Money for Nothing (song)

"Money for Nothing"
Single by Dire Straits
from the album Brothers in Arms
B-side "Love over Gold" (live)
Released June 1985
Format Gramophone record
Recorded December 1984
Genre Rock
Length 8:26 (full-length)
7:04 (vinyl LP edit)
4:38 (official single edit)
4:05 (promo single edit)
Label Vertigo (UK)
Warner Bros (US)
Writer(s) Mark Knopfler, Sting
Producer Mark Knopfler, Neil Dorfsman
Dire Straits singles chronology
"So Far Away"
(1985)		 "Money for Nothing"
(1985)		 "Brothers in Arms"
(1985)

"Money for Nothing" is a song recorded by British group Dire Straits, which first appeared on their 1985 album Brothers in Arms and subsequently became an international hit when released as a single. It peaked at number one for three weeks in the United States, becoming their most successful single, and also peaked at number one for three weeks on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart. In the band's native UK, the song peaked at number four. The recording was notable for its controversial lyrics, groundbreaking music video and a cameo appearance by Sting singing the song's falsetto introduction and backing chorus, "I want my MTV". The video was also the first to be aired on MTV Europe when the network started on 1 August 1987.[1]

"Money for Nothing" won the Grammy for the Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with a Vocal in 1985 at the 28th annual Grammy Awards.[2]

Contents

Musical and lyrical themes

The recording of the song contains a very recognizable hook, in the form of the guitar riff that begins the song proper. (The song is also notable for its extended overture, which was shortened for radio and music video). The guitar riff continues throughout the song, played in full during each chorus, and played in muted permutation during the verse.

The song's lyrics are written from the point of view of a working-class man watching music videos and commenting on what he sees. To achieve the effect of such a layman making such casual everyday commentary envying the superior lives of rock stars, Dire Straits' lead singer and songwriter Mark Knopfler used a vocal style known as Sprechstimme.

Knopfler described the writing of the song in a 1985 interview with critic Bill Flanagan:

“ The lead character in "Money for Nothing" is a guy who works in the hardware department in a television/custom kitchen/refrigerator/microwave appliance store. He's singing the song. I wrote the song when I was actually in the store. I borrowed a bit of paper and started to write the song down in the store. I wanted to use a lot of the language that the real guy actually used when I heard him, because it was more real.... ”

In 2000, Knopfler appeared on Michael Parkinson's interview program and explained again where the lyrics originated. According to Knopfler, he was in New York and stopped by an appliance store. At the back of the store, they had a wall of TVs which were all tuned to MTV. Knopfler said there was a man working there dressed in a baseball cap, work boots, and a checkered shirt delivering boxes who was standing next to him watching. As they were standing there watching MTV, Knopfler remembers the man coming up with classic lines such as "what are those, Hawaiian noises?...that ain't workin" etc. Knopfler asked for a pen to write some of these lines down and then eventually put those words to music.

Writing credits

The songwriting credits are shared between Mark Knopfler and Sting. Sting was visiting Montserrat during the recording of the song, and was invited to add some background vocals. Sting has stated that his only compositional contribution was the "I Want My MTV" line, which was sung to the identical melody of the verse of his own song "Don't Stand So Close to Me", originally recorded by The Police. Sting was reportedly embarrassed when his publishing company insisted on a co-writing credit (and royalties).[3]

Controversy

The observations of the character included references to a musician "banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee" and a description of a singer as "that little faggot with the earring and the make-up", and lamenting that the artists got "money for nothing and chicks for free". These lyrics were widely criticised as sexist, racist and homophobic statements, and in some later releases of the song the lyrics were edited for airplay; "faggot" for example is often replaced with "mother".

When the song is included in rotation as part of a music feed played in stores or restaurants, "faggot" is usually turned backwards. The entire second verse was edited out for content and length for radio and video airplay, and on the 7" single. This edited version is included in the compilation albums Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits and Money for Nothing.

In a late 1985 interview in Rolling Stone magazine, Knopfler expressed mixed feelings on the controversy:

“ I got an objection from the editor of a gay newspaper in London - he actually said it was below the belt. Apart from the fact that there are stupid gay people as well as stupid other people, it suggests that maybe you can't let it have so many meanings - you have to be direct. In fact, I'm still in two minds as to whether it's a good idea to write songs that aren't in the first person, to take on other characters.[4] ”

Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx, in an interview with Blender Magazine, claimed that the song is actually about his band's excessive lifestyle, and that he heard the clerks in the store were commenting on Mötley Crüe videos shown on the in-store television sets.[5]

Music video

The music video for the song featured early computer animation illustrating the lyrics. The video was one of the first uses of computer-animated human characters and was considered ground-breaking at the time of its release. It was the second computer-generated music video shown on MTV.

Originally, Mark Knopfler was not at all enthusiastic about the concept of the music video. MTV, however, was insistent on it. Director Steve Barron, of Rushes Postproduction in London, was contacted by Warner Bros. to persuade Knopfler to relent. Describing the contrasting attitudes of Knopfler and MTV, he said:

“ The problem was that Mark Knopfler was very anti-videos. All he wanted to do was perform, and he thought that videos would destroy the purity of songwriters and performers. They said, "Can you convince him that this is the right thing to do, because we've played this song to MTV and they think it's fantastic but they won't play it if it's him standing there playing guitar. They need a concept."[6] ”

Barron then flew to Budapest to convince Knopfler of their concept. Meeting together after a gig, Knopfler was reportedly still unimpressed, but this time his girlfriend was present and took a hand. According to Barron:

“ Luckily, his girlfriend said, "He's absolutely right. There aren't enough interesting videos on MTV, and that sounds like a brilliant idea." Mark didn't say anything but he didn't make the call to get me out of Budapest. We just went ahead and did it.[6] ”

Ian Pearson and Gavin Blair created the animation, using a Bosch FGS-4000 CGI system.[7] The animators went on to found computer animation studio Mainframe Entertainment (today Rainmaker Animation), and referenced the "Money for Nothing" video in an episode of their ReBoot series. The video also included stage footage of Dire Straits performing, with partially rotoscoped-animation in bright neon colours, as seen on the record sleeve.

The video was awarded "Video of the Year" (among many other nominations) at the third annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1986.[7][8]

Videos within the video

Two other music videos are also featured within "Money for Nothing". The Hungarian pop band Első Emelet and their video "Állj Vagy Lövök"("Stop or I'll Shoot") appears as "Baby, Baby" by "First Floor". (The name "első emelet" translates to "first floor", and the song is credited as being on "Magyar Records": "Magyar" is the native name for Hungary.) Első Emelet were extremely popular at the time in Hungary, although their videos might not have appeared on Music Television. The other is a fictional, supposed MTV video "Sally" by the Ian Pearson Band (Pearson was one of the animators of the video) which also contains scenes shot in Budapest, Hungary.

Production

Knopfler modelled his guitar sound for the recorded track after ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons' trademark guitar tone, as ZZ Top's music videos were already a staple of early MTV. Gibbons later told a Musician magazine interviewer in 1986 that Knopfler had solicited Gibbons on how to replicate the tone, adding, "He didn't do a half-bad job, considering that I didn't tell him a thing!" Knopfler's "not a half-bad job" included his use of a Gibson Les Paul guitar, which he used on a couple of other Brothers in Arms tracks, rather than his usual (at the time) Fender Stratocaster, plugged into a Marshall amplifier. Another factor in trying to recreate the sound was a Wah-wah pedal that was turned on, but only rocked to a certain position.[9]

Knopfler slightly laughs when he sings the line, "banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee".

Reception

Rolling Stone magazine listed it the 94th greatest guitar song of all time, noting how Mark Knopfler "traded his pristine, rootsy tone for a dry, over-processed sound achieved by running a Les Paul through a wah-wah pedal on a track that became one of the network's earliest hits".[10]

Notable performances

When Dire Straits performed "Money for Nothing" at the 1985 Live Aid Concert at Wembley Stadium, the performance featured a guest appearance by Sting.

Knopfler performed "Money for Nothing" using his Pensa-Suhr signature MK-1 model guitar with a pair of Soldano SLO-100 tube/valve amplifier heads and Marshall speaker cabinets during the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute and Prince's Trust concerts in 1988, as well as the Nordoff-Robbins charity show at Knebworth in 1990 and the On Every Street world tours in 1991/1992. These versions featured extended guitar solos by Knopfler, backed by Eric Clapton and Phil Palmer.

Parodies

"Weird Al" Yankovic wrote a parody titled "Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*" for his 1989 film UHF. As the title implies, this song merges the lyrics from The Beverly Hillbillies theme song ("The Ballad of Jed Clampett") with "Money For Nothing"'s tune. Dire Straits members Mark Knopfler and Guy Fletcher perform guitar and keyboards respectively on the track.[11] The famous video was also parodied by "Weird Al", with the removal men replaced by blocky, computer-generated versions of Jed Clampett and Yankovic himself. The parody video was used as a dream sequence midway through the film.

Satirical puppet show Spitting Image also parodied this song, randomly calling it "Making Nice Curtains". It features a puppet of Mark Knopfler singing about yuppies and that their music "can be played to your granny and aunts". Sting appears as he does in the real video to claim his "royalty", but is silenced as a guitar hits him in the head.

References in pop culture

Preceded by
"St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" by John Parr		 Billboard Hot 100 number one single
21 September 1985- 5 October 1985		 Succeeded by
"Oh Sheila" by Ready for the World

References

  1. ↑ "MTV ready to rock Russia". BBC news. 1998-25-9. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/178641.stm. Retrieved 1 April 2007. "But the channel's continental incarnation- MTV Europe-...was launched in 1987 with the first video- beamed into 1.6 million paying households- being Dire Straits' Money for Nothing." 
  2. ↑ GRAMMY Winners Search Retrieved on 11 May 2007.
  3. ↑ Police FAQ at StingEtc.com Police FAQ at StingEtc.com
  4. ↑ Tucker, K.; Fricke, D. Fearless Leader, Rolling Stone, 21 November 1985.
  5. ↑ Higginbotham, A. Dear Superstar: Nikki Sixx, Blender, September 2007.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Knight, D. Money For Nothing: The Beginnings of CGI, Promo Magazine, September 2006.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=8683
  8. ↑ MTV Video Music Awards | 1986 Retrieved on 10 October 2008.
  9. ↑ Bacon, Tony Mark Knopfler: On '58 Les Paul and hearing 'voicings', Gibson.com, August 2002.
  10. ↑ [1]
  11. ↑ liner notes for Yankovic's album UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff. Retrieved on 25 September 2009.

External links

Dire Straits
Mark Knopfler · John Illsley
Alan Clark · Guy Fletcher · David Knopfler · Pick Withers · Hal Lindes · Terry Williams · Jack Sonni
Studio albums
Dire Straits · Communiqué · Making Movies · Love over Gold · Brothers in Arms · On Every Street
Live albums
Alchemy · On the Night · Live at the BBC
Compilations
Money for Nothing · Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits · The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations
EPs
ExtendedancEPlay · Encores
Singles
"Sultans of Swing" · "Water of Love" · "Lady Writer" · "Romeo and Juliet" · "Skateaway" · "Tunnel of Love" · "Private Investigations" · "Industrial Disease" · "Twisting by the Pool" · "Love Over Gold" (live) · "So Far Away" · "Money for Nothing" · "Brothers in Arms" · "Walk of Life" · "Your Latest Trick" · "Calling Elvis" · "Heavy Fuel" · "On Every Street" · "The Bug"
Tours
Dire Straits tour · Communiqué tour
Related articles
Discography · Band members · Michael Brecker · The Notting Hillbillies · Chris White · Birmingham at Barbarella
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