Knopfler modelled his guitar sound for the recorded track after ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons’ trademark guitar tone, as ZZ Top’s music videos were already a staple of early MTV. Gibbons later told a Musician magazine interviewer in 1986 that Knopfler had solicited Gibbons on how to replicate the tone, adding, “He didn’t do a half-bad job, considering that I didn’t tell him a thing!” Knopfler’s “not a half-bad job” included his duplication of Gibbons’ use of a Gibson Les Paul guitar (rather than a Fender Stratocaster), which he plugged into a Marshall amplifier. Another factor in trying to recreate the sound was a Wah-wah pedal that was turned on, but only rocked to a certain position. The specific guitar sound in the song was made with a Gibson Les Paul going through a Laney amplifier, with the sound coloured by the accidental position of two Shure SM57 microphones without any processing during the mix. Following the initial sessions in Montserrat, at which that particular guitar part was recorded, Neil Dorfsman attempted to recreate the sound during subsequent sessions the Power Station in New York but was unsuccessful in doing so.
Tag: Dire Straits
Dire Straits – Romeo and Juliet (live at Wembley with Eric Clapton)
“Romeo and Juliet” is a song by the British rock band Dire Straits, written by singer and lead guitarist Mark Knopfler. It first appeared on the 1980 album Making Movies and was released as a single in 1981. Reviewer Dan Bolles has called the song a “classic”. The song subsequently appeared on the Dire Straits live albums Alchemy and On the Night, and later on Knopfler’s live duet album with Emmylou Harris, Real Live Roadrunning (though Harris does not perform on the track). The track was also featured on the greatest hits albums Money for Nothing, Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits, and The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations.
Dire Straits – Money for Nothing
Money for Nothing” is a single by British rock band Dire Straits, taken from their 1985 album Brothers in Arms. It was one of Dire Straits’ most successful singles, peaking at number one for three weeks in the United States, and it also reached number one for three weeks on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart. In the band’s native UK, the song peaked at number four. The recording was notable for its controversial lyrics, groundbreaking music video and cameo appearance by Sting singing the song’s falsetto introduction and backing chorus, “I want my MTV.” The video was also the first to be aired on MTV Europe when the network started on 1 August 1987.