Classic Rock
Great Unknown Songs #9 – Dire Straits “Industrial Disease”
Dire Straits is one of those bands that had many huge hits, specially in the 80s and unfortunately are more remembered for them. But, many greats tracks are forgotten in their catalog, one of them is “Industrial Disease”, from the album “Love Over Gold” (1982).
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Hear it below:
“Industrial Disease” by Dire Straits
Love Over Gold (1982)
The song takes a look at decline of the British manufacturing industry in the early 1980s, focusing on strikes, depression and dysfunctionality.
For example, the absurdity of media-driven maladies is laid out in a segment of the song describing the narrator’s visit to a doctor’s office for treatment of his “Industrial Disease”.
The reference to “Brewer’s Droop” as a medical condition is an in-joke, referring both to the effect of alcohol on libido and to the band of the same name that Mark Knopfler played in prior to Dire Straits.
