Start Me Up

Release date: 10/10/14 | Length: 3:21 | Release: Sounds of the 80s | EMS: #296

You make a grown man cry

The Rolling Stones is hardly the first name that comes to mind when thinking about the 80s, though their top 10 swansong Start Me Up is at least one of their more recognisable tracks. I’m far from a Stones fan, but I imagine calling this one’s favourite song of theirs would be the same as someone thinking Owner of a Lonely Heart is the best song by Yes. The Manics have covered the Stones before in similar circumstances, contributing Out of Time for an NME-curated compilation album in 2002, but Start Me Up makes up the numbers on a pre-Christmas BBC Radio 2 double CD.

Unlike Out of Time though, this cover feels rather basic and rushed as if – god forbid – designed for a high-priced cash-in before the holidays. Whether the band chose this song or were handed it is a question I do not know the answer to, nor am I willing to go to the effort of finding out considering how un-noteworthy this song is. The main observation I can pick up is that the drumbeat is more mechanical on the Manics’ version, but when that’s the only thing to talk about, well…

It would’ve been a lot more interesting to see them take on a song outside their comfort zone, like Don’t Talk to Me About Love by The Altered Images, or Bruce Springsteen’s sublime Atlantic City. Instead, we have Texas and Ed Sheeran on duty with these songs. Texas quite literally share a band member with The Altered Images, and Sheeran’s take is far too clean and tryhard for such a harrowing song. It feels like all of these songs have been covered to pay tribute to the 80s icons rather than make the songs their own, and as I’ve explained elsewhere, seldom makes for interesting results.