Heavy Fuel

"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(s)	Mark Knopfler
Producer(s)	Mark Knopfler Alan Clark
Dire Straits singles chronology
"Calling Elvis" (1991) "Heavy Fuel" (1991) "On Every Street" (1992)

"Heavy Fuel" is a song by British rock band Dire Straits from their 1991 album On Every Street. The song was also released as a single and reached No. 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.^[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 France (SNEP)[6] 32 Germany (GfK)[7] 48 Luxembourg (Radio Luxembourg)[8] 10 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[9] 24 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[10] 25 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[11] 34 UK Singles (OCC)[12] 55 US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[13] 22 US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[14] 1

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

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label(s)	Ref.
United Kingdom	21 October 1991	7-inch vinyl 12-inch vinyl CD cassette	Vertigo	[16]
Australia	4 November 1991	CD cassette		[17]
Japan	5 December 1991	Mini-CD		[18]

See also

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

References

1. "On Every Street - Dire Straits | Album | AllMusic". AllMusic.
2. Dagostino, Susan (25 May 2006). "Mark Knopfler's Song Inspirations". Ezinearticles.com. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
3. "Dire Straits – Heavy Fuel". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
4. "Dire Straits – Heavy Fuel" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
5. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 2042." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
6. "Dire Straits – Heavy Fuel" (in French). Le classement de singles. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
7. "Dire Straits – Heavy Fuel" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
8. Radio Luxembourg Singles. 17 November 1991.
9. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Dire Straits" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
10. "Dire Straits – Heavy Fuel" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
11. "Dire Straits – Heavy Fuel". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
12. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
13. "Dire Straits Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved 30 March 2025.
14. "Dire Straits Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved 30 March 2025.
15. "The Year in Music: Top Album Rock Tracks". Billboard. Vol. 104, no. 52. 26 December 1992. p. YE-42.
16. "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. 19 October 1991. p. 19.
17. "New Release Summary – Product Available from : 04/11/91: Singles". The ARIA Report. No. 93. 3 November 1991. p. 19.
18. "ダイアー・ストレイツ | ヘビー・フュエル" [Dire Straits | Heavy Fuel] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 19 September 2025.