Industrial Disease

The song focuses on the decline of the British manufacturing industry in the 1980s. The song focuses on strikes, depression and disfunctionality.

The title of what later became an AC/DC song is mentioned in the lyrics: "Thunderstruck."

The reference to "brewers 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.