Weekly finale: "I want my MTV"

It may only be Tuesday, but I have to do my weekly musical finale post today. I will be out of town for the rest of the week, due to Thanksgiving. But I promise to be back next Monday!

For this week's finale, I decided to answer a musical question. Which came first, the line "I want my MTV" in the Dire Straits' song Money for Nothing, or the use of the line as a slogan in an ad for MTV?

First, the line in question, as well as the rest of the song:



The answer to the question? Actually, the use of the line as a slogan in an ad for MTV came first. According to the website Song Facts:

In the book I Want My MTV, various people who worked at the network explain that Dire Straits' manager asked the network what they could do to get on the network and break through in America. Their answer was: write a hit song and let one of the top directors make a video. Mark Knopfler took the directive to write an "MTVable song" quite literally, using the network's tagline in the lyrics. The song ended up sounding like an indictment of MTV, but Les Garland, who ran the network, made it clear that they loved the song and were flattered by it - hearing "I Want My MTV" on the radio was fantastic publicity even if there were some unfavorable implications in the lyrics.

One more irony: The Money for Nothing music video won the "Video of the Year" award at the third annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1986. Sometimes, people don't realize you are laughing AT them.

Hopefully, all of you will have a great Thanksgiving (and get paid for doing nothing!). I will see you back here next Monday. Well, I won't actually SEE you, but you know what I mean.