The value of good music journalism: in a 1982 review of 'Still Life' a writer for the (serious and therefore moribund) Swedish journal Schlager wrote that he had at first considered Start Me Up another phoned-in, throwaway three chord Stones song. Then a friend of his played the song over a large PA-system, and the magic appeared: "I suddenly realized what a fantastic and unique rhythm section Watts and Wyman are".

I was 13 at the time and immediately put on the track at full blast, for the first time concentrating only on W & W. The guy was right.

It was the last Stones classic that you liked over time. I remember hearing it on the radio the first spin and had a hard time bringing all the elements together as a hit. Then, over repeated playing, all the layers came together. This one of their greatest hits where Bill Wyman is as important as Keith Richards.

I remember the first time I heard the song when the album Tattoo You came out.

I was 18 and was walking down a street in Paris and suddenly as I went by a record shop, I heard quite loudly the riff of Start Me Up and immediately recognized Keith style and the sound of the Stones.
I was really thrilled and waited for the cassette to come out and buy it.

The studio version is magic 100%, all is perfect, classic from start to finish, sadly it was the end of an era that started in 1964, their last worldwide massive hit, single and album.

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RomanCandle
Am I the only one who doesn't like this song?

There are at least two of us. I've never cared for it. It just seems like a riff with no actual song underlying it, and the riff itself is trying too hard to "sound like the Stones". It's crossed way over the line into self-parody territory.

Also, the lyrics are just terrible. "If you start me up I'll never stop." Really? That's the best Jagger could come up with?

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with sssoul

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LuxuryStones
And his first signature riff if memory serves.

Apparently it doesn't! Memory, I mean. Doesn't serve. Go refresh

Oeps, many of Keith's riffs affect me emotionally, but they are all based on early Blues and R&R. But the Brown Sugar or Start Me Up Riff are definitely Key Signature Keith.

Satisfaction and JJF aren't signature Keith-riffs?

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DandelionPowderman
Satisfaction and JJF aren't signature Keith-riffs?

A bit OT DP. Sure they are, but you agree with me that we hear the shade of Chuck Berry riffs on SF or Muddy Waters' Hoochie Coochie man, JJF. Keith was an inspired guitarist.

I understood you the first time However, his first classic riffs weren't in open G like SMU and BS. Thought I'd better add that.

Already posted, but repost here seems appropriate


[www.soundonsound.com]


C

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DandelionPowderman
I understood you the first time However, his first classic riffs weren't in open G like SMU and BS. Thought I'd better add that.

Yes, like you said in an other thread, music is an ongoing process.

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LuxuryStones

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slew
Keith's last great signature riff.

And his first signature riff if memory serves. Amazing how many great Stones songs are based on that one, Start Me Up included.

Yep. I guess "Start Me Up" riff, reincornation of his old ideas, is the last one he would make a bigger impact, that is, it would create the basis and most memorable and recognizable thing of a Rolling Stones classic.

In the end, it is nothing but "Honky Tonk Women", "Brown Sugar" riff recontextualized. Maybe the last time that recontextualization creates actual magic.

- Doxa

Take It So Hard and How I Wish both deserve a mention regarding the great recycling of open G-riffs. Then we have Eileen, Love is Strong and even You Got Me Rocking. Perhaps not his greatest songs, but the riffs sure are great, imo.

When I hear the intro to Take It So Hard I instantly get the same feeling as when SMU kicks off.

A great opener

It's their biggest and, perhaps, only hit for the last 33 years. Who knows, maybe it's this song that made the huge success for their colossal tours ever since possible?
Whitout it maybe we wouldn't have the Rolling Stones still rolling?

What a f...ing great intro to a f...ing great song. Loved it in 1981 and still think it's one of the best songs ever by the Stones. Start me up and Tattoo you were all over the radio in that summer of 1981. Great memories!

Pete.

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runaway
A great opener

Yeah but not tour in tour out as we've seen recently. C'mon guys, keep us guessing a little.

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blivet

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RomanCandle
Am I the only one who doesn't like this song?

There are at least two of us. I've never cared for it. It just seems like a riff with no actual song underlying it, and the riff itself is trying too hard to "sound like the Stones". It's crossed way over the line into self-parody territory.

Also, the lyrics are just terrible. "If you start me up I'll never stop." Really? That's the best Jagger could come up with?

I feel the same about this song.

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Silver Dagger

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runaway
A great opener

Yeah but not tour in tour out as we've seen recently. C'mon guys, keep us guessing a little.

Yeah, maybe nowadays, and many years and tours prior, but when they first did it, in STEEL WHEELS tour, it was a gas gas gas, and I think its best live versions come from that tour. But none of them touching the simple, archaive but capturing groove of the original.

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-10-06 21:39 by Doxa.

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Doxa

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Silver Dagger

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runaway
A great opener

Yeah but not tour in tour out as we've seen recently. C'mon guys, keep us guessing a little.

Yeah, maybe nowadays, and many years and tours prior, but when they first did it, in STEEL WHEELS tour, it was a gas gas gas, and I think its best live versions come from that tour. But none of them touching the simple, archaive but capturing groove of the original.

- Doxa

Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle in Europe with Start Me Up was a Gas and nowadays its a good one to move the audience again I think

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Doxa

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Silver Dagger

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runaway
A great opener

Yeah but not tour in tour out as we've seen recently. C'mon guys, keep us guessing a little.

Yeah, maybe nowadays, and many years and tours prior, but when they first did it, in STEEL WHEELS tour, it was a gas gas gas, and I think its best live versions come from that tour. But none of them touching the simple, archaive but capturing groove of the original.

- Doxa

+1

I love the studio version, live not so much.

I'm big on guitar tone and what turns me on about the studio version is the beginning of the song with the "sqwauking" guitar lick behind Keith's main riff.

Great weaving there.

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barbabang
Just LISTEN to the Start Me Up "1"! It is the Pathe Marconi Studio (room) sound and Chris Kimsey sound. Very much 1977. Unbelievable people still think it is from 1975.



There may still be an unreleased earlier jam from 1975 though, but that is uncirculating.

The rock version comes from 1977, when its working title became Start It Up. The reggae version, the demo, is the original version.

Rock Star



2 1 2 0

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RomanCandle
Am I the only one who doesn't like this song?

No I'm with you on this one. A totally overrated tune with cliché sound and licks that has never worked for me. Disliked it when it came out and dislike it even more now. It seems too commercial for me and the true beginning of the end for the Stones authenticity. peace

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liddas
Already posted, but repost here seems appropriate

[www.soundonsound.com]

C

Great article, hadn't seen, thanks for posting! The best part:

"Jagger would give it the full performance, moving all over the place," Kimsey confirms. "It was great to watch and equally great to record. He knows how to work a microphone. He might be at the back of the control room, just a bar before the verse, and all of a sudden he's in front of the mic. He backs off in the chorus when he's singing loud, he gets in close when he's singing soft, and he knows what to do. Keith, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. You need a shotgun to get him in front of the mic. He'll wander all over the place while singing, taking an attitude of 'You do your job, you record me.'"

This was never an issue on 'Start Me Up', which, regardless of the image conveyed in the promotional video, actually features Jagger performing all of the backing vocals as well as the lead. "He's very good at sounding like Keith on harmonies," remarks Kimsey.

Drew

The best Stones 'single' since Brown Sugar.

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RomanCandle
Am I the only one who doesn't like this song?

No

For me it's the bass that makes it. Instead of going more straight ahead like a classic rock song Bill kept the reggae bass vibe which makes this song so cool.