Album: Brothers In Arms
Video: From YouTube.
It seems appropriate that MTV’s best video of 1985 would refer to the music video channel right there in the lyrics. We all wanted our MTV, and Dire Straits delivered it better than anyone else with this all-time classic.
"Money For Nothing" was inspired by the true rantings of an appliance store worker overheard by lead singer Mark Knopfler. In the electronics section of the store where Knopfler was shopping with his wife, all the TV’s were tuned to MTV, and this guy was reeling off line after classic line. Knopfler grabbed a pen, and the rest was history.
Also featured in the song is Sting, who contributed the "I Want My MTV" line, which is sung to the tune of the Police hit "Don't Stand So Close To Me". That makes Sting a contributor to three songs in this countdown’s top ten. Sting was actually embarrassed to be given a co-writing credit on this song, but his publishing company insisted.
It’s definitely a worthy choice for #1, spending 17 weeks on the weekly countdown. I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t fully appreciate this song in its time. A killer guitar hook backs some of the 80’s best lyrics. "Money for nothing, chicks for free"…what a great way to sum up the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. So you get a blister on your little finger, big deal. Meanwhile, we got to install these microwave ovens.
Dire Straits experienced a great deal of backlash with regards to some of the racier lyrics, especially the “little faggot” line which was edited out of most radio versions of the song. The line was included during the airing of the 1985 MTV countdown show, however.
And as if all that wasn’t enough, the video is an absolute classic in its own right. It was the first MTV video ever to feature computer generated human characters. The appliance store workers are played by a thick blue guy with a beard, and a skinny pink guy with overalls. The skinny guy has an awesome pixelated dog. State-of-the-art 1985 animation.
Well, that’s it for the blog. It’s been fun reviewing all these great 1985 videos with y'all. I'll wrap up with some final comments tomorrow. If you're coming across this for the first time, you're in for a treat. Please continue browsing the rest of the top 100.
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