Dire Straits ‘Money for Nothing’ The Sting Factor

It's easy to listen to Dire Straits 'Money for Nothing' and almost forget that Sting is a part of the song. It's one of those things that I know, but it's it's in the background.. kind of like almost forgetting that John Lennon is a part of David Bowie's 'Fame.' But in both cases, the contributions of these artists made the songs into something more.

It's a song about two dudes selling microwave ovens and it is nothing short of culturally impacting. The song needed to be a conversational duet. Sting brought Mark Knopfler's idea to life. Sting wasn't a planned part of the song. Dire Straits had brought in a singer for background vocals, but they didn't like the singer and sent him home.

Mark Knopfler had the idea to have the melody for "I want my MTV" sung in the same melody as "Don't Stand So Close to Me." After the initial singer was sent home, Mark said, "I wish Sting was here." A crew member replied, "Well he is here." Sting came into the studio and sang his parts in one take.

As a result of using that melody, Sting received co-writing credit on the song. Sting didn't think the credit was necessary since he cut it in one take and was just doing a favor for friends. A&M, who owns the melody, felt differently about this. It's a closed agreement as to how much Sting gets in royalties from the song.

Sting is worth roughly $550 million dollars. That number has been famously juiced by Sean Combs use of "Every Breath You Take." You can read up on that story in the Daily Mail.

Unbelievable! To have been at this show!

Dire Straits was recording on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat. What are the odds that Sting just happened to be there? Actually, they were pretty good. The Police recorded their albums Ghost In The Machine and Synchronicity on Montserrat. Sting was vacationing on the island while Dire Straits was recording their album, Brothers in Arms.

The video for 'Money for Nothing' used computer generated animation. This was one of the first times this technology was used. It was done using a called Paintbox. The images were supposed to have more detail, but they ran over budget and had to scrap the extras. The video won the Best Video award at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.

Check out more Stories Behind the Songs HERE.