Heavy Fuel

"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 No. 1 on the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, making it the band's second song to do so.

"Heavy Fuel"
Single by Dire Straits
from the album On Every Street
B-side	"Planet of New Orleans" "Kingdom Come"
Released	21 October 1991 (1991-10-21)
Genre	Rock[1]
Length	4:57 (album version) 4:03 (single version)
Label	Vertigo
Songwriter	Mark Knopfler
Producers	Mark Knopfler Alan Clark
Dire Straits singles chronology
"Calling Elvis" (1991) "Heavy Fuel" (1991) "On Every Street" (1992)

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.^[2]

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

1. "Heavy Fuel"
2. "Planet of New Orleans"
3. "Kingdom Come"

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1990–1991) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[3] 26 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[4] 19 Canada Top Singles (RPM)[5] 17 Europe (European Hit Radio)[6] 13 France (SNEP)[7] 32 Germany (GfK)[8] 48 Luxembourg (Radio Luxembourg)[9] 10 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[10] 24 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[11] 25 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[12] 34 UK Singles (OCC)[13] 55 UK Airplay (Music Week)[14] 9 US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[15] 22 US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[16] 1

Year-end charts Chart (1992) Position US Album Rock Tracks (Billboard)[17] 15

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label(s)	Ref.
United Kingdom	21 October 1991	7-inch vinyl 12-inch vinyl CD cassette	Vertigo	[18]
Australia	4 November 1991	CD cassette		[19]
Japan	5 December 1991	Mini-CD		[20]

See also

• List of Billboard Mainstream Rock number-one songs of the 1990s