frenzy. The Stones discovered quickly that Start Me Up was not just another single — it was the perfect stadium opener. It could wake up even the most passive audience and turn the atmosphere into a riot of movement, clapping, and chanting.
🎤 Mick Jagger at His Most Provocative
The lyrics of Start Me Up are as cheeky and provocative as Jagger himself. On the surface, it’s a song about seduction and energy, packed with double entendres. But Jagger’s delivery — half sneer, half grin — transformed it into something much more: an invitation to mischief.
Lines like “You make a grown man cry” are delivered with such swagger that they feel both playful and dangerous. Jagger used his voice not just to sing but to strut, taunting the audience to join him. By the early 80s, his stage persona had fully crystallized into that of the ultimate frontman: magnetic, cocky, and impossible to ignore.
🌍 A Global Explosion – The Tattoo You Tour
Released in August 1981, Start Me Up became the lead single for Tattoo You. It stormed the charts, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and cementing itself as one of the Stones’ biggest hits of the decade. More importantly, it fueled one of the band’s most ambitious tours.
The Tattoo You tour was not just another series of concerts — it was the birth of the modern stadium rock show. With giant stages, elaborate lighting, and hundreds of thousands of tickets sold worldwide, the Stones reinvented how rock bands performed on a massive scale. And at the center of every show, Start Me Up was the ignition switch.
Fans recall the moment the opening riff rang out over stadium loudspeakers. Entire crowds, from front row to the farthest bleachers, leapt to their feet as if electrified. For many, that first chord was the very definition of live rock.
📺 From Rock to Pop Culture
Over the years, Start Me Up has transcended music. It has been used in countless commercials, sports broadcasts, and pop culture moments. The most famous example came in 1995, when Microsoft paid millions to use it for the launch of Windows 95.
The pairing made sense: the song’s lyric “You make a grown man cry” was conveniently cut, leaving only the energizing command: “Start me up.” Suddenly, a whole new generation who might not have grown up with the Stones now associated them with the spirit of starting something powerful.
And yet, despite its commercialization, the song never lost its grit. Unlike many tracks that fade when overexposed, Start Me Up continued to thrive in both arenas — as a corporate jingle and as a raw, sweaty anthem in live shows.
🎶 Why It Still Works Today
More than four decades after its release, Start Me Up remains a staple of the Stones’ setlists. Part of its endurance comes from simplicity. The riff is short, the rhythm driving, and the lyrics easy to shout along with. It doesn’t require explanation; it only requires volume.
But there’s also something timeless in its energy. Every generation has found a reason to move to it, whether at a football game, a concert, or simply blasting it from speakers in the car. It doesn’t matter if you’re a lifelong fan or hearing it for the first time — that riff does something primal.
Keith once explained: “It’s one of those riffs you don’t think about — it just works.” That effortless quality is exactly why it will never disappear.
🕺 A Legacy of Movement
In the end, Start Me Up is about motion — both literal and metaphorical. It starts stadiums, it starts parties, it starts memories. For the Stones themselves, it was the unexpected hit that powered them into the MTV era and beyond.
Today, when the band, now in their eighties, still kick off a show with Start Me Up, it feels like a promise: the Stones may age, but the energy of rock ’n’ roll doesn’t. As long as those first chords ring out, tens of thousands of people will keep leaping to their feet.
And maybe that’s the greatest magic of Start Me Up: not that it was written, not that it was performed, but that it has never stopped working. It still starts us up. Every time.