"Heavy Fuel" is a song by British rock band Dire Straits, released in October 1991 by Vertigo Records as the second single from their sixth and final album, On Every Street (1991). The song reached 1 on the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, making it the band's second song to do so.
Lyrical content In "Heavy Fuel", Mark Knopfler ironically extols the virtues of such vices as cigarettes, hamburgers, Scotch, lust, money and violence. The phrase "You got to run on heavy fuel" is from the novel Money by Martin Amis, on which Knopfler based his lyric.
Music video The song's music video features American actor-comedian Randy Quaid who plays as the band's roadie messing around the venues where the band performs and even fantasizes himself as the band's singer Mark Knopfler.
Track listings "Heavy Fuel" "Planet of New Orleans" "Kingdom Come"
Charts
Weekly charts +Weekly chart performance for "Heavy Fuel"Chart (1990–1992)PeakpositionEurope (European Hit Radio) 13Luxembourg (Radio Luxembourg)Radio Luxembourg Singles. 17 November 1991. 10 UK Airplay (Music Week) 9
Year-end charts +Annual chart rankings for "Heavy Fuel"Chart (1991)PositionItaly (Musica e dischi)100 Chart (1992)PositionUS Album Rock Tracks (Billboard) 15
Release history RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)United Kingdom21 October 1991VertigoAustralia4 November 1991Japan5 December 1991Mini-CD
See also List of Billboard Mainstream Rock number-one songs of the 1990s
References