The MARK’S VINTAGE VINYL page features something from Mark’s collection of recordings from over the years. Most of it is on vinyl – hence the name – though there will be a few entries from his CDs (remember those?).
Brothers In Arms, by Dire Straits
- Fifth studio album by British rock band Dire Straits, released in 1985.
- It was just announced last week that Dire Straits will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. No doubt that this album has a lot to do with that.
- It is one of the best selling albums of all time, with over 30 million copies sold worldwide. In the U.S., it was certified 9x platinum in 1996. It was the first album ever in the UK to sell over 3 million copies there, and today it is the eighth best selling album of all time in the UK.
- It won 2 Grammy awards. The album won for Best Engineered Recording, and the song Money For Nothing won Best Rock Performance. The 20th anniversary edition also won a Grammy for Best Surround Sound Album in 2006. The album is #352 on Rolling Stone’s Greatest Albums list.
- Three songs charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Money For Nothing, one of the most played videos on MTV (I suppose its catchy lyric “I want my MTV” had something to do with that), hit #1 on the chart, and remained there for 3 weeks. Walk of Life peaked at #7, and So Far Away made it to #19.
- Watch the famous video of Money For Nothing. The combination of live action and animation was unique and innovative, winning it Video of the Year at the third MTV Video Music Awards. I bet you didn’t know – The signature “I want my MTV” in the introduction, as well as the backing “I want my MTV” vocal later in the song, is sung by Sting. It’s a great song – guitar is awesome, drums are cool.