Our lives at 45 rpm

Sixth in a series on one Dullard's collection of 45s

Song: "Money For Nothing"
Artist: Dire Straits
Year released: 1985
Highest U.S. chart position: 1

DULLARD TAKE: How is that songs with similar content can be treated so differently? For example, why is it that Eric Clapton and Ice-T sing the same song, yet one is deified and the other vilified? Let's take a look:

• Eric Clapton (covering Bob Marley): "I shot the sheriff, but I swear it was in self-defense. I shot the sheriff, and they say it is a capital offense."
• Body Count featuring Ice-T: "Cop killer, better you than me. Cop killer, fuck police brutality!"

These two songs are strikingly similar in theme. And they feature role playing as a key component: Both performers are singing in character, not as themselves. Careful listening makes that apparent. Yet they have met with wildly different receptions in America: Clapton's "I Shot the Sheriff" is a staple of classic rock; "Cop Killer" was removed from the Body Count disc amid tremendous outcry.

And so it is with "Money For Nothing." Mark Knopfler, who was in essence Dire Straits, takes on the role of a blue-collar Joe. The character is both appalled and a little bit jealous of "the little faggot with the earring and the makeup" he sees in MTV videos. Why? Because the video superstar gets "money for nothing and his chicks for free" while working stiffs do back-breaking labor for low wages.

Certainly by 1985, an MTV backlash was under way. Real "rockers" had had enough of the likes of Culture Club and Cyndi Lauper. Knopfler, a clever songwriter with a knack for satire and an eye on pop culture, exploited that anti-MTV feeling, and he did so with a bit of ironic populism. He said at the time that the offensive lyrics were inspired by a conversation he overheard at an appliance store. And to his credit, Knopfler made it obvious that he wasn't singing as himself:

We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these color TVs

Remarkably, "Money For Nothing" was the biggest hit in the history of Dire Straits, and there was no significant controversy about the anti-gay lyric. A guest vocal by Sting and a killer riff from Knopfler helped make the song a commercial success, but the big push came from the song's famous animated video. A rewrite of "Money" on the band's next album called "Heavy Fuel" didn't make the same impact, even though it is a punchier track that's free of homophobic terminology.

Meanwhile, in the long gap between Dire Straits albums, Guns N' Roses also went the role-playing route with "One In A Million," in which Axl Rose sings:

Immigrants and faggots
They make no sense to me
They come to our country
And think they'll do as they please

Coming just a few years after the chart-topping "Money," this song again illustrated the double standard. Axl was condemned as a hatemonger, and it probably didn't help that he tried to explain away the controversy by pointing to his admiration of gay artists such as Elton John and Freddie Mercury as evidence of his tolerant nature.

But is Mark Knopfler on a higher moral plane than Axl Rose? Could it be that our culture is OK with polite British guitarists singing outrageous statements, but is more threatened when unruly Americans do so?

FOOTNOTE: "Money For Nothing" is also the name of a Dire Straits compilation: a rare case of truth in advertising in the "greatest hits" genre.