\"Money for Nothing\" is a single by British rock band Dire Straits, taken from their 1985 album Brothers in Arms. The song's lyrics, considered controversial at the time of the song's release, are written from the point of view of a working-class man watching music videos and commenting on what he sees. The song featured a cameo appearance by Sting singing background vocals, as well as the signature falsetto introduction and backing chorus, \"I want my MTV.\" The groundbreaking video was the first to be aired on MTV Europe when the network launched on 1 August 1987.
It was Dire Straits' most commercially successful single, peaking at number 1 for three weeks in the United States, number 1 for three weeks on the US Top Rock Tracks chart and number 4 in the band's native UK. \"Money for Nothing\" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1986 at the 28th Annual Grammy Awards and the video won Video of the Year at the 3rd MTV Video Music Awards.
In 2000, Knopfler appeared on Michael Parkinson's interview program and explained again where the lyrics originated. According to Knopfler, he was in New York and stopped by an appliance store. At the back of the store, they had a wall of TVs which were all tuned to MTV. Knopfler said there was a man working there dressed in a baseball cap, work boots, and a checkered shirt delivering boxes who was standing next to him watching. As they were standing there watching MTV, Knopfler remembers the man coming up with lines such as \"what are those, Hawaiian noises?...that ain't workin',\" etc. Knopfler asked for a pen to write some of these lines down and then eventually put those words to music.
