The Many Factors That Made "Money for Nothing" a Mega-Hit

Dire Straits released the song "Money for Nothing" in 1985 and it went to #1 for three weeks, becoming the biggest song of the year. But it also holds up well almost 40 years later. Ask anyone why, and you might get six different answers. It's got a great beat that you can dance to, a killer guitar riff, a story to tell, a hot cultural reference (for 1985), and Sting's unmistakable vocals parodying his own song. Oh yeah, and a video that was way ahead of its time. None of those things came about by accident. Well, some of them did. Actually, most of them did. We know that the idea came from an actual conversation Mark Knopfler heard in a store, but the rest of the production was a series of wild stories. Imagine recording a song in the Caribbean, and what do you know, Sting just happens to be there vacationing that week. David Hartley tells the story of the many ideas that strangely converged into one song that become "Money for Nothing."