Mark wrote this song after he overheard 2 delivery men commenting on the TV's in a store in New York, all the TV's were tuned to MTV. He wrote down what he heard and turned that into this song. It's Sting form "The Police" that sings the higher second voice.
Mark wrote this song during a period in his life when he was in a electronics store buying a new fridge,tv and microwave after he bought a new house and needed those things for it and wrote a song about it
Como bien han comentado,esa canción la creó después de escuchar una conversación de los trabajadores de una tienda de electrodomésticos criticando a los músicos porque, según la canción,ganan dinero sin trabajar,muy a menudo,con las canciones,no con los libros, cuando se cuenta algo en primera persona la gente cree que lo que dice es lo que piensa y no es necesariamente así,de todos modos os recomiendo que veáis esta canción en el directo de Wembley, aunque no sea para emitirlo, creo que es la actualización más potente de esta canción que haya visto, saludos 🍻🍻
You have summed up the message of the song perfectly! The resentment of the laborer being paid a pittance, compared to his boss (which he slants as a you-know-what) and his anger that musicians have money and girls falling at their feet for doing (almost) nothing - certainly not physical labor. This incredibly beautiful and insightful song should also be viewed in the light that the band themselves were desperate only a few years earlier - hence their name.😎
That's not what it means. MYV made "stars" out of bands they were no good at all, so they were MOCKING them, saying look there she's got it sticking in the camera man, and mocking a guy with "Hawaiian noises. The thing is MTV got them to make a video anyway and it was voted best video of the 80s. The whole song is about "REAL MUSICIANS" mocking MTV and as we saw with Milli Vanilli, basically what the were saying was right, that proved it, there was a Singer who had a great voice but not "THE LOOK" so thy subbed in two other other guys, LOL.
Money for Nothing was Dire Straits most commercial successful single, peaking at No.1 for three weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100. Money for Nothing won video of the year. The Rolling Stone magazine listed the song the 94th greatest guitar song of all time. For me this is Dire Straits No.1 song and the Top 10 song of the 1980s. I was at the Dire Straits Brothers in Arms tour concert 26 October 1985. The concert was amazing! Thanks for a great video by Dire Straits the great 1980s at its best! 🎸
I am not surprised that Dominika knows the song. I am Polish like her and about her age and this song has been huge in polish television in the 80s it was everywhere.
Polish TV in the 80's?..playing this? Naprawde? Just curious, no offence meant (Zielona Gora/b.'82), so I got to know the song a little bit later... Was this really played on PL radio, let alone TV?
Don't ever apologise for your discussions, that's my favourite part! I could listen to the two of you talk and banter without a music reaction, although I guess it's the music that gives you something to talk about, lol. Anyway, it's one of the things that sets your channel apart in the best possible way. ❤
The story behind the song: Mark was in a store in NY, and on one whole wall of the store there were TVs tuned to MTV (Music Television); he overheard the workers making derisive (and jealous perhaps) comments about the performers in the videos and how easy those guys had it compared to their own blue-collar jobs (moving TVs, microwaves and refrigerators etc.). Mark grabbed a pen and paper and wrote their remarks down verbatim right there, and those comments became the lyrics of the song. Given that they (Dire Straits) are musicians themselves, singing the lyrics in an MTV video, it's also good natured, self-parodic and cheeky! Moreover, it's fitting because in contrast to some the 'glam rock' of the time, Dire Straits was 'pub rock'. As to the 'offensive' word at issue: 1) That was the word used by the blue collar workers themselves in the store about the guys in the MTV videos; (2) it was very common parlance at that time and was a term sometimes used akin to a 'dumb-ass' or a 'moron,' (3) it was also used to suggest 'poser' or 'pretty boy' (the glam rock of the time, 'with the earrings and the makeup' who were seen to have sold out to corporate media) rather than to homosexuals (gay guys wouldn't be concerned about getting 'chicks' for free, would they?); And Notably, when the band plays this track live, in the first person if you will, they leave out that word. Context is everything!
@@carolynmorrissey1630 You may have seen people performing (music, dance, things like that) in public places. For instance, a guitarist playing on a street corner with their guitar case open, so that people can put in some money if they want to. It's that sort of thing.
It's been an incredible era to live in for technological development, my first home computer was black and white and had half a K of memory, I learnt to write my own games on it cos I couldn't afford to buy any, the way it's snowballed since then is incredible! Great reaction as always :)
This video was something different when it came out with the computer graphics, at the time, you couldn't turn a radio on without this being heard and obviously played constantly on MTV, have a look at the songs and videos for 'Walk Of Life' and 'Twisting By The Pool', great reaction guys 🇬🇧
You should check out the live version of this it was either Nelsom Mandelas 70th Birthday Concert or Live Aid. The band had special guests on stage (I mean SPECIAL) STING from the POLICE vocals ERIC CLAPTON guitar PHIL COLLINS drums.
Awesome reaction guys big hugs from Sweden i actaully learned to dance to Direstraits back in late 80's. My father used to put my small legs on top of his feets and move with the music so i learned rhytm. My fathe died 2017, 70 years old Everytime i here a Direstrait song im taken back to that precious memory and im 42 years old today. Thank you guys for doing this reaction with me.
This was a major hit in late 1985 in the USA as I was 11 years old in the 5'th grade and I know for sure Dire Straights was an English band even though were heavily rooted in American blues rock
A little context: in the beginning, it was hard for MTV to grow because cable companies at the time didn’t think a music video channel made any sense at all. So the marketing department came up with an idea: have their fans petition the cable companies to carry MTV, by using the slogan “I want my MTV!” They then ran those ads heavily, and used some of the new stars of the day that they had made popular with videos, like Cyndi Lauper, Billy Idol…and Sting’s band, the Police. And as others have said, this was far and away their most mainstream single, that made them rich because of MTV playing over, and over, and over.
The money is not "proportional" to the exerted effort, but that's the point of a market economy, doing it different/better and getting more. The irony is that most (all that signed a contract with a record company before they had any leverage) musicians were the one's getting screwed out of money that was earned on their talent and effort. If you want to know more about that, info is everywhere - I saw a Van Halen interview where they had just dropped their debut album and toured constantly. That debut album, maybe the best debut album in the history of rock, went gold and platinum that first year - over a million units sold in US alone in first year. When they got into the studio to record the follow-up album, they were informed by their label that they currently owed them over $3,000,000 for the expenses incurred with marketing, distributing, etc. - they were broke - literally every band coming up in the '70s has the same story. Rush and Tom Petty have good record company fight stories.
Given your previous reactions to live performances from Dire Straits, I thoroughly recommend checking out the Music For Montserrat performance of this song. The concert was held at the world-famous Royal Albert Hall and Mark Knopfler (plus fellow former Dire Straits alumni Guy Fletcher and Phil Palmer), Sting, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins and renowned percussionist Ray Cooper gave a tremendous rendition. Oh and there were members of an orchestra and gospel choir jigging away in the background. It's the most fun live version of this song ever!
You 2 are the best for reaction to all your videos. As I knew over a cup of coffee the wife would love the "Blue ". next will be Gilmour's " Live at Pompeii" " in any tongue" just to take you 2 to Pompeii. Daves last tour and the best he played since 1968. Dave said certain places he plays better caue of the history where he is performing.
nobody can earn money by working hard physical work; big money comes always from and for "nothing" ;) the point is to know and recognize that "nothing" and to have, let's say, "luck"... this song is also my fav of Dire Straits and the only I can listen anytime, thx for sharing your interesting reaction ur so natural
Great song again from the 80's - incidentally STING sang the falsetto parts "i want my MTV" :) Such a good track - I think maybe "tongue in cheek" making the point in a round about sort of way that artistes DO work for for their money but it doesn't seem like it, maybe a little irony there - Dire Straits are such a good band ! thanks for reacting to this one it's one of my fave tracks from "the Straits" from my youth. I used to play the intro on loop because I just love the fat deep synths etc :D MTV is VERY important to this track - it was the first track aired (transmitted) on MTV Europe when it started :)
As a musician the part people see, the performing, is the fun part. The work is the thousands of hours of practice to learn to play, loading thousands of dollars of equipment into the car, driving to the gig, setting up the equipment, tearing it down and loading it back in the car when the fun part is over and driving home! LOL.
Love your reactions! This was the first song that opened MTV europe ( August 1, 1987 ) and it was played on there a lot, you probably heard it in passing many times.
Here Marc criticizes the naive thought of some people doing "normal" jobs that all is needed to gain much money is to play guitar or drums, which of course is not always enough. Talent and charisma is necessary and of course many musicians had a hard time before get in the top. Including Dire Straits who's band name was chosen from them because they actually lived in dire straits before they recorded their first album which boosted their career to the band we all know.
Weird Al Yankovic, the man who does perfect parodies, has made one of this song and changed it to be a song about the old TV show "Beverly Hillbillies." I can't listen to the original anymore, just automatically think of the parody.
When Weird Al asked Mark for permission Mark said: on one condition, if I can play guitar on it. So Mark plays guitar on the parody and Guy Fletcher plays keyboards
Thanks for another great reaction, this time to the coolest gitarriff of all times. If yoy want a different take on the great Mark Knopfler, you could try one of Mark’s absolute favourites, Romeo and Juliet from Alchemy live (an autobiographical love song), or Why Worry with Mark and Emmylou Harris from Real Live Roadrunning ❤
Agree with both those choices, but the original album tracks are wonderful as well. Music of my later teenage years. Just date myself Buggles "Video killed the Radio Stars" was number one when I had my first Legal Pint.
Sting sings "I want my MTV" at the start. And sings backing vocals in the song. Mark was in a US Electrical store and overheard some of the staff talking and he used what they said for the lyrics and wrote the song based on these comments and conversations. Mark said in an interview: "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..."
when i was young and growing up in Australia, i still remember we had a black and white tv on a stand with wheels and later on when we got our first color television we were so amazed by the difference and the size of it was so much bigger it took two men to carry it into our lounge room, nowadays people take color tv for granted..just like their cell/mobile phone they take it for granted.
I answered the question of what this was about on Quora, but I don't think links are allowed in youtube comments, so here it is: Mark Knopfler has answered this question many times in many interviews over the 38 years since the song’s release on the Brothers In Arms album. You can probably google transcripts of some of these interviews. I listened to one such interview broadcast on 2MMM, one of the pop/rock radio stations in Australia, while the album was still raging across the world in 1985. Here’s how it goes: One day in New York, Knopfler is in a home appliances (white-goods/big-box) store (as I would learn much later, presumably doing some shopping to fit out what was probably his new NYC apartment; the ‘Strait’s fame and fortune was well on the rise by this stage, probably some time in 1984, a place for Knopfler to live during the ‘Strait’s frequent trips to the USA for reherals, album recording, live performances, and also avoiding the UK’s bone-headed taxation system at the time). In this store he noticed a couple of ‘grunts’, the guys who work there, usually out-of-sight-out-of-mind out the back, moving boxes around to deliver stuff to customers. The store has a wall of TVs on display, all tuned to MTV, a relatively new phenomenon in 1985, massively popular amongst us Gen-Xers, and showing only music-videos 24/7 (remember when MTV used to show music videos!? lol), each artist introduced with what would become the standard Artist/Band - Song Title - Album name - Publisher overlay in the bottom-left corner of the screen at the start & end of the music-video. As the grunts, “knuckle-dragers” as Knopfler would later describe them, came in from out the back into the showroom to pick up boxes and take them away to be loaded onto a truck for delivery, they’d comment to themselves, but clearly audible to anyone nearby, what they thought about all these musicians/artist on MTV: Now look at them yo-yos, that's the way you do it You play the guitar on the MTV That ain't workin', that's the way you do it Money for nothin' and your chicks for free Lemme tell ya, them guys ain't dumb Maybe get a blister on your little finger Maybe get a blister on your thumb We got to install microwave ovens, custom kitchen deliveries We got to move these refrigerators, we got to move these color TVs These minimum-wage overalls-wearing ‘grunts’ obviously knew a lot of money was being made by the Top-40 pop music artists of the 80s, and perhaps thought there wasn’t anything more demanding to the job than getting a blister on their finger playing the guitar or ‘bangin on those bongos like a chimpanzee’, which is nothing compared to the heavy boxes of home appliances these two guys had to heave around all day, every day! Knopfler was so enthralled by what he was hearing from these grunts he asked one of the salespeople for a piece of paper and a pen, and wrote down what they were saying. The song is a lot easier to understand if you watch the ground-breaking music-video for Money For Nothing, featuring cutting edge (at the time) video effects: They weren’t holding back with their opinions, either, out there on the showroom floor amongst the customers: See the little faggot with the earring and the make up Yeah, buddy, that's his own hair That little faggot got his own jet airplane That little faggot, he's a millionaire Knopfler would cop a LOT of flack in the year or two that followed for using a ‘gay slur’. He would valliantly defend his use of it, because it wasn’t Knopfler’s words, it was the words of the ‘grunts’ he was relating in his song! As Knopfler said in frustration at the time, are songwriters now banned from speaking in the first-person about that which they sing, the stories they tell?? As a gay man myself, I’m completely OK with artists rendering others’ in first-person! Perhaps because the music-video depicts the knuckle-draggers watching Dire Straits on the showroom TVs, people just couldn’t get it all ‘straight’ in their pretty little PC heads… For better or worse, and probably just for the sake of the path of least resistance, Knopfler would stop using the gay slur ‘faggots’ in the live performances of the Brothers In Arms concerts, substituting various other words, and I think they may have even re-released the Money For Nothing single with the ‘naughty word’ substituted. Infuriating puritanical bullshit. I wonder if those two guys ever realised it was them that Dire Straits were singing about in their world-wide hit song? ;-) I want my, I want my, I want my MTV… Where Knopfler is singing the words of the big beefy guy, Sting (Gordon Sumner) sings those of the skinny guy. Sting is given both co-writing and performance (vocals) credits for the song alongside Knopfler, but apparently has always professed a little unworthy embarrassment for it, acknowledging that his only contribution was those words interspersed throughout the song, and some echoing of Knopfler’s lyrics, recorded onto tape very quickly one sunny afternoon in the recording studio, Air Studios on the Carribean island of Montserrat. The band wanted an additional hook in the song, and even wondered if Sting would be interested. Someone said ‘Hey, he’s already here on the island, windsurfing!’. Bazzinga! Shortly thereafter, Sting came in and listened to the recording so far, expressed some expletives at how cool the song was, and contributed his bit! ‘Money For Nothing’ began my ‘musical awakening’, aged 14, straining to hear it for the very first time from the tinny speaker in the celing of the school bus on our way to some school excursion - “HOLY CRAP! WAHT IS THIS AMAZING MUSIC!?!?” I’ve read that the music you hear at that age, or whenever it is you really start to pay attention to music, tends to be the music you love the most throughout the rest of your life, seered into your brain in those ‘formative years’. I can confirm that :-)
This is the short version of the song. The Live versions from Wembley 1985 , 1988 , On the Night tour 1992 specially from Nimes France , are the best ,
Thank You Both for the video, please listen to the song "" Black Cow "" by the group Steely Dan, all their songs for years increíble look them up you will see. 🎸🎹👍🌶️
You guys are my favourite DS reactors. Having said that, I would love to see you react to Radiohead - Nude. Either studio version or Live from The Basement.
I was an original employee of MTv (and Nickelodeon) all those years ago. I was the manager of finance and handled the budget, accounts receivables and payables. BEFORE MTv actually launched we almost all knew it was going to be a success. The "I want my MTv campaign" sealed it. Dire Straits and the Police were very popular on MTv back then.
Another great reaction guys. I'll be honest, when I saw this reaction come up in my notifications, I thought "oh no, here we go again". I've seen so many people react to this song and be appalled by the lyrics. It was so refreshing for you guys to brush it off on the basis that it was written back in the 80s. I'm tired of the cancel culture and things being judged on today's standards. I think I once read that a Canadian radio station boycotted Dire Straits because of the lyrics in this song, claiming that the band were homophobic. Absolutely ridiculous, especially when you consider that the lyrics are based on snippets of conversation Mark overheard in a New York department store. It's not my favourite Dire Straits song, I'll be the first to admit that. But it's definitely one of their more upbeat songs. You guys touched on some great topics of conversation during this reaction. I could sit and chat to you both for hours. Next time I'm in Romania I'm going to hit you up for sure! Keep up the great work, and much love as always ♥
Yes in America pays who ever gets his or Hers image in front audience the more your talked about and commercials about the more money u make just like you guys ❤😊
Mark is the best guitarr player in the world! Listen too this song I know you will love it. Dire Straits - Local Hero - Wild Theme LIVE (On the Night, 1993) HD
Was used as a way to promote the MTV show itself. Mark Knopfler himself hated the idea of animation but got talked in to it by his American girl friend. They colouring if the band members was done by the guy given the unwanted job of telling mark that this was happening. He took a copy of video home and started using a new video program to colour the guys and instruments. And the UN popular word starting with F about the little guy with ear ring, his own hair, his own jet airplane etc , well the F word is still used to refer to a bundle of sticks eg a fag got of sticks but it became a no no word.
So here's a great idea - first listen to this song "money for nothing". Then after that watch "Turn the Page" by Bob Seger which has the opposite message of pop singer being a pain.
You're on the right track about the distribution of wealth, but the vast majority of artists are seriously underpaid, relative to the revenue they produce. The labels are the ones grossly overpaid.
Of course the perception of easy and plentiful money is wrong, lots of musicians have problems earning enough money to live. It is the few successful ones we most often see.
Most people overthink the lyrics..like you said it's about a working man grumbling about how little he gets paid compared to an MTV star. Also I've heard that Sting was in the studio and contributed some vocals.
But never forget that it is the people making the music who are writing this song about how they make money doing nothing (when of course they work hard making the music behind the scenes) This was the video of the year back then. A time when we watched MTV for the music videos. A time that will never come again.
The cartoons are seeing musicians on a television (dire Straits), and thinking to themselves about how they make money for nothing. The entire song is about the workers having to do physical work while musicians get the money and the girls for doing nothing. They watch the musicians and say "that aint working, that's the way you do it, money for nothing and your chicks for free".
Who animated the Money for Nothing video? Money for Nothing (song) - Wikipedia Ian Pearson and Gavin Blair created the animation, using a Bosch FGS-4000 CGI system and a Quantel Paintbox system. The animators went on to found computer animation studio Mainframe Entertainment (today Mainframe Studios), and referenced the "Money for Nothing" video in an episode of their ReBoot series.
Ha, ha, Dominica......all you have to get is a blister on your little finger, or a blister on your thumb, to get money for nothing! You do not even have to move microwave ovens, custom kitchens or colour TV's!!
Some people have jobs/career that earns them lots of money e.g. medical or lawyers or they do something that has huge appeal to many many people e.g. football soccer. music. not fair in some sense but that's the way it is
Hi Guy's another great review, hope you don't mind can i suggest (Charlie Daniels Band, Simple man) great song hope you get chance to check it out, ATB Wayne UK.............
In the 80' on MTV, there were NO reality shows! It was music videos 24/7 and it was WONDERFUL!!
Mark wrote this song after he overheard 2 delivery men commenting on the TV's in a store in New York, all the TV's were tuned to MTV. He wrote down what he heard and turned that into this song. It's Sting form "The Police" that sings the higher second voice.
Mark wrote this song during a period in his life when he was in a electronics store buying a new fridge,tv and microwave after he bought a new house and needed those things for it and wrote a song about it
Como bien han comentado,esa canción la creó después de escuchar una conversación de los trabajadores de una tienda de electrodomésticos criticando a los músicos porque, según la canción,ganan dinero sin trabajar,muy a menudo,con las canciones,no con los libros, cuando se cuenta algo en primera persona la gente cree que lo que dice es lo que piensa y no es necesariamente así,de todos modos os recomiendo que veáis esta canción en el directo de Wembley, aunque no sea para emitirlo, creo que es la actualización más potente de esta canción que haya visto, saludos 🍻🍻
You have summed up the message of the song perfectly! The resentment of the laborer being paid a pittance, compared to his boss (which he slants as a you-know-what) and his anger that musicians have money and girls falling at their feet for doing (almost) nothing - certainly not physical labor. This incredibly beautiful and insightful song should also be viewed in the light that the band themselves were desperate only a few years earlier - hence their name.😎
That's not what it means. MYV made "stars" out of bands they were no good at all, so they were MOCKING them, saying look there she's got it sticking in the camera man, and mocking a guy with "Hawaiian noises. The thing is MTV got them to make a video anyway and it was voted best video of the 80s. The whole song is about "REAL MUSICIANS" mocking MTV and as we saw with Milli Vanilli, basically what the were saying was right, that proved it, there was a Singer who had a great voice but not "THE LOOK" so thy subbed in two other other guys, LOL.
I hope that's not what it's about. If your not making what you wanna make change it
That guitar riff is so good it leaves a scar in your brain. Once you heard it, you will never get it out of your head.
The rear window of my car vibrated at the time.❤
The voice you hear at the beginning singing “ I want my MTV “ is Sting! My favourite Dire Straits song!
Sting of The Police is singing intro,and back up vocals.
Money for Nothing was Dire Straits most commercial successful single, peaking at
No.1 for three weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100. Money for Nothing won video of
the year. The Rolling Stone magazine listed the song the 94th greatest guitar song
of all time. For me this is Dire Straits No.1 song and the Top 10 song of the 1980s.
I was at the Dire Straits Brothers in Arms tour concert 26 October 1985. The concert
was amazing! Thanks for a great video by Dire Straits the great 1980s at its best! 🎸
I am not surprised that Dominika knows the song. I am Polish like her and about her age and this song has been huge in polish television in the 80s it was everywhere.
Polish TV in the 80's?..playing this?
Naprawde?
Just curious, no offence meant (Zielona Gora/b.'82), so I got to know the song a little bit later...
Was this really played on PL radio, let alone TV?
One of the first ever clip on MTV. When they still played music that is 😂😂
Don't ever apologise for your discussions, that's my favourite part! I could listen to the two of you talk and banter without a music reaction, although I guess it's the music that gives you something to talk about, lol. Anyway, it's one of the things that sets your channel apart in the best possible way. ❤
The story behind the song: Mark was in a store in NY, and on one whole wall of the store there were TVs tuned to MTV (Music Television); he overheard the workers making derisive (and jealous perhaps) comments about the performers in the videos and how easy those guys had it compared to their own blue-collar jobs (moving TVs, microwaves and refrigerators etc.). Mark grabbed a pen and paper and wrote their remarks down verbatim right there, and those comments became the lyrics of the song. Given that they (Dire Straits) are musicians themselves, singing the lyrics in an MTV video, it's also good natured, self-parodic and cheeky! Moreover, it's fitting because in contrast to some the 'glam rock' of the time, Dire Straits was 'pub rock'. As to the 'offensive' word at issue: 1) That was the word used by the blue collar workers themselves in the store about the guys in the MTV videos; (2) it was very common parlance at that time and was a term sometimes used akin to a 'dumb-ass' or a 'moron,' (3) it was also used to suggest 'poser' or 'pretty boy' (the glam rock of the time, 'with the earrings and the makeup' who were seen to have sold out to corporate media) rather than to homosexuals (gay guys wouldn't be concerned about getting 'chicks' for free, would they?); And Notably, when the band plays this track live, in the first person if you will, they leave out that word. Context is everything!
Walk Of Life is a great fun song by Dire Straights involves sports
Brings back great memories
❤❤❤
The US version of the video involved sports, though the song is actually about busking.
What is Busking?
@@carolynmorrissey1630 You may have seen people performing (music, dance, things like that) in public places. For instance, a guitarist playing on a street corner with their guitar case open, so that people can put in some money if they want to. It's that sort of thing.
It's been an incredible era to live in for technological development, my first home computer was black and white and had half a K of memory, I learnt to write my own games on it cos I couldn't afford to buy any, the way it's snowballed since then is incredible! Great reaction as always :)
The song comes from overhearing some guys working in a shop talking about what they where watching on MTV
One year in the 80's, it was down to this song and Michael Jacksons Beat it, for song of the year. It was very close, but this song won.
And, of course, Weird Al did parodies of both songs, so there’s no doubt they were successful. 😉
This Song and Video was a Massive hit...all through the 80`s we would see and hear this everywhere we looked and went....
That was my first CD and it was the first video on MTV Europe
This video was something different when it came out with the computer graphics, at the time, you couldn't turn a radio on without this being heard and obviously played constantly on MTV, have a look at the songs and videos for 'Walk Of Life' and 'Twisting By The Pool', great reaction guys 🇬🇧
You should check out the live version of this it was either Nelsom Mandelas 70th Birthday Concert or Live Aid.
The band had special guests on stage (I mean SPECIAL)
STING from the POLICE vocals
ERIC CLAPTON guitar
PHIL COLLINS drums.
Awesome reaction guys big hugs from Sweden i actaully learned to dance to Direstraits back in late 80's. My father used to put my small legs on top of his feets and move with the music so i learned rhytm. My fathe died 2017, 70 years old Everytime i here a Direstrait song im taken back to that precious memory and im 42 years old today. Thank you guys for doing this reaction with me.
First song played on MTV Europe
Money For Nothing Live Sydney Final Concert 1986 is breathtaking. Loving your channel and reactions as always guys. Cheers 😎🎸🎸🎸
This was a major hit in late 1985 in the USA as I was 11 years old in the 5'th grade and I know for sure Dire Straights was an English band even though were heavily rooted in American blues rock
British would be more correct, the Knopfler brothers were both born in Glasgow, Scotland.
@@mpmlopes damn, I never would have guessed they were so deeply connected with Sherlock Holmes
@@mpmlopes I was born in a stable. . NNNeighhh ya was'nt. Old hat, our kid.
disagree with the remark that this was Dire-Straits' most fun song, that crown surely goes to Walk of Life.
Love that one but I'd also say Industrial Disease is lyrically funny.
I think Mark Knopfler's song Cannibals is the most fun song.
@@christinec4919 Must admit I don't know that one. I'll have to check that out.
Listen to this band live concert.
you won't regret
A little context: in the beginning, it was hard for MTV to grow because cable companies at the time didn’t think a music video channel made any sense at all. So the marketing department came up with an idea: have their fans petition the cable companies to carry MTV, by using the slogan “I want my MTV!” They then ran those ads heavily, and used some of the new stars of the day that they had made popular with videos, like Cyndi Lauper, Billy Idol…and Sting’s band, the Police. And as others have said, this was far and away their most mainstream single, that made them rich because of MTV playing over, and over, and over.
R.i.p Jack Sonny with that unforgettable Jump .............
The money is not "proportional" to the exerted effort, but that's the point of a market economy, doing it different/better and getting more. The irony is that most (all that signed a contract with a record company before they had any leverage) musicians were the one's getting screwed out of money that was earned on their talent and effort. If you want to know more about that, info is everywhere - I saw a Van Halen interview where they had just dropped their debut album and toured constantly. That debut album, maybe the best debut album in the history of rock, went gold and platinum that first year - over a million units sold in US alone in first year. When they got into the studio to record the follow-up album, they were informed by their label that they currently owed them over $3,000,000 for the expenses incurred with marketing, distributing, etc. - they were broke - literally every band coming up in the '70s has the same story. Rush and Tom Petty have good record company fight stories.
This Dire Straits album is a masterpiece!
Welcome to the early beginnings of MTV during the early 80s guys.
Not sure if anyone else said this, but Sting did some background vocals on this! You can hear him at the end!
That first bot looks very much like Stan Laurel. I have always wondered if it was a coincidence or by design.🤷♂
Given your previous reactions to live performances from Dire Straits, I thoroughly recommend checking out the Music For Montserrat performance of this song. The concert was held at the world-famous Royal Albert Hall and Mark Knopfler (plus fellow former Dire Straits alumni Guy Fletcher and Phil Palmer), Sting, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins and renowned percussionist Ray Cooper gave a tremendous rendition. Oh and there were members of an orchestra and gospel choir jigging away in the background. It's the most fun live version of this song ever!
the most unforgettable intro to a song ever is the start of this song
The Drum intro followed up with the guitar riff quality music at its best
You 2 are the best for reaction to all your videos. As I knew over a cup of coffee the wife would love the "Blue ". next will be Gilmour's " Live at Pompeii" " in any tongue" just to take you 2 to Pompeii. Daves last tour and the best he played since 1968. Dave said certain places he plays better caue of the history where he is performing.
I remember when television switched from black and white to color. You are right! It changed everything!
This was a fantastic "episode". Your discussion was great. More, please.
Keep the great reactions coming, guys. Thank you.
At Live Aid, Sting came on stage and sang this song with them.
Great review. The intro is amazing.
This song and video was the first videoclip broadcasted on MTv, just a little fact nice to know! 🤔🇧🇪
nobody can earn money by working hard physical work; big money comes always from and for "nothing" ;) the point is to know and recognize that "nothing" and to have, let's say, "luck"... this song is also my fav of Dire Straits and the only I can listen anytime, thx for sharing your interesting reaction ur so natural
Great song again from the 80's - incidentally STING sang the falsetto parts "i want my MTV" :) Such a good track - I think maybe "tongue in cheek" making the point in a round about sort of way that artistes DO work for for their money but it doesn't seem like it, maybe a little irony there - Dire Straits are such a good band ! thanks for reacting to this one it's one of my fave tracks from "the Straits" from my youth. I used to play the intro on loop because I just love the fat deep synths etc :D MTV is VERY important to this track - it was the first track aired (transmitted) on MTV Europe when it started :)
Y'all rock! A fun fact: this is the very first video played on MTV. Spread the love 🐶😎🇺🇸
Buggles "Video killed the radio star" was the first on MTV US
Walk of Life should be your next Dire Straights reaction also a feel good song
As a musician the part people see, the performing, is the fun part. The work is the thousands of hours of practice to learn to play, loading thousands of dollars of equipment into the car, driving to the gig, setting up the equipment, tearing it down and loading it back in the car when the fun part is over and driving home! LOL.
Indeed, a dream job can be a nightmare, too.
Love your reactions! This was the first song that opened MTV europe ( August 1, 1987 ) and it was played on there a lot, you probably heard it in passing many times.
Hi guys! Love that you are reacting to songs of Dire Straits. I highly suggest the song "Your Last Trip" next: it's a magical song
Don't know if someone mentioned it yet, but there is Sting who made the vocal intro and the chorus
This was the first computer animated video on mtv, and the first mtv video in many countries, I saw it as an 11 year old. Greetings
Here Marc criticizes the naive thought of some people doing "normal" jobs that all is needed to gain much money is to play guitar or drums, which of course is not always enough. Talent and charisma is necessary and of course many musicians had a hard time before get in the top. Including Dire Straits who's band name was chosen from them because they actually lived in dire straits before they recorded their first album which boosted their career to the band we all know.
I remember watching this back in the day, this video is one of the videos from the early MTV era that was visually groundbreaking.
Oh my! I love you guys!
Weird Al Yankovic, the man who does perfect parodies, has made one of this song and changed it to be a song about the old TV show "Beverly Hillbillies."
I can't listen to the original anymore, just automatically think of the parody.
When Weird Al asked Mark for permission Mark said: on one condition, if I can play guitar on it. So Mark plays guitar on the parody and Guy Fletcher plays keyboards
@@StevenQ74
You know you have made it in the Music Business if Weird Al parodies one of your songs.
Thanks for another great reaction, this time to the coolest gitarriff of all times. If yoy want a different take on the great Mark Knopfler, you could try one of Mark’s absolute favourites, Romeo and Juliet from Alchemy live (an autobiographical love song), or Why Worry with Mark and Emmylou Harris from Real Live Roadrunning ❤
Agree with both those choices, but the original album tracks are wonderful as well. Music of my later teenage years. Just date myself Buggles "Video killed the Radio Stars" was number one when I had my first Legal Pint.
Sting sings "I want my MTV" at the start. And sings backing vocals in the song.
Mark was in a US Electrical store and overheard some of the staff talking and he used what they said for the lyrics and wrote the song based on these comments and conversations.
Mark said in an interview:
"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..."
when i was young and growing up in Australia, i still remember we had a black and white tv on a stand with wheels and later on when we got our first color television we were so amazed by the difference and the size of it was so much bigger it took two men to carry it into our lounge room, nowadays people take color tv for granted..just like their cell/mobile phone they take it for granted.
I answered the question of what this was about on Quora, but I don't think links are allowed in youtube comments, so here it is:
Mark Knopfler has answered this question many times in many interviews over the 38 years since the song’s release on the Brothers In Arms album. You can probably google transcripts of some of these interviews. I listened to one such interview broadcast on 2MMM, one of the pop/rock radio stations in Australia, while the album was still raging across the world in 1985. Here’s how it goes:
One day in New York, Knopfler is in a home appliances (white-goods/big-box) store (as I would learn much later, presumably doing some shopping to fit out what was probably his new NYC apartment; the ‘Strait’s fame and fortune was well on the rise by this stage, probably some time in 1984, a place for Knopfler to live during the ‘Strait’s frequent trips to the USA for reherals, album recording, live performances, and also avoiding the UK’s bone-headed taxation system at the time). In this store he noticed a couple of ‘grunts’, the guys who work there, usually out-of-sight-out-of-mind out the back, moving boxes around to deliver stuff to customers.
The store has a wall of TVs on display, all tuned to MTV, a relatively new phenomenon in 1985, massively popular amongst us Gen-Xers, and showing only music-videos 24/7 (remember when MTV used to show music videos!? lol), each artist introduced with what would become the standard Artist/Band - Song Title - Album name - Publisher overlay in the bottom-left corner of the screen at the start & end of the music-video.
As the grunts, “knuckle-dragers” as Knopfler would later describe them, came in from out the back into the showroom to pick up boxes and take them away to be loaded onto a truck for delivery, they’d comment to themselves, but clearly audible to anyone nearby, what they thought about all these musicians/artist on MTV:
Now look at them yo-yos, that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain't workin', that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your chicks for free
Lemme tell ya, them guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Maybe get a blister on your thumb
We got to install microwave ovens, custom kitchen deliveries
We got to move these refrigerators, we got to move these color TVs
These minimum-wage overalls-wearing ‘grunts’ obviously knew a lot of money was being made by the Top-40 pop music artists of the 80s, and perhaps thought there wasn’t anything more demanding to the job than getting a blister on their finger playing the guitar or ‘bangin on those bongos like a chimpanzee’, which is nothing compared to the heavy boxes of home appliances these two guys had to heave around all day, every day!
Knopfler was so enthralled by what he was hearing from these grunts he asked one of the salespeople for a piece of paper and a pen, and wrote down what they were saying.
The song is a lot easier to understand if you watch the ground-breaking music-video for Money For Nothing, featuring cutting edge (at the time) video effects:
They weren’t holding back with their opinions, either, out there on the showroom floor amongst the customers:
See the little faggot with the earring and the make up
Yeah, buddy, that's his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot, he's a millionaire
Knopfler would cop a LOT of flack in the year or two that followed for using a ‘gay slur’. He would valliantly defend his use of it, because it wasn’t Knopfler’s words, it was the words of the ‘grunts’ he was relating in his song! As Knopfler said in frustration at the time, are songwriters now banned from speaking in the first-person about that which they sing, the stories they tell?? As a gay man myself, I’m completely OK with artists rendering others’ in first-person!
Perhaps because the music-video depicts the knuckle-draggers watching Dire Straits on the showroom TVs, people just couldn’t get it all ‘straight’ in their pretty little PC heads…
For better or worse, and probably just for the sake of the path of least resistance, Knopfler would stop using the gay slur ‘faggots’ in the live performances of the Brothers In Arms concerts, substituting various other words, and I think they may have even re-released the Money For Nothing single with the ‘naughty word’ substituted. Infuriating puritanical bullshit.
I wonder if those two guys ever realised it was them that Dire Straits were singing about in their world-wide hit song? ;-)
I want my, I want my, I want my MTV…
Where Knopfler is singing the words of the big beefy guy, Sting (Gordon Sumner) sings those of the skinny guy.
Sting is given both co-writing and performance (vocals) credits for the song alongside Knopfler, but apparently has always professed a little unworthy embarrassment for it, acknowledging that his only contribution was those words interspersed throughout the song, and some echoing of Knopfler’s lyrics, recorded onto tape very quickly one sunny afternoon in the recording studio, Air Studios on the Carribean island of Montserrat. The band wanted an additional hook in the song, and even wondered if Sting would be interested. Someone said ‘Hey, he’s already here on the island, windsurfing!’. Bazzinga! Shortly thereafter, Sting came in and listened to the recording so far, expressed some expletives at how cool the song was, and contributed his bit!
‘Money For Nothing’ began my ‘musical awakening’, aged 14, straining to hear it for the very first time from the tinny speaker in the celing of the school bus on our way to some school excursion - “HOLY CRAP! WAHT IS THIS AMAZING MUSIC!?!?” I’ve read that the music you hear at that age, or whenever it is you really start to pay attention to music, tends to be the music you love the most throughout the rest of your life, seered into your brain in those ‘formative years’. I can confirm that :-)
This is the short version of the song. The Live versions from Wembley 1985 , 1988 , On the Night tour 1992 specially from Nimes France , are the best ,
Dire Strais.Walk of Live
Life
Thank You Both for the video, please listen to the song "" Black Cow "" by the group Steely Dan, all their songs for years increíble look them up you will see. 🎸🎹👍🌶️
Could even be be incredible, ye pseudo Jack you . Beyond the pale, i'd say. Bit 'o crack, mi hearty.
We listened to this in Serbia 🇷🇸
You guys are my favourite DS reactors. Having said that, I would love to see you react to Radiohead - Nude. Either studio version or Live from The Basement.
I was an original employee of MTv (and Nickelodeon) all those years ago. I was the manager of finance and handled the budget, accounts receivables and payables. BEFORE MTv actually launched we almost all knew it was going to be a success. The "I want my MTv campaign" sealed it. Dire Straits and the Police were very popular on MTv back then.
I think your conversation about economic inequality is the reaction they were hoping to inspire. Well done.
That's Sting singing the I want my MTV part...
Another great reaction guys. I'll be honest, when I saw this reaction come up in my notifications, I thought "oh no, here we go again". I've seen so many people react to this song and be appalled by the lyrics. It was so refreshing for you guys to brush it off on the basis that it was written back in the 80s. I'm tired of the cancel culture and things being judged on today's standards. I think I once read that a Canadian radio station boycotted Dire Straits because of the lyrics in this song, claiming that the band were homophobic. Absolutely ridiculous, especially when you consider that the lyrics are based on snippets of conversation Mark overheard in a New York department store.
It's not my favourite Dire Straits song, I'll be the first to admit that. But it's definitely one of their more upbeat songs. You guys touched on some great topics of conversation during this reaction. I could sit and chat to you both for hours. Next time I'm in Romania I'm going to hit you up for sure! Keep up the great work, and much love as always
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Yes in America pays who ever gets his or Hers image in front audience the more your talked about and commercials about the more money u make just like you guys ❤😊
Greatest opening guitar jam for all time. Space aliens are gonna find this 10,000 years in the future and their faces will melt.
Money for nothing,live in Wembley,es la versión más potente de Knopfler de esta canción,es mi opinión
Mark is the best guitarr player in the world! Listen too this song I know you will love it. Dire Straits - Local Hero - Wild Theme LIVE (On the Night, 1993) HD
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The beginning is a sample of the police
Was used as a way to promote the MTV show itself.
Mark Knopfler himself hated the idea of animation but got talked in to it by his American girl friend. They colouring if the band members was done by the guy given the unwanted job of telling mark that this was happening. He took a copy of video home and started using a new video program to colour the guys and instruments.
And the UN popular word starting with F about the little guy with ear ring, his own hair, his own jet airplane etc , well the F word is still used to refer to a bundle of sticks eg a fag got of sticks but it became a no no word.
Some humorous irony in the delivery worker saying that, since a lot of those glam styled dudes were actually hetero and very popular with the ladies.
So here's a great idea - first listen to this song "money for nothing". Then after that watch "Turn the Page" by Bob Seger which has the opposite message of pop singer being a pain.
You're on the right track about the distribution of wealth, but the vast majority of artists are seriously underpaid, relative to the revenue they produce. The labels are the ones grossly overpaid.
Yeah, particularly any regularly working, touring bands know that “money for nothin” is a surface illusion.
Just a bit of Trivia for those that didn't know, Sting is singing the harmonies on this song.
Ha ha this is back when MTV played music videos all day and night
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Of course the perception of easy and plentiful money is wrong, lots of musicians have problems earning enough money to live. It is the few successful ones we most often see.
Sting from the Police does background vocals.
React the live version from Wembley 10 july 1985 or why not a live version 1992 or 1993 ( Basel or Wembley)🙋♂️😊👍🥳😎
Most people overthink the lyrics..like you said it's about a working man grumbling about how little he gets paid compared to an MTV star. Also I've heard that Sting was in the studio and contributed some vocals.
But never forget that it is the people making the music who are writing this song about how they make money doing nothing (when of course they work hard making the music behind the scenes) This was the video of the year back then. A time when we watched MTV for the music videos. A time that will never come again.
The cartoons are seeing musicians on a television (dire Straits), and thinking to themselves about how they make money for nothing. The entire song is about the workers having to do physical work while musicians get the money and the girls for doing nothing. They watch the musicians and say "that aint working, that's the way you do it, money for nothing and your chicks for free".
This will do until the next Floyd one :)
Who animated the Money for Nothing video?
Money for Nothing (song) - Wikipedia
Ian Pearson and Gavin Blair created the animation, using a Bosch FGS-4000 CGI system and a Quantel Paintbox system. The animators went on to found computer animation studio Mainframe Entertainment (today Mainframe Studios), and referenced the "Money for Nothing" video in an episode of their ReBoot series.
Chica for Free .. I think that may be Sting from the Police singing
Please reac to to dire straits romeo and juliet next time, great reaction as always!
Please do a country song. If Tomorrow Never Comes by Garth Brooks live. I love your reactions❤. TIA
Please try so far away and walk of life nice songs.
Ha, ha, Dominica......all you have to get is a blister on your little finger, or a blister on your thumb, to get money for nothing! You do not even have to move microwave ovens, custom kitchens or colour TV's!!
for every rich musician there are 10,000 poor musicians
That’s probably a low estimate on the poor side, but your point is definitely… well, on point.
Some people have jobs/career that earns them lots of money e.g. medical or lawyers or they do something that has huge appeal to many many people e.g. football soccer. music. not fair in some sense but that's the way it is
Hi Guy's another great review, hope you don't mind can i suggest (Charlie Daniels Band, Simple man) great song hope you get chance to check it out, ATB Wayne UK.............
You did find our Charlie Daniels song! Very cool one! 😉
@@MerchantOfAlba Sorry guy's senior moment he, ATB W....
Referring to the f word, you can eat the food stuff from Sainsbury's, etc, Brain's f.
Hold on, this was the 80's. There is little comparison to today.
70 not 60 70 have more❤