Olivia Newton-John Stopped The Rolling Stones’ ‘Start Me Up’ From Hitting No. 1

The Rolling Stones‘ “Start Me Up” is one of the classic songs from the 1980s. Despite this, an Olivia Newton-John song prevented “Start Me Up” from hitting No. 1. This was a travesty.

Olivia Newton-John’s ‘Physical’ overshadowed The Rolling Stones’ ‘Start Me Up’

“Start Me Up” became a huge hit for The Rolling Stones. The tune reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for a total of 24 weeks. None of the band’s other hits lasted as long on the chart.

Newton-John’s “Physical” was also a big hit at the same time. The track reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a staggering 10 weeks. Newton-John had many big hits during her time in the limelight, and “Physical” was the biggest by a longshot. According to the 2013 book 50 Licks: Myths and Stories from Half a Century of The Rolling Stones, “Physical” prevented “Start Me Up” from reaching No. 1.

Why The Rolling Stones deserved that No. 1 spot and Olivia Newton-John did not

The triumph of “Physical” is a bit of a tragedy. “Physical” is, at best, passable. It’s basically a third-rate Madonna song. Nothing about it is memorable save for its mildly provocative music video.

On the other hand, “Start Me Up” is one of the best pop-rock songs of the 1980s. Had the tune reached No. 1, it would have meant The Rolling Stones had No. 1 singles in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Instead, “Start Me Up” was denied its rightful place at the top of the chart.

The place of ‘Start Me Up’ in the band’s discography

Regardless, “Start Me Up” was an important chapter in The Rolling Stones’ career because it helped them break through on MTV. “In ’81, we talk about doing ‘Start Me Up’ and ‘Waiting on a Friend’ and ‘Neighbors,'” said music video director Michael Lindsay-Hogg. “This was the beginning of MTV. Mick and Charlie and I went out for lunch one day and Mick said, ‘Have you seen anything from MTV yet? Because that’s the future.’ So we did ‘Start Me Up’ very down and dirty. I’ve always thought with The Rolling Stones, to do their performance is a gift to the director — you don’t want to get in their way too much.”

Notably, The Rolling Stones’ Bill Wyman said he likes “Start Me Up” but not the song’s parent album. “Tattoo You as an album sounds a bit disjointed,” he said. “A lot of the songs sound better out of context as opposed to sitting down and listening to the whole thing as an entire album. 

“‘Start Me Up,’ ‘Hang Fire,’ ‘Waiting on a Friend’ are all really good songs that I think sounded better on the radio than they did on the album when listened to as a whole,” he said. “I think that’s probably a function of it getting recorded over an amount of time.”

The Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up” is a great song even if “Physical” got in its way.