Start Me Up: The Reggae Song That Sat in the Vaults for a Decade

The most interesting thing about “Start Me Up” is that it began life as a reggae tune called “Never Stop” and spent over ten years gathering dust in the Rolling Stones’ tape vaults. The band first recorded it in 1975 during the Black and Blue sessions, then tried again in 1978 for Some Girls, but it never clicked. The reggae groove just didn’t land. Keith Richards had the riff, but the song wasn’t working.

It wasn’t until 1981, while prepping for Tattoo You—a cobbled-together album of outtakes—that producer Chris Kimsey dug up the old tape. But someone had accidentally set the studio multitrack machine’s varispeed control to the wrong setting (about semi-tone sharp), making the whole thing sound faster and more aggressive. The reggae feel was gone; it was now a straight-ahead rocker. Jagger re-sang the vocal, and the band re-cut the drums and guitars, but the core riff and the accidental speed-up gave the song its punchy, driving energy. Released in 1981, it became one of their biggest hits.