Dire Straits- Money For Nothing REACTION AND REVIEW

Song Link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lauym4Wii9V0hbM
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[@trondsatre8615]

The video music, featuring the first person speaker as a CGI animated blue-collar stereotype, is iconic.

[@kpas22105]

You cannot overstate how huge this song was when it came out.

[@StevenQ74]

Mark wrote this after overhearing workers in an appliance store in New York commenting on the TV's that were all tuned to MTV. Mark wrote down what he heard and turned that into this song. Mark wanted the guitar to sound like ZZ Top since they were big on MTV at the time. Mark had the "I want my MTV" to the tune of "Don't stand so close to me" in his head when writing the song and Sting happened to be surfing in Monserat when Dire Straits were recording the album there. Sting got writing credit for it because his record company demanded it.

[@robertcartier5088]

About the problematic lyrics... People often forget that language is malleable over time. And more importantly, here, the use of it is descriptive, and not proscriptive. It is not meant to inspire you to be like the person uttering the slurs, it is meant to represent such a person in the context of the story. Perhaps even making fun of such a person for being ignorant... Assuming otherwise is idiotic and just looking for a trigger to be offended by. It is irrational to think that fixing these issues requires the total elimination of any reference to those things from the past. If we forget where we came from, we might also forget WHY we came away from it.

[@kpas22105]

The song is about something that Mark Knoffler actually heard a couple of working guys saying some of this stuff in a store.

[@roberttee9790]

Knopfler's interview describing the birth of this song is classic. Standing in a home goods store listening to this guy go off watching mtv while he's working. Very creative. And that guitar tone was something else. Thx again jp.

[@John_Locke_108]

When you get a chance, you need to watch the music video. It's beyond iconic. And yeah, it blew my young mind that the lead singer of another band was adding vocals to another band's song.

[@mightyV444]

Great spotting with that 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' melody, Justin! 😀👍 I had done so eventually myself, but only many years after this song had come out 😅

[@alexshkoditch4593]

I first learned this today, and I'm an OG listener to this song.

[@vinsgraphics]

This is why Sting has an equal songwriting credit on the song. His record company insisted, seeing as the melody closely resembled “Don’t Stand So Close To Me.”

[@BennoWitter]

The whole album is a masterpiece that deserves a reaction.

[@TheCornishCockney]

Massive song,massive album at the time. MTV (back when they only played music 24/7) loved Dire Straits.

[@timoloef]

omg, why haven't a notice that before! "don't stand so close to me" :O

[@notabritperse]

As you noticed here, in the tradition of The Beatles dropping the "She Loves You" chorus into the "All You Need is Love" fadeout, Sting frequently drops familiar melodies and lyrics of his into the fadeouts of other songs. You'll hear it a lot.

[@MrSmartAlec]

I recall hearing that the inspiration for this song was an overheard conversation between blue collar workers in an appliance store/home center.

[@kwikbit]

The guitar riff/hook is iconic ... fun watching younger people hear this for the first time.. reminds me of when I heard it on the radio when it came out .... of course in those days, then you had to wait for the next day/DJ before you could hear it again until you actually bought the single/album !!...😎

[@yw1971]

7:16 - Sting does that in several of his songs (hint to older songs).

[@kozlorf]

This was the first album for which the CD was the main target format, not the vinyl. That's why they could have afforded to make that "hit single" 8 and half minutes long.

[@emfer3010]

Great reaction Justin 😄 I love the intro, unfortunatly it's cut off for the radio version. The album version is so much better IMHO.

[@AriadneJC]

Yes, it got spammed to death by broadcast media from the moment it came out but I still like it. The social commentary still applies and probably always will: the people who do the hard manual work only just get by while those who are lucky enough to become famous through what appears to be easy work (plucking strings, hitting things to a rhythm, etc) get showered with material wealth most can only dream about. The irony that this is played by a band who are already at that high point of fame is a bonus.

[@pentagrammaton6793]

Ain't that the truth...although, most musicians are poor as sh*t anyway!

[@norair1010]

The song was the first song on MTV Europe.

[@gpreactions3194]

I think this was played at Live Aid in July 1985 before it actually entered the UK Top 40 so it was really strange to see Sting sing his opening lines for Dire Straits at Wembley Stadium.

[@WineSippingCowboy]

This was!

[@arnodobler1096]

MTV Europe started with the video (be sure to watch it) for this song. The album as a CD helped the CD to its breakthrough. Mark is a pioneer.

[@RyanCMcD]

Iconic song, the Weird Al parody "Beverly Hillbillies" is based around it and worth a listen too.

[@robertpearson8798]

He needs to watch both videos.

[@RyanCMcD]

@@robertpearson8798 Absolutely.

[@blankgen78]

Hills … that is

[@bobholtzmann]

That parody of the MTV video was in Weird Al's movie, UHF, as part of a dream sequence.

[@minty_Joe]

And Mark Knopfler plays the lead guitar on the Weird Al parody as part of the stipulation terms.

[@isabeljimenez6067]

You understood the song correctly. I'm 61. Calling someone the "f word" has been objectionable all my life. The only difference between then and now is that back then we were smart enough to understand the context and weren't so easily offended. All In The Family was a great LEFT leaning show that helped break down barriers BECAUSE of how bigotry was presented, not despite the bigotry. People today are snowflakes.

[@SEANBANOG4]

can't beat the live version of this with Sting on LIve AId...the first performance of this to over 1 billion souls across the planet.

[@GRAHAMESIMPSON]

With Sting singing accompaniment :)

[@davidcopson5800]

Another accomplished reaction Justin. Allegedly, Mark Knopfler was in a large electrical goods shop and heard the manager (or whoever) saying to his staff, we gotta move these colour TVs etc, and Mark put it together in a song. So the legend goes. I don't know if it's true or not.

[@terryroxburgh3276]

First album I bought on cd ('85 I think) and played it to death and never got tired of it. So many great tracks. My personal favourite Dire Straits track is the live version of Private Investigations on the Alchemy album. I know you've reviewed the Love Over Gold version and as a rule I prefer the studio version of tracks, but that is something else!

[@popsmcgee9775]

Satire - a blue collar worker's view of the rock stars on MTV.

[@hopeklemann1]

🌸 I have always loved this intro.... back in the day we used to just crank that baby really really loud

[@ragnarmyhr7238]

I guess this is one of the first DDD recordings. I remember it's was my first CD buy.

[@sean---the-other-one]

For the guitar tone, Mark first approached Billy Gibbons whom he believed had the best guitar tone in pop music of that era. He asked Billy for the secret to it but Billy wouldn’t divulge anything. So, they played around with lots of ideas. Eventually what they got was part deliberate and part serendipity. They used a Wah pedal partly engaged for that throaty, yet choked tone. When the engineer was first setting up the mic on Mark’s amp as Mark was playing, he just placed it in a random location whilst he was doing something. The tone that came into the control room got the producer excited and he told him not to touch anything. That was what they ended up using.

[@vinsgraphics]

And apparently they were never able to replicate it ‘exactly’ after that. Basically a one-off thing.

[@sean---the-other-one]

@@vinsgraphics That’s how sound is in my experience. I’ve done recording one day, we’ve all left our equipment as it was, walked back in the studio next day, and the sound wasn’t there the same as it was the previous day.

[@budhee]

Knopfler and Sting - both Geordies - they would have had a good laugh doing this ..

[@jeremyb5640]

I don't often write "I can't believe you hadn't heard this song before" in the comments, but "I can't believe you hadn't heard this!" 🤣A song that was everywhere in the mid eighties, just like the album it came from. That riff is iconic. Lyrics taken word for word from a pair of real guys working in a hardware store doing manual labour and looking on jealously at the rock stars on the store's display TVs. That Wikipedia article explains more about how Sting came to perform on the track, but if you look at the songwriting credits, they're shared between Knopfler and Sting. Knopfler had used MTV's network slogan "I want my MTV" after seeing an MTV advertisement featuring The Police and set it to the tune of "Don't Stand So Close to Me" (written by Sting), hence the cowriting credit.

[@bubuwawa]

The problem lyrics were actually, "that's his own affair" -- as the character didn't really care, just saw him being successful while he did manual labor. Great song!

[@michaelgray5100]

This was a huge huge hit when it came out. Reminds me of the song “Life’s been Good” by Joe Walsh.

[@justintime42000]

The main riff seems inspired by and somewhat reminiscent of The Rolling Stones’ Jumpin’ Jack Flash.

[@WineSippingCowboy]

Written by Mark Knopfler and Sting. Backing vocals by Sting. Same chords as Don't Stand So Close to Me. Written by Sting. In the same year, Sting recorded his album Dream of the Blue Turtles and a song with Phil Collins. Sting was busy as a bee 🐝 ! L🤣L

[@michaelbaucom4019]

Sting got a cowriting credit, a melody from a Police song was used. That's Sting singing the " I Want My MTV " intro. Killer guitar riff, MK's usual great storytelling. He's making fun of himself/the music business in general. The single/MTV version cuts out most of the outro and the second verse As a Dire Straits fan, I have a love/hate relationship with this song. I love it because it made the band popular and briefly cool. I hate it because it was overplayed, and because they have so many songs in their catalog that are so much better(which doesn't translate to popular)

[@Azabaxe80]

Two things. The blatant homophobia in this song made it edgy at the time. Difficult to see a song like this get such wide acclaim without editing those lyrics first. The other thing is how sheepishly Sting always tells the story of how it wasn't him that insisted on songwriting credit for the song, it was his publishing company. As if he didn't have anything to do with it.

[@sphericalharmony1603]

Maybe the shop guy should have tried to get a cowriting credit, since Mark's lyrics were based on his conversation 😄

[@CCDzine]

Envy, not jealousy.

[@blitztim6416]

I can’t even believe this is a discussion, but back then the use of the word in the song to me just meant he was saying they were effeminate. After all, they’re getting their chick for free. You had the hair bands then. Skinny guys wearing spandex, makeup and blown out hair. Yet they wanted chicks.

[@louiespage]

That's how we talked back then, MTV was new and you saw some guy on mtv prancing about with girly hair and a bit effeminate looking you called him that. People may have thought similar about me in a way. I was into heavy metal and had long hair halfway down my back and wore a big grey coat that went almost to the floor, my dad used to say you look like a girl lol.

[@hopeklemann1]

🌸 Sting on intro

[@herb6677]

It is a bit crazy watching someone listening to music that everybody else has known all along, innit? Cheers!

[@philclark1184]

I think Sting sang the intro and higher vocals on this

[@WineSippingCowboy]

He did!

[@jefferybeckman5231]

You think?

[@RogerAbbot-mq9ol]

As for the lyrics being offensive, this was the from the point of view of the guys doing hard manual labor and being envious of a young man getting rich without much effort while they work their ass off and not get much for it.

[@keithjones7390]

Ride Across the River, The Man's Too Strong and the title track are a 100 times better!

[@murdockreviews]

Great 80s rock classic with ironic lyrics. Sting as background vocalist.

[@yw1971]

10:52 - Not only that but it seems it was made with one take, including minor glitches on the part of Mark (missed the start of the chorus on the 3rd) & Sting.

[@racinnut77]

The blue collar guy is complaining that while he has to move TVs, ovens, fridges etc., "them yo yos on MTV" make millions doing "nothing". Worst case scenario for the music star is they might get a blister on a finger.

[@MP-TheNewGuy]

I was a bit surprised that hadn't heard this one given how overplayed it was, but I imagine with its outdated language the plays got reduced quite a bit for your age group. I believe this song 39 years old now. Looking forward to the rest of the album.

[@80sandretrogubbins25]

5:04 that be the Yamaha DX7.

[@deathbysloth]

Love the shirt. Great movie.

[@lars-oleeifler4448]

Both Police and Dire Straits came from New Castle

[@jaymacgee_A_Bawbag_Blethering]

That will be a surprise to Stuart Copeland and Andy Summers who have zero connection to Newcastle 🤷‍♂️ 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@WineSippingCowboy]

Released their debut albums in the same year! Both singer songwriters were teachers of English!

[@kaleomk]

Even if the album was successful with 3 or 4 tracks, for me, the other songs are nuggets too... Ride across the river, The man's too strong...

[@keithjones7390]

I've almost said exactly the same thing!

[@sicko_the_ew]

I'm one of those who think the saying, "A rolling stone gathers no moss" got ambushed. It couldn't have always meant "someone who doesn't settle down makes no savings". Just makes no sense. How many stones have you seen rolling up and down the hills to nowhere, lately? So what might it have originally meant? How about the rolling stone in a mill (that does all the hardest work) never gets to settle down with some "moss"? The person who does all the work never receives the reward for it. That at least fits a whole lot better. And it's often true, too.

[@pentagrammaton6793]

That actually figures.

[@kenl2091]

Nah. It dates back to 1789 when Keith Richards was a young lad doing work experience at a local farm. He was asked to clean up a pathway but declined with the aforementioned phrase. Surprised you didn't know that. It's like when Gene Clarke (who had left the band in 1966) went to the doctor with a Taeniasis problem and asked how he could possibly have acquired the disease. The doctor then coined the phrase 'The early Byrd catches the worm' and the rest is history.

[@sicko_the_ew]

@@kenl2091 :D

[@justintime42000]

@@kenl2091😂😂😂

[@fatimaemiko7073]

Nem tem sentido Mark Knopfler querer ofender a própria categoria...no vídeo ele coloca as animações em CGI falando essas coisas contra ele que estava aparecendo na TV...perfeitamente limpo...

[@stevemd6488]

Tricky little guitar hook but a lot of fun to play

[@aaronb4493]

👌🏻

[@bobcarn]

It really is a good song. The slur in the lyrics does pose a problem for me though, and the reason is simple; I've had that thrown at me and hearing it always triggers some bad feelings. I would never consider censoring the song and I do know the context in which the slur is used. It's a criticism of the narrator. I am fine with the reasoning and association. I just find hearing that to be uncomfortable, which creates an odd disconnect from the rest of the song.

[@hopeklemann1]

🌸 COWBELL!!😅

[@tomlafleche332]

As for the reference to a certain word it was used to both make fun of and show a bit of jealousy of the 80's hair metal bands at that time who all used to dress like really ugly drag queens, although there were a few who were probably better looking than the chicks that showed up their shows lmao.

[@maruad7577]

I had always assumed this was inspired by BTO's "Taking care of business". Great song nevertheless.

[@davidzieglmeier1020]

Is "Money for nothing" the perfect phrase for reaction channels? And the clicks for free...

[@John_Locke_108]

Yup. Easy money. Wish I had done a channel back when I had the time. Most of these folks are super rich. It's crazy.

[@DonHaka]

@@John_Locke_108 I can assure you that "most of these folks" are in fact, not super rich. Most reaction channels never make it big. As with everything in life, you have to be really lucky to make it big.

[@John_Locke_108]

@@DonHaka Most of the ones I watch are. They have so much money that they pay people to edit and upload their videos.

[@egapnala65]

Became the anthem for the yuppie rich 80s in the u.k. Visions of pasta machines, bucked tooth people in suits saying "O.K Yahhh!!" fill my head. ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!

[@SpuddySpud]

Princess Di was a fan. Natch!

[@tammccoy4258]

It didn't become "the anthem of the yuppie rich 80s in the UK" in my part of the Uk. It was just a song. And as for the accuracy of the rest of your post...😊

[@egapnala65]

@@SpuddySpud Yaahhh!! The original Sloane Ranger!!

[@egapnala65]

@@tammccoy4258 We didn't all live in the square mile.

[@6581punk]

Never liked the guitar tone on this, just sounds tinny. I'm sure people even used it as an example of how transistor distortion wasn't as good as valves (tubes). But the Knopfler is a great guitarist.

[@sean---the-other-one]

I don’t recall that it was a solid state amp at all, nor do I know if it’s a tube amp. The ‘tinny’ sound isn’t likely to derive from that so much as it is the fact that they recorded the guitar with a way pedal partly engaged (not fully depressed, not fully disengaged). They were aiming to emulate Billy Gibbons’ tone after they asked him how he got it but he wouldn’t tell them.

[@pentagrammaton6793]

@@sean---the-other-one Billy Gibbons' tone: Les Paul, nicely cranked Fender amp and Mexican Peso for a pick, supposedly. Not that Knopfler knew a damn thing about real blues tone.

[@sean---the-other-one]

@@pentagrammaton6793 No. He had other strengths.

[@bobholtzmann]

I always understood that the moving guy portrayed in the song was bigoted and prejudiced. It reminds me of the Archie Bunker character in TV's All In The Family, and his racist terms for Black, Spanish and Chinese persons' ethnicity. But in both cases "Money For Nothing" and All In The Family made fun of the racist bigot, and he never wins anything in the end.

[@jefferybeckman5231]

The single version of this song is unlistenable on radioradio these daze.

[@pentagrammaton6793]

Only in the 80s could a band like Dire Straits have been considered in any way cool. Not a compliment, if there is any doubt.

[@a.k.1740]

Coolness often rhymes with weariness.🤣

[@delorangeade]

They were never cool. It was just that uncool people with bad taste had all the money.

[@copperhopperwarren4788]

And yet.. here you are... What a burk 😂😂😂😂

[@sgtBelson]

The ‘outdated terminology’ (great description, Justin) was used back then as ‘douche’ has been used in more recent times - a more specific type of asshole, if you will. Yes, it was also a slur of a sexual nature, and its use wasn’t right, but it wasn’t always a pointed comment.

[@lloydbraun6026]

Actually we need more if that language today. Society has normalized these degenerates for too long. If we don’t do it the religion of peace will if they take over

[@frugalseverin2282]

I thought it was a cheap trick to mention MTV in the song in order to get airplay on that channel.

[@ianvincent69]

It was all part of the conversation that Knopfler overheard - nothing to do with a cheap trick to get airplay!

[@a.k.1740]

@@ianvincent69 Come on, Knopfler knew perfectly well that by using the word MTV, he was going to get airplay on the said channel!😉

[@vinsgraphics]

The guys he overheard in the store were watching MTV on the store’s TVs, which is why they were commenting the way they were. Obviously there had to be a reason, a couple of lunkheads randomly talking about pop stars? MTV was the “Big Bang” of the song. And, since MTV was in its infancy at the time, it made sense to have this song up there. Mark was not exactly on board with the idea, and took some convincing. The music video has an entirely separate story of its own.

[@justintime42000]

MTV had a commercial for itself running constantly saying “I want my MTV.” They got a lot of stars to say it for the commercial. Knopfler was watching in the store and the commercial probably came on. He was actually making fun of/parodying MTV in not the most flattering way by the lyrics, and could have easily offended the executives there and never got airplay. Lucky for him they had a sense of humour. Dire Straits and Sting made a video of the song, so of course, they wanted it to get played on MTV. MTV and later VH1 broke every hit record in the 80s and 90s, exactly what radio had done before MTV changed the way people heard new music (not for the better, in my opinion).

[@davidbradley3254]

Only 2 tracks I like of DS.This one (it’s of its time the Yuppie 80s) and Sultans of Swing.I forgot Private Investigation that’s 3.

[@Owlstretchingtime78]

Take out this one and i agree with you.

[@darrylfranzman8047]

You've been alive for how long? And you've never heard this song.? Somehow. I don't believe you or you've been living under a rock or your parents place your whole entire life.

[@JustJP]

Rocks are actually quite comfortable to sleep on, especially "bedrock"🛏🗿

[@jtenaz]

💤

[@davidchaplain6748]

The radio edit also had the homophobic 2nd verse cut out.

[@trainman5323]

Which was stupid. It’s a personal comment by the blue collar dumbass and totally mimicking reality.

[@delorangeade]

This song made me stop listening to or liking Dire Straits. Hearing it is like having my teeth drilled, the more so because Sting is on it, and he always has that effect on me. Most especially it exemplifies for me the worst bad taste excesses of the 1980's. the vacuous gaudiness of the yuppie culture I completely despised.

[@Owlstretchingtime78]

I'm with you! 😉

[@copperhopperwarren4788]

@@delorangeade And yet, HERE YA ARE... Numpty....

[@Whateva67]

Who the fuq asked you ya ree tard, go soothe your ears to Adam ant or whatever you listen to in your one bedroom flat😂

[@bluehuerue6893]

This is the epitome of mediocrity. That someone is a so-called ''great guitarist'' doesn't automatically mean what they produce is of interest or worth. An equivalent which JP has reacted to here would be, for example, The Doobie Brothers, in terms of tedium.

[@thrusta100]

Wow edgy comment, man, bet you said same about Cobain, grunge etc...🤪

[@a.k.1740]

Never liked Dire Straits, never liked that album I was unfortunately given for Christmas ‘85, nor that awful song that was blasted all over the airwaves and on TV. Needless to say, I consigned that crappy album to oblivion!😉

[@tammccoy4258]

Weird that you bothered to even click on the link. Everyone surely knows that some people don't like this band and/or this song and/or the album it comes from, so what is your point?

[@a.k.1740]

@@tammccoy4258 Justin likes his subscribers to leave comments, positive or negative, so there you have it!😉

[@davidcopson5800]

@ak47 Are you saying you weren't keen on the album?

[@a.k.1740]

@@davidcopson5800 Before I was offered Brothers in Arms, I already didn't like Dire Straits (Communiqué, Making Movies....) so I had a feeling I wasn't going to like this album at all. I do remember listening to it a couple of times, but it was torture for my ears. It bored me to death. Definitely not my stuff!

[@ianvincent69]

Well, some people just don't have any taste. I bet you like Kiss or Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift or some other talentless oiks!