Ultimate Classic Rock interviews Dave Stewart and explains how “Sweet Dreams Broke All The Rules”

When Eurythmics released “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” it sounded different than a lot of what was being played on the radio. But figuring out why something becomes a hit can be complicated.

“Well, what is it?,” the band’s Dave Stewart tells UCR now. “It’s not like something where everybody goes, ‘Oh, well I know, you do that, that, that and there it is.’ Although, nowadays, there’s lots of people for the last 10 years who do that. Unfortunately, then the [music on the] radio starts to sound the same.”

With “Sweet Dreams,” he and vocalist Annie Lennox quickly started to recognize that they had crafted something which stood out in a different way. The single gave the duo their first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and established them as a success worldwide. They went on to sell more than 75 million albums globally as additional singles, albums and accolades piled up.

In the interview Dave talks about Sweet Dreams turning 40, his current tour, but also how Eurythmics ended up covering Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love” in the Sweet Dreams era.