Bramble Tamble

In the span of 10 minutes the other day on the radio, I heard Led Zeppelin's "All My Love," and Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" – a nice back-to-back, for sure. The Zep song came out in '79, a little while before I started really paying attention to music, but "Money for Nothing" was a staple of my youth, and it pains me to hear it on THE Classic Rock Station™.

I hadn't heard the song for years, and it'd been even longer since I'd heard the uncut album version of it (the version played yesterday on THE Classic Rock Station™). After it was over, I pondered for a minute all of the ways that the song – a paean to rock 'n roll excess - wouldn't make it at radio today:

1. The intro. Yeah, I know that the radio-friendly version shed about a minute off the buildup to the Knopfler riff. But you still can't dance to it. Believe me, I tried, back in the day.

2. The riff. Say what you will about the remainder of the Dire Straits catalogue, but that riff rocks too hard. It rocks too hard!

3. Would kids today understand the significance of "I want my MTV"? No!

4. Sting.

5. Radio chopped the "that little faggot" verse in 1986, but it was restored in all its glory on THE Classic Rock Station™ the other day. Can you imagine, if the song came out today, the firestorm that would ensue?

Anyway, it's a song that's held up well for the last 20 years. Even if I'm not ready for it to be played on THE Classic Rock Station™.

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Now playing: The Pernice Brothers - Somerville
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