“Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones

A Stones cut that went from scrap heap to … well … top of the heap.

“Start Me Up,” the track that arguably defines the “modern” Rolling Stones sound, was initially an afterthought.

Despite being known for its instantly recognizable opening guitar riff and singalong-worthy chorus (“You make a grown man CRYYYY-eeeeee-AYYYEEEEEEEE”), it originally started out as a (gasp!) reggae track, recorded during the sessions for 1975’s Black and Blue. It ultimately didn’t make the cut for that record (probably for the best) and sat on the shelf until 1978, when the band tried re-recording it with a different arrangement in Paris in late 1977 and early 1978 for the Some Girls sessions. Though they got closer to a finished product, it didn’t make the final cut for that LP either.

Fast-forward to 1980, when the Stones were working on a follow-up to Emotional Rescue, a solid commercial success that’d given them another hit post-Some Girls. Chris Kimsey, who’d engineered both of those records, spent months going through the group’s studio archives, looking for hidden gems that could be put back into the rotation for the recording of what ultimately became Tattoo You. For the third time in more than five years, the bones of “Start Me Up” bubbled to the surface. “I wasn’t surprised at all to go back and find that – from Goats Head Soup and Black and Blue – some really good material had just been forgotten about, really,” said Kimsey. Interestingly, the previous versions of the song only existed because Kimsey ignored Keith Richards’ request to wipe the tape completely, thinking the track wouldn’t pan out.

Like many of the songs I’ve covered in this week-end column, you’d never know how piecemeal the process was by listening to the final product. The airtight rhythm delivered by Richards and drummer Charlie Watts is as polished as it is punchy, bypassing the bluesier, grimier Stones aesthetic that was falling out of favor with music consumers. You also have an inspired performance from Mick Jagger, which Kimsey called “great to watch” when it was recorded. That energy is amplified by whatever the hell Jagger is doing in the music video, officially kicking off the MTV era for the world’s greatest rock band.

Judging by the fact that the song still plays to stadiums full of adoring fans, the “never, never, never stop” ethos sounds more baked into the Stones’ DNA than maybe it ever has.