Tonight’s 80’s 8 was 80’s rock . The first track Money for Nothing is by British rock band Dire Straits. It features Sting providing his vocals on the signature intro of the song and  the backing vocals on the chorus (I Want My MTV). Money For Nothing  was written by lead vocalist and guitarist Mark Knopfler, he was inspired  to write the song from a conversation he overheard in a NYC appliance store. The song’s title comes from a phrase uttered by a deliveryman in that appliance store, who complains about the musicians on the screen getting “money for nothing and chicks for free.” The song’s lyrics describe the thoughts of a blue-collar worker watching music videos on MTV and feeling envious of the glamorous rock stars featured in them. For those of you that were not born or too young to have experienced MTV in the 80’s ,The chorus , “I want my MTV,” reflects the channel’s impact on pop culture in the 1980s. Money For Nothing was a world wide hit, It reached #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart and the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed #1 on both charts for three weeks. it reached #4 in Dire Straits native UK. It was their most commercially successful song. It  won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The music video received 11 nominations, winning Video of The Year and Best Group Video at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards in 1986. You can watch the music video for Money For Nothing by Dire Straits Featuring Sting here:

The second track in tonight’s 80’s at 8 came from American rock musician Donnie Iris. Titled, love is Like A Rock. It was Released in 1981 as the lead single from his debut album “Back on the Streets. The upbeat tempo and energetic guitar riffs make “Love Is Like A Rock” an instant classic.

Love Is Like A Rock reached #9 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart and # 37 on the Billboard Hot 100. It  is often used by the Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania band during football games. Iris attended SRU in the early 1960s. The band Slade recorded Love Is Like A Rock for their 1987 album Boyz Make Big Noize.

You can watch Donnie Iris and the Cruisers performing Love is Like a Rock Live in 1981 here: