The story goes that Mark Knopfler was in an alliance store in the 80s. MTV was on all the TVs and he overheard a conversation between a couple of employees.
The story behind the song is Mark Knopfler (the guitar player) was shopping in an electronics store, and the TVs on display were tuned to MTV, and he saw a couple of guys who worked there standing around watching, and he overheard them talking about how life as a rock star is so much easier than working a normal job for a living. He took a lot of the lyrics from the actual words they said. "That ain't working" and all that.
@@nickhill8612 Since 1991 that I started as a kid at home, I could get my "dream job" at 20y/o in 1997... Working with a fresh brand new device: 3d dedicated hardware was coming to our computer (PowerVR & 3dFX). But once the dream is reached... It's not a dream anymore you know :)
I’m British and I grew up listening to this in the car when my dad used to play all the classics like this, I used to duck down when we drove past my friends because I thought it was so uncool but now I’ve grown up and learnt how cool it is lmao
@@garryiglesias4074 It was three or four years later before I got cable and MTV but there were still a few of the of the old bands that were being played. Remember Pete Townsend's solo songs were getting played quite a bit. He even had one of the "I want my MTV" ad spots.
It was a song that was originally made to make fun of MTV written by the guitar player when he was at an electric store..but it turned out to be MYV's anthem for the remainder of the '80s going into the '90s.
Four times? I say more like 20 times lighter. I can literally carry a 60" display in one hand now. I remember both me and dad having to carry a 19" up the stairs together, and still having difficulty Also think about the fact that the $60 phone I'm texting this message on right now has 4gb ram. Litterary only about a decade ago you pay at least a grand for a pc with the power of my $60 Galaxy I have. Crazy times for sure
@@mrmoola3970 We still have a TV that my wife got in college in 1987. It still worked as of two years ago and that sumovabisch is probably 50 pounds. I hate moving it. It's sitting out in the garage and we keep meaning to take it to the dump.
@@nikaltesla9400 i haven't had an actual. Tv in like 5 years. Once i discovered the internet, tv stations were over for me. Im actually in disbelief people can still watch tv. Its like 40% ads 10% content 50% brainwashing Im old as get out myself.. But it seems like only old people are still stuck in their ways for some reason? The world is changing. What is that old saying?..something like go with the flow or die swimming up stream. Im sure i quoted that wrong. But im sure you get the jist of it
@@mrmoola3970 I know what you mean. Our cable bill/internet bill went up $28/month in October due to losing a 2 year discount. I've had enough. We watch maybe 25 different channels. There's got to be a better way. My wife is researching things like UA-cam TV and we hope to make a switch in early 2021.
@@nikaltesla9400 ya ever since i found youtube tv just bores me now. On youtube you can skip ad after 5 seconds. Check out the Amazon Firestick i think it is called? You can just plug it in to back of your tv and stream tv thru it. Its easy to use and cheap also. Best part is you dont have to have cable to use it. Just internet. There are options out there also. Personally tho i just have big display hooked up to a computer. Then i just spend an hour or so every other day making a youtube play list. Sit back and just enjoy what I want to watch.. Very few ads. Cable is so out dated and its actually not hard to get away from it. My mom says she still watches tv because she doesnt have to do anything to get it to work, which i understand. Except for the fact she is pay like $80 a month to watch like two or 3 channels..channels that i have access to also FOR FREE thru wifi. Not to mention the fact that i get access to everything hours..sometimes days, before it air on cable with no ads. TV just makes no sense imo Good luck and nice talking with you
"I want my MTV" was a phrase that the channel asked you to call up your cable company and tell them, as MTV was a premium channel in its early days. Mark Knopfler (lead singer/guitarist of Dire Straits) was at a department store one day, and he listened to some of the workers talking and commenting on the music videos they saw on TVs in the store. The workers commented on how great it must be to be a rock star, and on the various fashion choices of the people they saw on MTV, and Knopfler turned the things they said into the lyrics of this song. This video was pretty unique at the time for being the first to use computer generated 3D images.
The first video on Mtv (1981) was "Video Killed The Radio Star." This song came out a few years later making fun of MTV in away, that musicians got rich easily.
The Brothers in Arms album has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. On its release in the U.K. it sold more CDs than there were CD players in the country.
MTV..Back in the Day when it was all Music Videos all the Time !! They actually had Video Premieres... This was a Dire Straits video premiere...First Time Showing !!
This was the debut for MTV EUROPE, MTV itself was debuted in by (ironically) Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles. Oh, enjoy the Mark Knopfler catalogue, one of the conversation for GOAT guitarist. Water Of Love Romeo And Juliet Telegraph Road Private Investigations
this is back in the early 80s when MTV was new and cable tv.. back when MTV played music videos 24/7 .. this is from my teen years I was in high school
What’s hard to believe and makes you realize you are getting old is that this song is 34 years old! 🤦♂️ We were rocking with this in High School just a couple years ago it seems like!! LOL
What are you saying? Years? It seems like Yesterday to me... I'm still in THAT high school at THAT time somehow... :) "No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun... "
This was a major moment for computer CGi. This was at least 10 years before Toy Story (1995) came out and sold everyone thd idea that Computer Graphics could be used in a major artform way. This MTV video thrusted early CGi into the mainstream and gave everyone a glimpse into the future whilst also being really cool!
As mentioned earlier.. check out Dire Straits songs "Walk of Life" and also "Sultans of Swing" Also check out the band "Rage Against the Machine" Renegades of Funk, Killing in the name of, and Bulls on Parade.. So many incredible sounds from the 70's/80's/and 90's
I grew up with this song, I was actually typing this song in to listen to it and randomly saw y’all’s video. Glad I watched it. Definitely liked y’all’s reactions. Keep up the cool videos 😁
Back when MTV was a music television showing music videos. It was so new the promo, I want my MTV, was to get people to get the new technology in cable. That was one of the first different tv shows. MTV ceased to exist around 1995 or 1996 before the teen mom crap or the Osbourns.
first animated music vid first vid on MTV Europe the album was one of the first on cd worldwide and helped cds to become popular Dire Straits and especially Mark Knopfler are incredible Alchemy Live OMG Sultans of Swing Telegraph Road Private Investigation Tunnel of Love Going Home and and Mind blowing Guitargasm and drumming
Back in the day, MTV used to actually play music videos. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but from what I understand the lyrics of this song are based on a conversation one of the band members overheard at an appliance store by a couple salesmen/deliverymen. They were apparently lamenting the fact that the performers in the MTV videos were making serious money and there they sat peddling appliances. Pretty creative (or downright bored!) to write a song about that!
To add to what Mr. Toff wrote, the animations were unheard off in 1982! Yep, 1982, those animation cost them more than the video production and song combine, but they nail it from the start.
Apparently Mark was in Montgomery ward appliance store in New York and two delivery men were slagging off rock bands Mark went to the counter got a pen and a piece of paper wrote down what they said turned it into this song
Mentioning MTV in the song didn't hurt the heavy rotation it got! The "I want my MTV" at the end was Sting, singing to the tune of his Police hit, "Don't Stand So Close To Me". He's from Newcastle, like Dire Straits
They have a unique sound for true! Sting is singing harmonies. Oh no....commentary about MTV. Working people vs rich musicians written by a musician! Dire Straights are difficult to categorize for true. Whatever you want to call them they are great! Thanks for sharing! 😽
Prior to this song, music videos did not exist. MTV went on the air in the same year and this song made MTV. It was industry breaking and music was never the same again. If you listen to the words of Queen's Radio Ga Ga, that was Freddie Mercury singing about the glory days of radio before the music video was invented when people only cared about the music and lyrics. Many musicians in those days were angry because they did not have the visuals to compete with the better looking musicians. You really had to witness it happen to appreciate this song. Additionally the point of the song is that musicians who really love their craft become millionaires without really working and the groupies are the chicks for free. The point about microwave ovens, kitchen, refrigs and color TV's is really about how commercialized the music industry became during those days and they were more interested in pushing merchandise than the art of song writing and playing. The industry was in turmoil over the change.
MTV, in it's heyday, would play debut videos by groups, duets ,solo artists...whoever, and that song would become almost an instant hit. You wanted ur video to be on MTV bc that was a sign that you were on your way. This song basically tells u how it was! Some of those video DJ's became celebrities in their own right! But, too soon, the producers of the channel forgot what got them their notoriety! They threw away the formula and went off in another direction and us fans went someplace else. The end!
They don't understand the comparison of playing guitar for millions to moving old school refrigerators and color tvs for a living. Someone still has to teach them what the 80s we're really like
Written by Mark Knopfler + Sting. MK lead vocal + lead guitar. Sting on backing vocal. Same chords as Synchronicity 2. In the same year, Sting sang backing vocal in Phil Collins' Take Me Home + Sting released his 1st solo album. Sting was busy as a bee! L🤣L
I'm the first to view. Great song choice! Don't worry I'll at least watch it halfway through. lol
The story goes that Mark Knopfler was in an alliance store in the 80s. MTV was on all the TVs and he overheard a conversation between a couple of employees.
@@kevanaponte2160 appliance 😂
The story behind the song is Mark Knopfler (the guitar player) was shopping in an electronics store, and the TVs on display were tuned to MTV, and he saw a couple of guys who worked there standing around watching, and he overheard them talking about how life as a rock star is so much easier than working a normal job for a living. He took a lot of the lyrics from the actual words they said. "That ain't working" and all that.
I wonder if the guy who said it first ever knew
thats fucking brilliant lol makes me hear is all different XD
That's what annoys me about this song getting censored. The whole point is to ridicule these people
This was inspired by MOTLEY CRUE
I think Knopfler said he was hiding behind a plant or something writing down what they were saying.
This song was Huge, but that mid 80's computer generated Animation is Funny to see now, cause back then that was State of the Art CG!!
It was one of the firsts "3d animation" we saw regularly on screen... This fed my will to become a 3d programmer "one day" :).
@@garryiglesias4074
Cool I hope your dream came true.
@@nickhill8612 Since 1991 that I started as a kid at home, I could get my "dream job" at 20y/o in 1997... Working with a fresh brand new device: 3d dedicated hardware was coming to our computer (PowerVR & 3dFX).
But once the dream is reached... It's not a dream anymore you know :)
I’m British and I grew up listening to this in the car when my dad used to play all the classics like this, I used to duck down when we drove past my friends because I thought it was so uncool but now I’ve grown up and learnt how cool it is lmao
MTV was just starting out when this song come out!! YUP I am OLD!!
Me too...Yo MTV Raps, Kurt Loder, Downtown Julie Brown...those were the days!
Remind me of days when MTV actually plays music.
When MTV first started they actually played music. In the beginning there were no videos. They played shots from concerts.
Here's what MTV played when they first started. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_first_music_videos_aired_on_MTV
@@debjorgo Crazy, didn't expect The Who to be on the top aired that day hahahaha...
@@garryiglesias4074 It was three or four years later before I got cable and MTV but there were still a few of the of the old bands that were being played. Remember Pete Townsend's solo songs were getting played quite a bit. He even had one of the "I want my MTV" ad spots.
Sultans of swing and Skater girl
Dire Straights been around probably 50 years
Love the way you guys jam to 80s music
Mark Knopfler is famous for playing his guitar just with his fingers and no guitar pick.
Said get little finger and thumb in song..He Has Docterate from a college right
BACK IN THE DAY THIS SONG MADE IT TO NUMBER ONE IN THE BILLBOARDS IN THE 80S
Early computer animation of the appliance store workers reminds me of Max Headroom. Especially the bigger guy.
It was a song that was originally made to make fun of MTV written by the guitar player when he was at an electric store..but it turned out to be MYV's anthem for the remainder of the '80s going into the '90s.
Back in the 80's, your average TV was smaller than today's standards. However, it weighed four times as much.
Four times? I say more like 20 times lighter. I can literally carry a 60" display in one hand now. I remember both me and dad having to carry a 19" up the stairs together, and still having difficulty
Also think about the fact that the $60 phone I'm texting this message on right now has 4gb ram. Litterary only about a decade ago you pay at least a grand for a pc with the power of my $60 Galaxy I have. Crazy times for sure
@@mrmoola3970 We still have a TV that my wife got in college in 1987. It still worked as of two years ago and that sumovabisch is probably 50 pounds. I hate moving it. It's sitting out in the garage and we keep meaning to take it to the dump.
@@nikaltesla9400 i haven't had an actual. Tv in like 5 years. Once i discovered the internet, tv stations were over for me. Im actually in disbelief people can still watch tv. Its like
40% ads
10% content
50% brainwashing
Im old as get out myself.. But it seems like only old people are still stuck in their ways for some reason?
The world is changing. What is that old saying?..something like go with the flow or die swimming up stream. Im sure i quoted that wrong. But im sure you get the jist of it
@@mrmoola3970 I know what you mean. Our cable bill/internet bill went up $28/month in October due to losing a 2 year discount. I've had enough. We watch maybe 25 different channels. There's got to be a better way. My wife is researching things like UA-cam TV and we hope to make a switch in early 2021.
@@nikaltesla9400 ya ever since i found youtube tv just bores me now. On youtube you can skip ad after 5 seconds. Check out the Amazon Firestick i think it is called? You can just plug it in to back of your tv and stream tv thru it. Its easy to use and cheap also. Best part is you dont have to have cable to use it. Just internet. There are options out there also. Personally tho i just have big display hooked up to a computer. Then i just spend an hour or so every other day making a youtube play list. Sit back and just enjoy what I want to watch.. Very few ads. Cable is so out dated and its actually not hard to get away from it.
My mom says she still watches tv because she doesnt have to do anything to get it to work, which i understand. Except for the fact she is pay like $80 a month to watch like two or 3 channels..channels that i have access to also FOR FREE thru wifi. Not to mention the fact that i get access to everything hours..sometimes days, before it air on cable with no ads. TV just makes no sense imo
Good luck and nice talking with you
"I want my MTV" was a phrase that the channel asked you to call up your cable company and tell them, as MTV was a premium channel in its early days. Mark Knopfler (lead singer/guitarist of Dire Straits) was at a department store one day, and he listened to some of the workers talking and commenting on the music videos they saw on TVs in the store. The workers commented on how great it must be to be a rock star, and on the various fashion choices of the people they saw on MTV, and Knopfler turned the things they said into the lyrics of this song. This video was pretty unique at the time for being the first to use computer generated 3D images.
This song was so BIG when it came out, all over MTV, always loved ❤ it
The first video on Mtv (1981) was "Video Killed The Radio Star." This song came out a few years later making fun of MTV in away, that musicians got rich easily.
However Money for Nothing was the first video shown on MTV Europe, which started in 1987. :)
This one premeried UK Mtv
Yes it was..by the Bugles!
Great reaction 👍 This song can literally change anyone’s mood!
The Brothers in Arms album has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.
On its release in the U.K. it sold more CDs than there were CD players in the country.
The 80s churned out some very creative videos. Great reaction guys!
A brilliant song writer that has 1 love song.
love watching a new generation discover awesome music!!!
This song AND this Work Is a máster piece AND museum jewel. It was the first song in.a.cd
MTV..Back in the Day when it was all Music Videos all the Time !!
They actually had Video Premieres...
This was a Dire Straits video premiere...First Time Showing !!
this was the first 3d and rotoscoping music video played on mtv as far as I can recall. OOOLD school
MTV was in its infancy at that time. This music video was one of pioneering presentations of the music video industry.
This was a hit song! Not a promo! We were wild! lol
Ditto!
This was the debut for MTV EUROPE, MTV itself was debuted in by (ironically) Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles.
Oh, enjoy the Mark Knopfler catalogue, one of the conversation for GOAT guitarist.
Water Of Love
Romeo And Juliet
Telegraph Road
Private Investigations
I want my MTV was there slogan in the beginning, it was call your local company and say I want my MTV,
this is back in the early 80s when MTV was new and cable tv.. back when MTV played music videos 24/7 .. this is from my teen years I was in high school
Dire straits is a fusion/rock band that definitely has Jazz and Blues influences... Good call. Check out Sultans of Swing live.
What’s hard to believe and makes you realize you are getting old is that this song is 34 years old! 🤦♂️ We were rocking with this in High School just a couple years ago it seems like!! LOL
What are you saying? Years? It seems like Yesterday to me... I'm still in THAT high school at THAT time somehow... :)
"No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun... "
Back when MTV was really MTV.
Can't be im not 50 oh I'm 50
Classics like this never go out of style.
Thanks for reminding me I'm getting OLD! 🤣🤣🤣 This was just 10 years ago I high... Oh, shoot! I'm 53. *SIGH*
BROTHERS IN ARMS BY DIRE STRAITS its 1 of the biggest songs they ever done .
This was a major moment for computer CGi. This was at least 10 years before Toy Story (1995) came out and sold everyone thd idea that Computer Graphics could be used in a major artform way. This MTV video thrusted early CGi into the mainstream and gave everyone a glimpse into the future whilst also being really cool!
Fun fact, this is one of the first albums to use digital format for recording. No more analog hiss in the background.
The first CD ever released.
I remember watching this on a video jukebox.
As mentioned earlier.. check out Dire Straits songs "Walk of Life" and also "Sultans of Swing" Also check out the band "Rage Against the Machine" Renegades of Funk, Killing in the name of, and Bulls on Parade.. So many incredible sounds from the 70's/80's/and 90's
I grew up with this song, I was actually typing this song in to listen to it and randomly saw y’all’s video. Glad I watched it. Definitely liked y’all’s reactions. Keep up the cool videos 😁
First video on MTV Europe in 1987.
The legendary Mark Knopfler is one of the greatest guitarists alive!!! I love Dire Straights!!!
He sure is!!! He's a brilliant guitarist!!!
Back when MTV was a music television showing music videos. It was so new the promo, I want my MTV, was to get people to get the new technology in cable. That was one of the first different tv shows. MTV ceased to exist around 1995 or 1996 before the teen mom crap or the Osbourns.
One of the first 3d animations, considered groundbreaking at the time.
Back in the 80s, MTV only had music videos all day long. No other programming.
Another great choice and awesome reaction guys !!!
Little cuz in the back ...Getting his musical education
first animated music vid
first vid on MTV Europe
the album was one of the first on cd worldwide and helped cds to become popular
Dire Straits and especially Mark Knopfler are incredible
Alchemy Live OMG Sultans of Swing Telegraph Road Private Investigation Tunnel of Love Going Home and and Mind blowing Guitargasm and drumming
He fuses Jazz Blues Rock and Pop..together
That why there in the the rock and roll hall of fame
Back in the day, MTV used to actually play music videos. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but from what I understand the lyrics of this song are based on a conversation one of the band members overheard at an appliance store by a couple salesmen/deliverymen. They were apparently lamenting the fact that the performers in the MTV videos were making serious money and there they sat peddling appliances. Pretty creative (or downright bored!) to write a song about that!
the dude in the back, my man, has the sweetest warm smile :) please do more for us :)
To add to what Mr. Toff wrote, the animations were unheard off in 1982! Yep, 1982, those animation cost them more than the video production and song combine, but they nail it from the start.
Sting sings the high harmonies. Yes, he's famous.
A lot of artists/bands were trying to top each other with their videos. It was a great time.
The first song played on MTV was Video killed the radio star by the Buggles
Lads! Love your reactions 😂 Stay safe! Love from north east England 🏴 🇬🇧
This is when MTV was about music!
Excellent choice❣️👍😎👍
"Walk of life" it sparked the sports bloopers craze of the 80's.
Ya kindle a promo theme for MTV. Big hit for Dire Straits
Official back when Mtv played music. Back in 1985
The first song played on MTV Europe. Video killed the Radio star was the first song played on MTV.
Walk of life would be your next best reaction. Peace
Man I used to rock out to this ish.. tight
This is awesome bro i used too have one of them old school boom boxes carried on my shoulder and jam
Apparently Mark was in Montgomery ward appliance store in New York and two delivery men were slagging off rock bands Mark went to the counter got a pen and a piece of paper wrote down what they said turned it into this song
ICONIC!!!!
Long ago way back in the 1900s, MTV played music videos ALL DAY LONG.
Great react just jamming nobody getting offended. ❤
Mentioning MTV in the song didn't hurt the heavy rotation it got! The "I want my MTV" at the end was Sting, singing to the tune of his Police hit, "Don't Stand So Close To Me". He's from Newcastle, like Dire Straits
Sting is from Wallsend
Great reaction, try Sultans of swing and a must is Brothers in arms .
This dominated MTV in its day!!!
“that’s that dire straits right there”
This is an epic song and video. So good.
This is from back in the day when MTV actually played music, and not crap about how spoiled rappers children are..... I miss those days....
This was a banger
Money for nothing was on Brother in Arms great Album
Those computer animations are 35 years old. At that time, the best thing we had at home was a Commodore 64.
Working class' view of Kajagoogoo and similar 80's bands through the Knopfler lense, in a nutshell.
Janet Jackson - "Control" (another big 80's hit).
Mark knopler man a true guitar beast
Memories. Thx.
You guys are great. Very good video. Thank a bunch. Keep up the great work.
Love you Guys!!!!
U got crank that song wide open
They have a unique sound for true! Sting is singing harmonies. Oh no....commentary about MTV. Working people vs rich musicians written by a musician! Dire Straights are difficult to categorize for true. Whatever you want to call them they are great! Thanks for sharing! 😽
Prior to this song, music videos did not exist. MTV went on the air in the same year and this song made MTV. It was industry breaking and music was never the same again. If you listen to the words of Queen's Radio Ga Ga, that was Freddie Mercury singing about the glory days of radio before the music video was invented when people only cared about the music and lyrics. Many musicians in those days were angry because they did not have the visuals to compete with the better looking musicians. You really had to witness it happen to appreciate this song.
Additionally the point of the song is that musicians who really love their craft become millionaires without really working and the groupies are the chicks for free. The point about microwave ovens, kitchen, refrigs and color TV's is really about how commercialized the music industry became during those days and they were more interested in pushing merchandise than the art of song writing and playing. The industry was in turmoil over the change.
The 1st video to play on MTV was Video Killed The Radio Star.
Your friend there behind you aint helping LOL he's like wtf whatever 🤣
MTV, in it's heyday, would play debut videos by groups, duets ,solo artists...whoever, and that song would become almost an instant hit. You wanted ur video to be on MTV bc that was a sign that you were on your way. This song basically tells u how it was! Some of those video DJ's became celebrities in their own right! But, too soon, the producers of the channel forgot what got them their notoriety! They threw away the formula and went off in another direction and us fans went someplace else. The end!
That song needs to be in the rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Fame
Yes, it does!!!
Rock blues is actually known as blues rock
It was one of the first videos to be made to go on music tv! It went from radio to this!!
They don't understand the comparison of playing guitar for millions to moving old school refrigerators and color tvs for a living. Someone still has to teach them what the 80s we're really like
This was a big hit, mtv used this regularly in the early days.
Love it!
He had a unique style of playing the guitar........... he uses his thumb a lot.... and it's freaky long LOL!
First time I saw this was on black and white
Written by Mark Knopfler + Sting.
MK lead vocal + lead guitar.
Sting on backing vocal.
Same chords as Synchronicity 2.
In the same year, Sting sang backing vocal in Phil Collins' Take Me Home + Sting released his 1st solo album.
Sting was busy as a bee! L🤣L
STING the singer in the song begging and the end etc
First video on mtv Europe apparently
When this came out there was only 3 videos in existence. So it got plenty of air time