Everyone is familiar with the iconic guitar riff that opens Dire Strait’s song Money For Nothing, but most of you do not know that the famous riff is actually a technical “mistake” that occurred in the studio on the day of the recordings.

Mark Knopfler and the band’s sound engineer actually were going for a sort of ZZ Top sound, but what they ended up with was a kind of accident. The microphones in the recording room were placed completely randomly, one towards the floor, one toward an amplifier, etc.

When they entered the recording room to move the microphones according to the original plan, Mark’s guitar technician told them not to touch anything because it sounded amazing as it was. And so was born the legendary sound of Money For Nothing.

Bonus fact: The voice in the background singing “I want my MTV” belongs to none other than Sting, who was invited to give background voices after visiting the studio that day just by chance.