Warner Bros. 25264
Producers: Mark Knopfler and Neil Dorfsman
Track listing: So For Away / Money for Nothing / Walk of Life / Your Latest Trick / Why Worry / Ride Across the River / The Man’s Too Strong / One World / Brothers in Arms
August 31, 1985
9 weeks
By 1985, Dire Straits had built a healthy following in the United States. Both the band and manager Ed Bicknell were confident the group’s popularity would increase with the release of Brothers in Arms. Yet neither the Dire Straits nor Bicknell had any idea how popular the album would be.
With their self-titled 1979 debut album, the London-based Dire Straits quickly made a name for themselves in America. The album, fueled by the top 10 single “Sultans of Swing,” reached number two. While the group continued to be hugely successful in Europe, their subsequent five albums failed to crack the top 10 of the album chart in America, with 1983’s Twisting by the Pool EP and 1984’s Dire Straits Live—Alchemy, peaking at numbers 53 and 46, respectively.
To ensure the success of the band’s next effort, singer-songwriter Mark Knopfler and the rest of the band (keyboardist Alan Clark, keyboardist/vocalist Guy Fletcher, bassist/vocalist John Illsley, and drummers Omar Hakim and Terry Williams) made demos of every song being considered for the album at Gallery Studio near London. “I remember going down to the rehearsals one day and hearing ‘Money for Nothing,'” says Bicknell. “At the lunch break I said to John, ‘I think that one might be a hit,’ and he just smiled.”
The chances of “Money for Nothing” becoming a hit increased considerably when the band was recording the final version of the song at Air Studios in Montserrat, West Indies. Sting, the frontman of the Police, happened to be vacationing on the island. The members of Dire Straits were friendly with him, having shared several bills with the Police in the late ’70s. “He came to the studio because one of the best places to eat was a restaurant at the studio,” says Bicknell, “and Mark said to him, ‘I’ve written this really stupid song about MTV, do you fancy singing on it?’ ” Sting agreed, singing the line “I want my MTV” to the melody of the Police hit “Don’t Stand So Close to Me.” It turned out to be a winning combination, as the song went on to become a hit, thanks in part to an innovative video clip that paired computer animation with live performance footage.
With “Money for Nothing” receiving heavy airplay on MTV and the single climbing the Hot 100, Brothers in Arms became Dire Straits’ first Number One album in its 13th week on the chart. With the album still holding at the top, “Money for Nothing” joined it at the summit on September 21, 1985.
Knopfler initially didn’t plan to include “Walk of Life” on the album. “When they were mixing the album at the Power Station in New York, it was playing when I went into the room,” says Bicknell. “He said it was just nonsense and that it wasn’t going on the album. It was a B-side.” In the end, Bicknell persuaded Knopfler that the song had hit potential. Once again, he was right, as “Walk of Life” went on to become the second top 10 single from Brothers in Arms in January 1986.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of August 31, 1985
1. Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits
2. Songs from the Big Chair, Tears for Fears
3. The Dream of the Blue Turtles, Sting
4. Reckless, Bryan Adams
5. Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen