Start Me Up - Remastered 2009

This feral rocker has a title that seems like it's been around for a while, but wasn't - at least in a song we've heard of. It's not too specific, but we understand what Mick Jagger is getting at when he sings, "If you start me up I'll never stop." The song fits well within the boundaries of Rolling Stones songs with distinctive guitar riffs and sexually charged lyrics. Typical of Mick Jagger, the lyrics don't always make sense, but sing really well: Spread out the oil, the gasoline I walk smooth, ride in a mean, mean machine

"Start Me Up" dates back to 1977. The Stones first recorded it in Paris that year for the Some Girls sessions the same day they recorded "Miss You." After the first two takes, they recorded it with a reggae beat a bunch of times, but didn't like the result. They put it away until 1981, when they needed a song for the Tattoo You. They went back to the second take and reworked it for the album.

This was (fittingly) the first single from Tattoo You, the album that brought the Rolling Stones into the MTV era, earning them a new wave of American fans in the process. They had been making videos since the '60s, often with the film-maker Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who returned to direct the Tattoo You videos. "Start Me Up" is just the band performing the song against a black background, but it had the good fortune of being released in August 1981 around the same time MTV launched. The network was thrilled to a have a well-shot video for a contemporary hit song song by a legendary rock band, and put it in hot rotation. It didn't have a concept, but for the 12-year-olds glued to their TVs, it was their first time seeing Mick Jagger in action, and it was enough to keep them transfixed until the next video. Many of these kids grew up to be Rolling Stones fans like their parents.