In 1985, Mark Knopfler turned a deliveryman’s complaints inside a New York appliance store into “Money for Nothing,” the Dire Straits song that became the band’s only No. 1 hit.
The song was released as the second single from Brothers in Arms. The full album version runs for more than eight minutes, with listings placing it at about 8 minutes and 25 seconds. The shorter single versions were edited for radio and commercial release.
But the song’s unusual beginning happened far away from a recording studio.
Knopfler has explained that he was inside an appliance store in New York City when he saw a wall of televisions showing MTV. A delivery worker was nearby, watching the music videos and complaining about the performers on screen.
The worker’s comments caught Knopfler’s attention.
In a 1985 interview, per American Songwriter, Knopfler explained the character behind the song: “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.”
Dire Straits posed together at The Hilton Hotel, Rotterdam, Holland on Oct. 14 1982.Photo by Rob Verhorst/Redferns
He added, “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.”
The story was later explained in more detail by Knopfler, who said the employee was wearing a baseball cap, work boots and a checkered shirt while delivering boxes. The televisions were tuned to MTV and the worker made comments about the musicians he was watching. Knopfler asked for a pen and wrote down some of the lines he heard.
The song took shape around the language Knopfler heard that day. The narrator is a working man who watches musicians on MTV and questions why they appear to receive fame and money while doing what he sees as easy work.
That point of view became central to the song.
“Money for Nothing” was not simply a short radio song. Its album version stretched beyond eight minutes, built around Knopfler’s guitar riff, drums, keyboards and the repeated “I want my MTV” line.
That opening came from another important part of the song’s story.
According to Louder, Knopfler had seen an MTV advertisement featuring The Police using the slogan “I want my MTV.” He recognized that the melody could fit the tune of The Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” written by Sting.
Knopfler later recalled to Ultimate Classic Rock, “I’d seen the Police doing an MTV advert, saying ‘I want my MTV,’ just saying it all together.”
He then wanted Sting to perform the line.
Sting happened to be nearby in Montserrat, where Dire Straits were recording parts of Brothers in Arms. The two musicians already knew each other from earlier performances, making the collaboration possible.
Sting eventually received songwriting credit with Knopfler because of the musical connection to “Don’t Stand So Close to Me.”
The collaboration became one of the most recognizable parts of the finished recording. The guitar sound also had a strong connection to another major rock act of the period: ZZ Top.
Knopfler wanted a guitar tone similar to Billy Gibbons’ sound. During the recording process, the production team found a distinctive guitar sound that was difficult to reproduce. A microphone placement accident helped create the final tone used on the track.
Gibbons commented on Knopfler’s attempt to capture his sound, saying, “He didn’t do a half-bad job, either, considering that I never told him a goddamned thing!”
“Money for Nothing” was released on June 28, 1985, and quickly became one of the biggest songs connected to the MTV era.
Its success helped push Brothers in Arms to major commercial heights, while the song’s music video became another important part of its rise.
The computer-animated video stood out on MTV and helped make the song even more visible. The video later won Video of the Year and Best Group Video at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.
The song itself reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Sept. 21, 1985, and remained at the top for three weeks.
Dire Straits had already scored major songs before “Money for Nothing.” “Sultans of Swing,” for example, became a Top 5 hit in the United States.
What started with a few notes written on borrowed paper eventually became an eight-minute Dire Straits classic and the band’s only US No. 1 single.
Related: 1980 Hit, Written After Surviving Dangerous Storm While Sailing to Bermuda, Ranked John Lennon’s Best Solo Album
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