The word “chicks” to refer to women is non-PC enough that most news agencies would avoid using it in headlines and articles.
I always thought it was derogatory. Just thought it wasn’t as bad as the American usage. On par with calling someone a longhair. Never knew about the sausage or student uses. Thanks for the info. Learn something new everyday.
Knopfler used ‘faggot’ in the lyrics because he tends to avoid vulgar language whenever possible. When the appliance store guy was on his rant, he was using ‘f*cker’ instead.
I think Brothers In Arms was the last vinyl LP I bought.
That page you link to is a commentary on National Health Service - the title is nothing more than a play on words - a paraphrase, given the very well-known nature of the phrase from the song. It would be like finding an article on Healthcare Reform in the US that takes the saying “penny wise and pound foolish” and changes it to “penny wise and healthcare foolish” or something like that. It has no meaning as a standalone phrase - it is a writer taking a familiar phrase and modifying it to their needs.
So the “kicks for free” variation is nothing more than a paraphrase used for this write-up and it has whatever meaning the writer wanted it to have when he/she made it up.
Does that make sense?
Gotta admit, the Brits get a LOT of mileage out of their words.
‘When I make a word do a lot of work like that,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘I always pay it extra.’
Kicks just keep gettin’ harder to find.
Unless they’re Pumped Up Kicks.
Or perhaps Teenage Kicks*
*Teenage Kicks a punk single by the Undertones was a hit, but more importantly, it was legendary UK DJ John Peel’s favorite song - heck, I suspect the song’s reputation rests more on that than being a hit back in the day…
But when you find out it’s too late, girl you better get straight.
Not helping much. 
I always assumed he was poking fun at Boy George with that lyric.
IIRC, the early 80s was when you first started to see things like earrings and makeup and styled hair on a lot of male pop/rock performers, especially in “New Wave” bands. It was a look that became fairly common at that time but which a blue-collar, Archie Bunker-type guy would have considered effeminate or “faggoty.”
I think you’re forgetting Ziggy Stardust? And Marc Bolan, Gary Glitter, Roxy Music… pretty much all the glam bands, really. And Kiss and the New York Dolls.
Yeah, maybe I am.
(KISS is a special case—not the same kind of makeup we’re talking about—)but maybe those acts you mention, or at least their appearances, wouldn’t have been on Mr. Blue Collar Guy’s radar back in the pre-MTV days.
The shift reminds me of my son, when the song came out, being embarrassed to say “chicks” in front of his mom. He shifted to “checks” and blushed a little. He’d have been around six.
I know what you did there.
The Ziggy persona (and look) is pretty much how David Bowie got famous, IIRC, and Bolan/T-Rex and Gary Glitter were pretty well known.
KISS grew into something a bit more extreme but at the beginning they were basically just cribbing the NYD.
I heard it was Prince.
Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe claimed in an interview that Knopfler and the delivery guy were watching his band’s videos in the store and that they were who the guy was commenting about with the “faggot” comments. (Actually, according to Knopfler, the guy was saying “fucker.” Knopfler changed it to something that was less likely to be censored for airplay.)
Also, Knopfler wanted to duplicate Billy Gibbons’ guitar sound with ZZ Top and solicited Gibbons’ advice on getting the sound. ZZ Top’s “Eliminator” album had just been released and videos for such songs as “Gimme All Your Lovin’” and “Sharp Dressed Man” were in heavy rotation on MTV.
Knopfler ended up a fan of Les Paul’s and has an original sunburst '58 or '59 he used on that song. He also gritted-up his sound and started on a long relationship, ultimately, with Komet amps. I’ve played a couple - amazing.
Robot Arm, Ranger Jeff - I can feel the whoosh over my head. What’s the reference? “Kicks just keep gettin’ harder to find”