1981 · Behind the Songs
A discarded reggae experiment, rebuilt as a rocker — and the riff that starts every show.
“Start Me Up” began life in 1975 during sessions in Rotterdam as a reggae number called “Never Stop.” The band shelved it, unconvinced — until the 1978 Paris sessions, when Keith Richards recast the riff as a straight-ahead rocker. It waited three more years before finding its home as the opening track of Tattoo You, released in August 1981.
Released as a single in August 1981, “Start Me Up” reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the Stones’ biggest hit of the decade. Richards’ open-G riff — all churn and swagger — is one of the most imitated in rock, and Charlie Watts’ drums give it its locomotive push. In 1995 the song found a second life when Microsoft licensed it for the launch campaign of Windows 95.
Ever since, “Start Me Up” has been the band’s eternal concert opener: the sound of an engine turning over. What to listen for: the riff’s off-kilter swagger and the way the whole track seems to rev higher with every bar.