How the Rolling Stones and Microsoft Found Each Other

It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly seventeen years since Microsoft rolled out Windows 95. For those of you who don’t recall the DOS-based Windows 3.1, it was a revolutionary change that actually, believe it or not, made Microsoft cool for a while. With Apple’s influence on the PC market virtually non-existent in the mid-1990s, Windows 95 was the new industry standard for operating systems. Even the START button was an innovation.

It’s also where technology and marketing come together. Famously, Microsoft used the Rolling Stones’ 1981 song “Start Me Up” as the anthem to introduce Windows 95 to the world in the summer of 1995. It was the cornerstone of a $300 million ad blitz.

How did this “collaboration” come about? This in-depth post at The Post History Dig explores the subject in depth. A teaser:

Nearly 15 year after the song’s initial popularity, Bill Gates hit upon the idea of using “Start Me Up” for the Windows 95 launch. Gates happened to meet Mick Jagger at some point and asked him how much it would cost to use the song in advertising. Reportedly, Jagger replied with some amount in the millions — $10 million by one account — a sum, in any case, that Jagger thought would be outrageously high. Microsoft’s “Start Me Up” campaign was aimed at key groups of Rolling Stones followers — from baby boomers to twenty- somethings… But Gates, undeterred, didn’t flinch and agreed to the amount.

It’s a great read, especially when one considers how much this influenced Apple’s product rollouts in the last decade. Gates influencing Jobs. Who’d have thought that?

The iconic 30-second advertisement for Windows 95: