Mark Knopfler on Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing: ‘I wrote it in the window display of a New York appliance store’

‘That ain’t working!’ … Knopfler with Dire Straits at Wembley Arena in 1985. Photograph: Ilpo Musto/Shutterstock

Mark Knopfler, guitar/vocals/writer

I was in an appliance shop in New York and there was a big bonehead in there delivering gear. All the TVs were tuned to MTV and I overheard this guy sounding off about the rock stars on the screens. He had an audience of one – the junior at the store – and some of his lines were just too good to be true.