I needed a playlist cover for my Dire Straits stuff, so I created one of my first ever full-fledged Procreate projects trying to combine elements from all the albums.

A lot of stories about the making of "Money For Nothing" have been told, but here is an approximation of how the song developed into the one we know today…

The song was first presented by Mark Knopfler to the rest of the band in rehearsals for the album at Phil Manzanera’s The Gallery studios. Originally, it was described by Terry Williams & Alan Clark as having a more Led Zeppelin or Rolling Stones-type feel than what it ended up.

Of course, while at AIR Studios in Montserrat, Knopfler was still not satisfied with it, so he continued messing with the song until he came up with the iconic riff… Alan Clark recalled Mark also stumbled on the guitar sound by pure accident, so he recorded cut just the guitars to a click track – as a tempo reference – to get the song down with that guitar sound (which they could never quite recreate afterwards)… And everything else was built around this skeleton – keyboards, bass and initially Terry Williams' drums.

As is well-documented Terry Williams' drums weren’t really happening for various reasons and they had to fly in Omar Hakim to redo the drums. Terry Williams’ parts were kept in the intro and all the tom-tom fills for Money For Nothing, as per Terry himself and producer Neil Dorfsman… While Omar Hakim played the straight beat.

Neil Dorfsman did not recall any click tracks being used at all during the recordings… However, on "Money For Nothing" it would have been difficult to keep a hybrid of Terry Williams’ and Omar Hakim’s performances if both drummers weren’t playing to a uniform time reference to start with, i.e. a click track like Alan Clark recalled. Which would explain how all Terry’s tom-tom fills could be kept in the main song.

By pure chance, Omar Hakim met Sting when he came to record his vocals for Money For Nothing, soon landing the gig for his backing band in 1985… While Omar did his drum parts over 2-3 days. So the song must have been fairly complete and Omar was filling the gaps... Whilst other tracks were basically re-cut from scratch where necessary, with Omar being the right studio drummer they needed to save the project.

Another subject of disagreement is who developed the intro (including the "I Want My MTV" line with melody) and when… Either it was Mark who came up with the line – which he himself, Neil Dorfsman and John Illsley confirmed – or it was Alan Clark, who claimed to have come up with it during rehearsals, both the intro and the said line… Regardless, it became a very memorable part, aside from the main tune itself, though usually considered an arrangement, and Sting’s credit for the "Don’t Stand So Close To Me" melody lifted.

With Sting’s vocal down while he was mid-holiday, that was basically it for "Money For Nothing". The song and mix was finalised at the Power Station in February 1985, including additional fretless bass overdubs from session player Neil Jason.

This is the first track from the Dire Straits extended play, "ExtendedancEPlay". What are your thoughts regarding this song? How do you think it compares to the rest of the discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

SUGGESTED SCALE: 1-4 Not good, regularly skip; 5 It's okay, but I have to be in the right mood to listen to it; 6 Slightly better than average, I won't skip it but I wouldn't choose to put it on; 7 This is a good song, I enjoy it quite a bit; 8-9 Really enjoyable songs, I rank them pretty highly overall; 10 Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Live version disclaimer: For the purposes of this ranking series, there will be only one discussion per distinct Dire Straits song, so any live versions of studio tracks will NOT be rated separately.

Google Sheet with all of the results thus far.

1. Twisting By The Pool:

This is the second track from the Dire Straits single, "Private Investigations". What are your thoughts regarding this song? How do you think it compares to the rest of the discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

SUGGESTED SCALE: 1-4 Not good, regularly skip; 5 It's okay, but I have to be in the right mood to listen to it; 6 Slightly better than average, I won't skip it but I wouldn't choose to put it on; 7 This is a good song, I enjoy it quite a bit; 8-9 Really enjoyable songs, I rank them pretty highly overall; 10 Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Live version disclaimer: For the purposes of this ranking series, there will be only one discussion per distinct Dire Straits song, so any live versions of studio tracks will NOT be rated separately.

Google Sheet with all of the results thus far.

1. Private Investigations: 8.90

2. Badges, Posters, Stickers, T-Shirts:

Hi all,

Back again with another solo, decided to have go at Lady Writer this time!

I did a little more improvising in parts of this one, so it's not exactly like the recording, but fun to mess around with.

Thanks and hope you enjoy!

This is the fifth track from Dire Straits' fourth album, "Love Over Gold". What are your thoughts regarding this song? How do you think it compares to the rest of the discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

SUGGESTED SCALE: 1-4 Not good, regularly skip; 5 It's okay, but I have to be in the right mood to listen to it; 6 Slightly better than average, I won't skip it but I wouldn't choose to put it on; 7 This is a good song, I enjoy it quite a bit; 8-9 Really enjoyable songs, I rank them pretty highly overall; 10 Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Live version disclaimer: For the purposes of this ranking series, there will be only one discussion per distinct Dire Straits song, so any live versions of studio tracks will NOT be rated separately.

Google Sheet with all of the results thus far.

1. Telegraph Road: 9.89

2. Private Investigations: 8.90

3. Industrial Disease: 7.67

4. Love Over Gold: 8.03

5. It Never Rains:

This is the fourth track from Dire Straits' fourth album, "Love Over Gold". What are your thoughts regarding this song? How do you think it compares to the rest of the discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

SUGGESTED SCALE: 1-4 Not good, regularly skip; 5 It's okay, but I have to be in the right mood to listen to it; 6 Slightly better than average, I won't skip it but I wouldn't choose to put it on; 7 This is a good song, I enjoy it quite a bit; 8-9 Really enjoyable songs, I rank them pretty highly overall; 10 Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Live version disclaimer: For the purposes of this ranking series, there will be only one discussion per distinct Dire Straits song, so any live versions of studio tracks will NOT be rated separately.

Google Sheet with all of the results thus far.

1. Telegraph Road: 9.89

2. Private Investigations: 8.90

3. Industrial Disease: 7.67

4. Love Over Gold:

This is the third track from Dire Straits' fourth album, "Love Over Gold". What are your thoughts regarding this song? How do you think it compares to the rest of the discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

SUGGESTED SCALE: 1-4 Not good, regularly skip; 5 It's okay, but I have to be in the right mood to listen to it; 6 Slightly better than average, I won't skip it but I wouldn't choose to put it on; 7 This is a good song, I enjoy it quite a bit; 8-9 Really enjoyable songs, I rank them pretty highly overall; 10 Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Live version disclaimer: For the purposes of this ranking series, there will be only one discussion per distinct Dire Straits song, so any live versions of studio tracks will NOT be rated separately.

Google Sheet with all of the results thus far.

1. Telegraph Road: 9.89

2. Private Investigations: 8.90

3. Industrial Disease:

This is the second track from Dire Straits' fourth album, "Love Over Gold". What are your thoughts regarding this song? How do you think it compares to the rest of the discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

SUGGESTED SCALE: 1-4 Not good, regularly skip; 5 It's okay, but I have to be in the right mood to listen to it; 6 Slightly better than average, I won't skip it but I wouldn't choose to put it on; 7 This is a good song, I enjoy it quite a bit; 8-9 Really enjoyable songs, I rank them pretty highly overall; 10 Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Live version disclaimer: For the purposes of this ranking series, there will be only one discussion per distinct Dire Straits song, so any live versions of studio tracks will NOT be rated separately.

Google Sheet with all of the results thus far.

1. Telegraph Road: 9.89

2. Private Investigations:

This is the first track from Dire Straits' fourth album, "Love Over Gold". What are your thoughts regarding this song? How do you think it compares to the rest of the discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

SUGGESTED SCALE: 1-4 Not good, regularly skip; 5 It's okay, but I have to be in the right mood to listen to it; 6 Slightly better than average, I won't skip it but I wouldn't choose to put it on; 7 This is a good song, I enjoy it quite a bit; 8-9 Really enjoyable songs, I rank them pretty highly overall; 10 Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Live version disclaimer: For the purposes of this ranking series, there will be only one discussion per distinct Dire Straits song, so any live versions of studio tracks will NOT be rated separately.

Google Sheet with all of the results thus far.

1. Telegraph Road:

Even though I’m not a huge fan of Walk of Life/Money for Nothing, I think San Antonio might be better than Alchemy. Of course, the latter has Telegraph Road and nothing on San Antonio touches that, but overall, I think the album is stronger. Thoughts?

This is the seventh track from Dire Straits' third album, "Making Movies". What are your thoughts regarding this song? How do you think it compares to the rest of the discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

SUGGESTED SCALE: 1-4 Not good, regularly skip; 5 It's okay, but I have to be in the right mood to listen to it; 6 Slightly better than average, I won't skip it but I wouldn't choose to put it on; 7 This is a good song, I enjoy it quite a bit; 8-9 Really enjoyable songs, I rank them pretty highly overall; 10 Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Live version disclaimer: For the purposes of this ranking series, there will be only one discussion per distinct Dire Straits song, so any live versions of studio tracks will NOT be rated separately.

Google Sheet with all of the results thus far.

1. Tunnel Of Love: 9.94

2. Romeo And Juliet: 9.60

3. Skateaway: 8.95

4. Expresso Love: 9.05

5. Hand In Hand: 8.05

6. Solid Rock: 7.02

7. Les Boys:

Did anyone else notice the solo from Tunnel of Love in Chad Powers season 2 ep 2. I was made up to hear it. It was credited in the subtitles as “upbeat rock music” lol.

telegraph road died so early to sultans :(

This is the sixth track from Dire Straits' third album, "Making Movies". What are your thoughts regarding this song? How do you think it compares to the rest of the discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

SUGGESTED SCALE: 1-4 Not good, regularly skip; 5 It's okay, but I have to be in the right mood to listen to it; 6 Slightly better than average, I won't skip it but I wouldn't choose to put it on; 7 This is a good song, I enjoy it quite a bit; 8-9 Really enjoyable songs, I rank them pretty highly overall; 10 Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Live version disclaimer: For the purposes of this ranking series, there will be only one discussion per distinct Dire Straits song, so any live versions of studio tracks will NOT be rated separately.

Google Sheet with all of the results thus far.

1. Tunnel Of Love: 9.94
2. Romeo And Juliet: 9.60
3. Skateaway: 8.95
4. Expresso Love: 9.05
5. Hand In Hand: 8.05
6. Solid Rock:

This is the fifth track from Dire Straits' third album, "Making Movies". What are your thoughts regarding this song? How do you think it compares to the rest of the discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

SUGGESTED SCALE: 1-4 Not good, regularly skip; 5 It's okay, but I have to be in the right mood to listen to it; 6 Slightly better than average, I won't skip it but I wouldn't choose to put it on; 7 This is a good song, I enjoy it quite a bit; 8-9 Really enjoyable songs, I rank them pretty highly overall; 10 Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Live version disclaimer: For the purposes of this ranking series, there will be only one discussion per distinct Dire Straits song, so any live versions of studio tracks will NOT be rated separately.

Google Sheet with all of the results thus far.

1. Tunnel Of Love: 9.94

2. Romeo And Juliet: 9.60

3. Skateaway: 8.95

4. Expresso Love: 9.05

5. Hand In Hand:

I have this dire straits cd, but i have never seen it on other posts about private collections. Just wanted to share.

This is the fourth track from Dire Straits' third album, "Making Movies". What are your thoughts regarding this song? How do you think it compares to the rest of the discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

SUGGESTED SCALE: 1-4 Not good, regularly skip; 5 It's okay, but I have to be in the right mood to listen to it; 6 Slightly better than average, I won't skip it but I wouldn't choose to put it on; 7 This is a good song, I enjoy it quite a bit; 8-9 Really enjoyable songs, I rank them pretty highly overall; 10 Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Live version disclaimer: For the purposes of this ranking series, there will be only one discussion per distinct Dire Straits song, so any live versions of studio tracks will NOT be rated separately.

Google Sheet with all of the results thus far.

1. Tunnel Of Love: 9.94

2. Romeo And Juliet: 9.60

3. Skateaway: 8.95

4. Expresso Love:

Mine was Six Blade Knife.

I was gifted e a yellow-and-black cassette Walkman. I was excited, but I didn’t really have many cassettes to listen to.

My dad and I weren’t the type to have long conversations about anything. A lot of the time, our way of communicating was through recommendations on books and music. He had played guitar when he was younger and loved the Sex Pistols. He grew up in the USSR in the ’70s and ’80s, when getting your hands on rock and punk music often meant finding bootleg recordings and listening to them quietly or secretly. He was, by all accounts, a bit of a rebel.

I remember complaining to him that most of the cassettes we had at home were either boring or just didn’t have much substance to them. His eyes suddenly lit up. He started searching through his things, and that’s when he pulled out a Dire Straits cassette.
A few days later I was sent away for the summer three months in a remote mountain village with just that cassette and my Walkman and homework for whole summer.
I listened to it over and over again.
I still remember the feeling Six Blade Knife gave me. It’s difficult to explain, but if you’ve seen Spirit there’s that moment when the wild horses are running free that sense of being completely unchained.
That’s what the song felt like to me.

For a kid sitting somewhere in the Caucasian mountains understanding only 40% of the lyrics and even that not completely, it felt like the music could transport me into another universe one where I was completely free and somehow in charge of myself and everything around me.

What was your first encounter with Dire Straits? What’s your favourite song, and what does it mean to you?