U2’s ‘Desire’ and the Stones’ ‘Start Me Up’ — Bono’s nod to the riff

U2’s 1988 single “Desire” has a swagger that doesn’t sound like them — and that was the point. Critics and fans alike immediately compared its locomotive riff to the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up,” and Bono didn’t try to dodge it. He later admitted that the band was consciously reaching for that same rumbling, open-chord groove, calling “Start Me Up” a direct template for the song’s rhythm.

In a 1988 interview, Bono said they wanted “a song that the Stones would be jealous of,” and that the track was their attempt to bottle that same combustible energy. The result gave U2 their first No. 1 single in the UK and a Top 3 hit in the US — proving that borrowing a vibe can sometimes outrun the original.