Industrial Disease (song)

"Industrial Disease" is a song by British rock band Dire Straits, written by Mark Knopfler. It appeared on the band's 1982 album Love over Gold. The song was released as a single in the United States and as a rare B-side to "Private Investigations" on cassette tape in the United Kingdom. The B-side to the U.S. "Industrial Disease" single was "Solid Rock," from the previous Dire Straits album Making Movies.

"Industrial Disease"
Single by Dire Straits
from the album Love over Gold
B-side"Solid Rock" (U.S.)
Released1982
GenreRock
Length5:48
LabelVertigo Records
Songwriter(s)Mark Knopfler
Producer(s)Mark Knopfler
Dire Straits singles chronology
"Private Investigations"
(1982)		 "Industrial Disease"
(1982)		 "Twisting by the Pool"
(1983)

Meaning

The song's background and subject matter is ostensibly the decline of the British manufacturing industry in the early 1980s, describing strikes, depression and dysfunctionality. However, the song is an extended metaphor, with the idea of the nine-to-five itself, with its dehumanising routine and repetition, as the real culprit of society's malaise. About halfway through the song, the narrator goes to the doctor, only to be told his own illness is diagnosed as "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.

References



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