Dire Straits

Forming amid the tail end of punk in the final years of the 1970s, Dire Straits cultivated a spare, unflashy approach that drew scant influence from the punk movement. Rather, the group arose directly from pub rock’s back-to-basics ethos, yet while that movement thrived on celebration, Dire Straits projected a prevailing mood of melancholy. Fronted by guitarist and vocalist Mark Knopfler, the quartet anchored its music in the relaxed blues-rock manner of J.J. Cale, weaving in jazz and country touches and at times expanding into the large-scale constructions typical of progressive rock. Knopfler’s lyrics supplied an additional layer, mirroring the intricate, flowing storytelling associated with Bob Dylan. As the years passed, the band grew increasingly polished, and this newfound maturity aligned with the mid-1980s arrival of MTV and the compact disc. Those twin developments turned the group’s sixth album, Brothers in Arms, into a global phenomenon. Together with Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, and Steve Winwood, Dire Straits led a cohort of veteran rock performers in the late 1980s who shaped their work explicitly for an aging baby-boom audience. Despite widespread international success, the band proved unable to hold its commercial peak, taking a full six years to release the follow-up to Brothers in Arms, by which point its listenership had noticeably contracted.

Born on August 12, 1949, Knopfler served throughout as the central creative force within Dire Straits. The son of an architect, he read English literature at Leeds University and spent a brief period writing rock criticism for the Yorkshire Evening Post during his studies. After graduation he taught English while fronting the pub-rock outfit Brewer's Droop in the evenings. By 1977 Knopfler was performing alongside his brother David on guitar and his flatmate John Illsley on bass. That summer the three musicians recorded a demo featuring drummer Pick Withers. London DJ Charlie Gillett discovered the tape and began airing “Sultans of Swing” on his BBC program Honky Tonkin'. After supporting Talking Heads on tour, the band entered the studio with producer Muff Winwood for Vertigo Records in early 1978. By summer they had secured a U.S. deal with Warner, issuing their self-titled debut that autumn. Propelled by the Top Ten single “Sultans of Swing,” the album achieved major success on both sides of the Atlantic, with both the track and the LP reaching the Top Ten in Britain and America.

The debut established Dire Straits as a fixture on American album-oriented radio, while the follow-up Communique, released in 1979, solidified their following and moved three million copies worldwide. During sessions for the third album, David Knopfler departed to launch a solo career and was succeeded by former Darling guitarist Hal Lindes. Making Movies matched its predecessor’s strong chart performance in both Britain and America, though critics accused the band of merely marking time. The record nevertheless earned gold certification, buoyed by the radio and MTV successes “Romeo and Juliet” and “Skateaway.” Two years later the group delivered Love Over Gold, an expansive set containing extended experimental passages and the single “Private Investigations,” which peaked at number two in the U.K. The album attained gold status in the United States and topped the British charts for four weeks. Shortly after its release, former Rockpile drummer Terry Williams replaced Withers.

Throughout 1982 Knopfler pursued outside projects, composing the score for Bill Forsyth’s film Local Hero and contributing to Van Morrison’s Beautiful Vision. Apart from the early-1983 Twisting by the Pool EP, Dire Straits remained largely inactive through 1983 and 1984 while Knopfler produced Bob Dylan’s Infidels, worked with Aztec Camera and Willy DeVille, and wrote “Private Dancer” for Tina Turner’s comeback album. In spring 1984 the band issued the double live set Alchemy: Dire Straits Live; by year’s end they had begun tracking their fifth studio album with new keyboardist Guy Fletcher.

Issued in summer 1985, Brothers in Arms marked Dire Straits’ commercial breakthrough and transformed them into international stars. Fueled by the pioneering computer-animated video for “Money for Nothing,” a track that satirized music videos, the album dominated the American charts for nine weeks and sold more than nine million copies; in Britain it became the decade’s biggest-selling release. Follow-up singles “Walk of Life” and “So Far Away” kept Brothers in Arms charting through 1986, and the band played over two hundred concerts in support. Once the tour concluded, Dire Straits entered an extended hiatus during which Knopfler produced albums for Randy Newman and Joan Armatrading, scored films, toured with Eric Clapton, and recorded the duet project Neck and Neck with Chet Atkins in 1990. In 1989 he assembled the country-rock supergroup Notting Hillbillies, whose only album, Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time, reached the British charts upon its spring 1990 release. During the break John Illsley also completed his second solo record, following his 1984 debut.

Knopfler reassembled Dire Straits in 1990 with Illsley, Williams, Fletcher, and assorted session players. The resulting album, On Every Street, appeared in autumn 1991 amid high expectations yet underperformed, achieving only platinum certification in America, missing the U.K. Top 40, and failing to yield a hit single. The accompanying tour likewise faltered, with substantial numbers of unsold tickets in both the United States and Europe. After the dates ended, the live album On the Night surfaced in spring 1993, after which the band again entered hiatus. Knopfler inaugurated his solo career with Golden Heart in 1996.