Money for Nothing by Dire Straits
Artist: Dire Straits Weeks at #1: 3 weeks Chart dates: September 21, 1985 – October 5, 1985
About
The most successful Dire Straits single, “Money for Nothing” is inspired by Mark Knopfler listening to a man complaining about the musicians that emerged in the 1980s. The song features an introduction with Sting singing “I want my MTV”. Because of this, this was the first song played on MTV Europe when it began airing. Sting received a songwriting credit for the intro, and consequently this is one of only three Dire Straits songs not credited to Knopfler alone. The music video for the song was one of the first examples of CGI human characters. It won Video of the Year at the 1986 MTV Video Awards, one of the few prizes it managed to take from a-ha’s “Take on Me”, by the same director.
