Album · Dire Straits
Making Movies by Dire Straits
Making Movies is an album by Dire Straits, released in 1980. 5 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 82 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Romeo and Juliet”, on 48 lists with a best position of #29.
Making Movies, Dire Straits' third studio album, came out on 17 October 1980, on Vertigo in most of the world and Warner Bros. in the States, and it's where Mark Knopfler stopped playing it cool and started going for the big screen. He produced it himself, and his fluid guitar lines spill over John Illsley's bass and Pick Withers' drums like headlights on wet tarmac.
"Romeo and Juliet" aches in all the right places and went top ten in Britain; "Tunnel of Love" sprawls and swirls and ended up in the Richard Gere film An Officer and a Gentleman; "Skateaway" rolls along on pure momentum. The roots-rock economy of the early records is still there, but the canvas is wider. The album topped the charts in Italy and Norway and went platinum in America and double platinum at home.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Making Movies on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Romeo and Juliet | 48 | #29 | – | 1991–2026 | |
| 2 | Skateaway | 22 | #288 | – | 1991–2024 | |
| 3 | Tunnel of Love | 8 | #285 | – | 1996–2024 | |
| 4 | Expresso Love | 3 | #411 | – | 1991–2019 | |
| 5 | Solid Rock | 1 | #464 | – | 1996 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.