80s Rock Band Dire Straits Blamed for Demise of Music

OK, that’s unfair and a blatant crack at Video’s effect on the then music scene, some would say – but it depends upon your point of view. MTV Europe was launched on August 1st 1987, with the very first song played being, in fact, Money for Nothing by Dire Straits – which coincidentally, coincidence being a perfectly rational explanation, contained the now immortal line ‘Maybe get a blister on your little finger’.

The Band’s lead singer and co-author of the song, Mark Knopfler, has never been quoted as saying anything remotely relevant about the line or, in fact, anything at all about its meaning. Speculation abounded for years that Gordon Summer, the song’s other co-Author, was referring to his much-speculated desire to be an Opera singer. However, no concrete proof or any evidence has ever surfaced that this was something he desired or said. Nevertheless, the song did contain a reference to MTV – which doesn’t appear to be a coincidence at all and may well have been the reason MTV chose the song to launch MTV Europe. We disagree, as we also do, that Dire Straits is to blame for the Demise of Music – a fact well known to be caused by the fashion for Big hair at the time of the launch. It could well be argued that what followed in the next decade was one of the best decades for music. No doubt inspired by the premise of the song that being a musician provided money for nothing and Chicks for free. We suggest watching the video and drawing your own conclusion…