Money For Nothing Cover

This is a Dire Straits cover I performed with the Ragnarockers in Charlottesville, Virginia last year. This show was at Rapture on the Downtown Mall. This is always a very fun tune to play, and it usually gets the audience fired up.

This song came out in 1985, and was a huge hit for Dire Straits, eventually winning them a Grammy. It is from the perspective of a blue collar worker who is begrudges the easy and frivolous life of a rock star, based on utterances that songwriter Mark Knopfler heard from a laborer who was watching MTV. Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue claims the video that was playing was one of theirs, but this may just be talk. Sting actually has a writing credit on this song as well. He was windsurfing in Montserrat and happened to come into the studio and liked the song. Knopfler told him to please feel free to add some vocals, and soon the iconic "I want my MTV" line was part of the song.