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This song is about rock star excess and the easy life it brings compared with real work. Mark Knopfler wrote it after overhearing delivery men in a New York department store complain about their jobs while watching MTV. He wrote the song in the store sitting at a kitchen display they had set up. Many of the lyrics were things they actually said.
Sting sings on this and helped write it (he and Knopfler are the credited writers). That's him at the beginning singing "I want my MTV." Sting did not want a songwriting credit, but his record company did because they would have earned royalties from it. They claimed it sounded very similar to a song Sting wrote for The Police: "
Don't Stand So Close To Me."
Dire Straits recorded this in Montserrat. Sting was on vacation there and came by to help out.
The innovative video was one of the first to feature computer generated animation, which was done using an early program called Paintbox. The characters were supposed to have more detail, like buttons on their shirts, but they used up the budget and had to leave it as is. It won Best Video at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.
The video was directed by Steve Barron, who also directed the famous a-ha video for "
Take On Me" and Thomas Dolby's "
She Blinded Me With Science."
In the book I Want My MTV, various people who worked at the network explain that Dire Straits' manager asked the network what they could do to get on the network and break through in America. Their answer was: write a hit song and let one of the top directors make a video. Mark Knopfler took the directive to write an "MTVable song" quite literally, using the network's tagline in the lyrics. The song ended up sounding like an indictment of MTV, but Les Garland, who ran the network, made it clear that they loved the song and were flattered by it - hearing "I Want My MTV" on the radio was fantastic publicity even if there were some unfavorable implications in the lyrics.
Steve Baron was dispatched to do the video, and charged with the task of convincing Mark Knopfler, who hated videos, to do one that was groundbreaking. Baron says that Knopfler wasn't into the idea, but his girlfriend - an American - was at the pitch and loved the idea. Knopfler agreed (in part because he didn't have to appear in it), and Baron hired a UK production company called Rushes to work on it. Said Baron: "The song is damning to MTV in a way. That was an ironic video. The characters we created were made of televisions, and they were slagging off television. Videos were getting a bit boring, they needed some waking up. And MTV went nuts for it. It was like a big advertisement for them."
The line "I want my MTV" was the basis of the cable network's promotional campaign. They played clips of musicians saying, and often times, screaming the line between videos.
This was the first video played on MTV Europe. The network went on the air August 1, 1987, 6 years after MTV in the US.
In the US, this stayed at #1 for 3 weeks. It also won a Grammy in 1986 for best Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.
Mark Knopfler played a Les Paul Junior plugged into a Laney amp on this track. Producer Neil Dorfsman recalled in Sound On Sound magazine May 2006: "We were going for a ZZ Top sound, but what we ended up getting was kind of an accident."
"Weird Al" Yankovic parodied this for his movie UHF. The parody is called "Beverly Hillbillies (Money For Nothing)." Strait's frontman, Mark Knopfler, OK'd the parody under one condition: Knopfler would play guitar on the song. (thanks, Mark - Hudson, MA)
In 2005, the duo Deep Dish sampled this on their song "Flashing For Money," which was based on their song "Flashdance" (not the Irene Cara song). It was the first time Dire Straits allowed one of their songs to be sampled. "Flashing For Money" was released on the B-side of Deep Dish's single "Say Hello."
25 years after the song's release it was banned from public broadcast in Canada after one person complained about it being homophobic. The original version included a description of a singer as "that little faggot with the earring and the make-up" plus two other uses of the word "faggot," although a cleaned-up edition was made available, Oz-FM in Newfoundland played the first edition in February 2010 at 9:15 at night. The result was a single complaint and the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled that the unedited version of the song was unacceptable for air play on Canadian radio stations because it "refers to sexual orientation in a derogatory way."
Knopfler has pointed out the song was written from the viewpoint of a stupid character who thinks musicians make their "money for nothing" and his stupidity is what leads him to make ignorant statements. Speaking in late 1985 to Rolling Stone the Dire Straits songwriter expressed his feelings about people who react angrily to the song. He said: "Apart from the fact that there are stupid gay people as well as stupid other people, it suggests that maybe you have to be direct. I'm in two minds as to whether it's a good idea to take on characters and write songs that aren't in the first person."
Sense finally prevailed on August 31, 2011 when the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council put an end to the ban and allowed individual radio stations to once again decide for themselves whether to play the classic rock tune.
Reel Big Fish released an album in 2007 called Monkeys For Nothin' And The Chimps For Free. The title is a takeoff on this song. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)
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Dire Straits performed this song for the Prince’s Trust 10th Anniversary Birthday Party concert in 1987 (still available on CD) and included the verse, substituting the word 'queenie.'
here is the way I remember it.
one morning in Signal Hill CA my roomate Armond Beausoliel Jr. asked me to smoke some hash and go to the stereo store in Ceritos Mall, Cerritos CA.
I had 2500 dollars and wanted to buy an Atari 1200 XL but my roomate was set on adding to his sound system a 50 inch projection TV. Having gotten stoned to the bone I was standing in front of the TVs lined up along the back wall of the store watching a rock video catching patterns (traces) of all the Tvs moving in synch. Bo man saw me spacing out and we started a conversation that went like this... hey Bo we should get a bunch of tvs and hook em up...hey boy how about one BIG tv...look at those guys... look at them girls...yeah beatin on the drums like some chimpanzees... I should have learned to play the guitar...I should have learned to play the drums...look at those faggots... those faggots are millionares...yeah I should have stayed with the guitar...maybe get a blister, on your finger..(Bo raises his pinky)what are they playing? (audio was off), Hawiaan noises..(in reference to my girfriends recent trip to Hawaii), look at those guys... Money for nothing...and the chicks are free..just think of it on a Big TV screen...No, I'm gettin' the computer...I WANT MY MTV!!! A salesman walked up and asked us what we were talking about as Mark Knopfler had asked the clerk at the register for a pen and paper (pencil furnished) and frantically scribbled our conversation and walked out. Bo ran out after him when I turned around and saw several people staring at me and I freaked (paranoya set in) I quickly walked out the store to see Bo screeming at a black limo driving away saying Mark! Mark! I said, who was that? He said Mark Knopfler. Isn't that your buddy from high school? That was Mark Knopfler don't you know who Mark Knopfler is? How rude, your buddy didn't even stop. We went home. I can tell you exactly who, when where and how in more detail. When they released the first digitally mastered CD, Bo played it for me and waited for my reaction. WHo is this? I like thier song Sultans of Swing. MTV sounds familiar. Is your buddy in this band? And if anyone tels you different even MK its because he probably is afraid of royalties. Mark if you read this I'm not about any money or rights. A back stage pass would be fine for one concert. It was your work, interpretation, score, song. 10 years later I told my sister and a few people heard you and Eric Clapton were coming from Alpine Valley concert (WI) to Biddy Mulligans at Loyola in Chicago where I moved back home. You guys wouldn't get out of the limo becasue of security and left. I never told anyone but my sister, Bill Colton, and the gang in New Orleans years later. My sister just saw this post and it has forced me to come clean. I know no one will ever believe it. I don;t care becasue Bo and I are the ones who realy know except maybe the salesman at the Store that sold everything. You got your refrigerators, microwave ovens...I was imitating a carny becasue Bo was trying to sell me on the TV. And Bo if your out there drop me a line. Its been 25 years. We had some good times.
I actually heard this was based on a conversation Mark heard in an appliance store about the new rock stars and how they get their "money" for nothing and their "chicks for free". Which may also explain all the appliance references too. I always thought it was a commentary on how comercialized everyone had become by the 80s, with all their new gadgets. As for the "little faggot..." line, I actually never thought of it being about someone specific! I just thought he was making fun of all those Metal bands at the time with their makeup (some wore it), gaudy clothes, and big hair! I found out only a few years ago that was in Sting in the song and I think that's awesome!! Not mention, this song is great and really gets ya pumped up.
MAY BE ONE OF THE BEST MUSIC VIDEOS OF ALL TIME.
Mark recounted the day Sting was invited to perform on MFN, on the Island. While they all did the obligatory 'Hey Jude', the encore was a pretty amazing version of Kansas City. AWESOME!
MOJO
Lyrics for: Striking For Nothing
Now look at them strikers - that's not the way you do it
You can?t ride the bus to get around town
That ain't workin' that's not the way you do it
Money for nothin' and checks for free
Now that ain't workin' that's not the way you do it
Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Maybe get a blister on your thumb
We gotta get these darn buses runnin?
Custom kitchen deliveries
We gotta move these bus riders
We gotta move these colour TVs
We gotta get these darn buses runnin?
Custom kitchens deliveries
We gotta move these bus riders
We gotta move these colour TVs
I shoulda learned to drive a small car
I shoulda learned to play them drums
Man we could have some fun
And he's up there, what's that? Hawaiian noises?
Bangin' on the bongos like a chimpanzee
That ain't workin' that's not the way you do it
Get your money for nothin' get your checks for free
We gotta get these buses runnin?
Custom kitchen deliveries
We gotta move these bus riders
We gotta move these colour TVs, Lord
Now that ain't workin' that's not the way you do it
You can?t ride the bus to get around town
That ain't workin' that's not the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your checks for free
Money for nothin' and checks for free
if you like these changed lyrics, e-mail me at tompsheridant1@aol.com, and tomsheridan@netscape.com.
But, both remixes are credited as a 'Sultan Club Mix'. :)
That was fascinating about Sting. He wasn't given a songwriting credit on the original album-- but he was credited on a subsequent compilation album. I had assumed it was Mark Knopler being generous.
How about "Commerado" From STP or, "The Long Highway" a sad and particularly moving song about the end of life. Dig deep and you will find more and more wonderful music from Knopfler.
As for "Money," I'm not about its release, but there's a version currently in airplay on classic rock stations who are concerned about it, that uses another cash register sound effect to bleep out the offending language in, "that do-goody-good bull ****"
Now, the song I've never heard censored is, "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam. Also, "Gimme no Crack," by Shinehead. Both songs contain an aggressive use of the F bomb but said so unintelligibly that the censors never picked up on it.
Yeah, color TVs were really an innovation in 1987! Ooh! Whoa! The future is upon us!
however, i know it hold some "first ever on cd" distinction...so my fellow pennsylvanian, adam, is probably correct...although some tried to convince me that it was actually Born In The USA, released the previous year...i think it is Bothers In Arms, though
I had this song on MP3 for a long time, and just heard it on the radio for the first time I think afterwards. They indeed played an edited version, but I swear I heard the original version on the radio as well. Probably worried about the damn censors even though I doubt they edit Pink Floyd's "Money" or Steve Miller's "funky s--- going down in the city" (can't remember the song name. Maybe they're just being nice or something. But I love that verse; it fits in so nicely with the rest of the song.