Dire Straits

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Dire Straits
The band's concert in Norway in October 1985
The band's concert in Norway in October 1985
General information
Genre (s) Rock , blues rock , roots rock
founding 1977
resolution 1995 (unofficial)
Founding members
Mark Knopfler
guitar
David Knopfler (until 1980)
John Illsley
Pick Withers (until 1982)
Last occupation
Vocals, guitar
Mark Knopfler
John Illsley
Alan Clark (from 1980)
Keyboard
Guy Fletcher (from 1984)
former members
guitar
Hal Lindes (1980-1984)
Drums
Terry Williams (1982-1988)
guitar
Jack Sonni (1985-1986)
Drums
Omar Hakim (1985)
Live members
Mel Collins ( Alchemy 1984)
saxophone
Chris White (from 1984)
guitar
Phil Palmer (from 1990)
Drums
Chris Whitten (from 1990)
Danny Cummings (from 1990)
Paul Franklin (from 1990)

The Dire Straits (German: Serious Difficulties ) were a British rock band that was active from 1977 to 1995. Founding members were Mark Knopfler and his younger brother David Knopfler as well as John Illsley and Pick Withers . The band with songwriter Mark Knopfler has sold 120 million albums, making them one of the most successful groups in the last few decades.

history

1977–1983: Breakthrough with Sultans of Swing

Dire Straits live in Hamburg, 1978

The group emerged in 1977 from the London band Café Racers. Founding members were the brothers Mark and David Knopfler as well as John Illsley and Pick Withers . The band name means something like "big bankruptcy" or "serious emergency" and alludes to the financial situation of the members in the early days of the group.

In 1977 the band sent a demo cassette to the BBC . The recordings were often played on the radio, so that record companies became aware of the band. The group received a record deal and management was taken over by Ed Bicknell, who also accompanied Mark Knopfler on his solo path until 2000. Her debut album Dire Straits initially received little attention in Great Britain, it initially went under at the height of the punk wave. In the Netherlands , Germany and later also in the USA , however, the album developed into a success. The album and the decoupled singles Down to the Waterline and especially Sultans of Swing focused on Mark Knopfler as a singer, composer and above all as a guitarist.

After the second album Communiqué (1979) with songs like Once Upon a Time in the West or Lady Writer , the final breakthrough came in 1980 with the third album Making Movies . The single Romeo and Juliet reached number 8 on the British hit list in 1981 . During the recording of this album, guitarist David Knopfler left the band because he was increasingly hostile to the dominant role of his brother and felt musically restricted. He also wanted to make his own contributions, but was not heard in the group. He was replaced by the American Hal Lindes. In addition, the keyboardist Alan Clark, who like Knopfler comes from Newcastle upon Tyne , was brought into the band as a permanent member for the following tour .

The band achieved a further increase in record sales in 1982 with the album Love over Gold and the single Private Investigations . After the recording of Love over Gold , the drummer Pick Withers left the band; he was replaced by rock and roll drummer Terry Williams . The live album Alchemy, recorded in 1983 with Williams at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, cemented the Dire Straits' status as a live band.

1984–1993: climax with Brothers in Arms

Mark Knopfler

Hal Lindes left the band in 1984 and was replaced by Jack Sonni in early 1985. After a break, the album Brothers in Arms was released in May 1985 , which the band had recorded on the island of Montserrat . It was one of the first albums by an internationally successful band that was produced digitally and thus contributed to the breakthrough of the compact disc (CD) and the replacement of the vinyl record. The second keyboardist Guy Fletcher joined them during the recording . In keeping with the new CD medium, the record was released in two versions (the CD is a good ten minutes longer than the LP). Philips and Sony even included a Brothers-in-Arms CD for a few months when they bought a CD player .

The singles So Far Away , Money for Nothing , Walk of Life and the title song secured the band millions of album sales and top 10 single successes by the end of 1986. In July 1985, the Dire Straits could also be heard at the Live Aid concert at London's Wembley Stadium with Money for Nothing (with the support of Sting ) and Sultans of Swing . After an extensive tour, on which they received reinforcement from saxophonist Chris White, the band initially disappeared from the scene. In mid-1987, the British music magazine New Musical Express reported that the group had disbanded, which was not denied.

In June 1988 the band reported back on the occasion of Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday . As the main act they played at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Concert for almost an hour at Wembley Stadium - together with Eric Clapton ( Walk of Life , Sultans of Swing , Romeo and Juliet , Money for Nothing , Brothers in Arms , Wonderful Tonight , Solid rock ).

From the fall of 1990 to mid-1991, Knopfler, Illsley, Fletcher and Clark recorded their sixth and final studio album, On Every Street , with studio musicians , which was released in September 1991. The singles Calling Elvis and Heavy Fuel were less successful compared to the hits by Brothers in Arms , but the album sold well. The following world tour with the cast Knopfler, Illsley, Fletcher, Clark, expanded by the saxophonist Chris White, the second guitarist Phil Palmer, the drummer Chris Whitten, the percussionist Danny Cummings and the pedal steel guitarist Paul Franklin was well attended. It lasted 14 months and consisted of about 300 concerts. In October 1992 Knopfler mixed the live album On the Night from two concerts in France and the Netherlands. From then on, Mark Knopfler devoted himself to his solo career with musicians from the Nashville scene and his bandmate Guy Fletcher.

Since 1995: inactivity

In 1995 Mark Knopfler expressed the wish not to go on tour around the world anymore. From then on there were no more public concerts in Dire Straits. On June 19, 1999, Mark Knopfler, John Illsley, Alan Clark and Guy Fletcher, reinforced by Ed Bicknell on drums, appeared as a band for the last time at John Illsley's wedding.

In October 2008 John Illsley told the British broadcaster BBC that he was interested in a reunification tour with Dire Straits. At the same time, however, he also mentioned that due to his great success as a solo artist, Mark Knopfler was no longer interested. Indeed, Knopfler declined a request to this effect from Illsley. In early 2011, former Dire Straits keyboardist Alan Clark and other former members such as Phil Palmer founded the band The Straits, which split up in September 2014.

Mark Knopfler has repeatedly ruled out a reunion of the Dire Straits. In December 2017, Dire Straits were honored with the induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . The official event took place on April 14, 2018. Knopfler did not take part in the ceremony.

style

Characteristic for the Dire Straits are albums with comparatively few but long songs. These are also described as ballads , but above all they stand out due to the skillful handling of the instruments, especially the guitars. This is where Mark Knopfler's cantilever melody design stands out, eliciting a particularly soft and singing tone from his guitar with solos and / or instrumental introductions. Many songs start with a very long intro , the vocals often start relatively late. In contrast to popular music , there is often no consistent structure with clear repetitions and refrains. Instead, many songs are designed for a climax and end with a longer outro , which in part represents another climax itself. Examples are the song Telegraph Road , which appeared in a 14-minute studio version on the album Love over Gold , Where Do You Think You're Going from the album Communiqué , Tunnel of Love from the album Making Movies or On Every Street from the album of the same name .

Memberships in the band (1977 to 1995)

Discography

Studio albums

year Title
music label
Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placementsTemplate: chart table / maintenance / without sourcesTemplate: chart table / maintenance / monthly data
(Year, title, music label , rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1978 Dire Straits
Vertigo Records
DE3
platinum
platinum

(85 weeks)DE
AT17th
gold
gold

(6 months)AT
CH-
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum
CH
UK5
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(132 weeks)UK
US2
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(41 weeks)US
First published: June 9, 1978
Sales: + 4,450,000
1979 Vertigo Records communiqué
DE1
platinum
platinum

(45 weeks)DE
AT7th
gold
gold

(4½ months)AT
CH-
Triple platinum
× 3
Triple platinum
CH
UK5
platinum
platinum

(32 weeks)UK
US11
gold
gold

(19 weeks)US
First published: June 15, 1979
Sales: + 2,355,000
1980 Making Movies
Vertigo Records
DE7th
gold
gold

(51 weeks)DE
AT15 (1 month)
AT
CH-
gold
gold
CH
UK4th
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(252 weeks)UK
US19th
platinum
platinum

(31 weeks)US
First published:
Oct 17, 1980 Sales: + 2,660,000
1982 Love over Gold
Vertigo Records
DE4th
platinum
platinum

(42 weeks)DE
AT1
platinum
platinum

(6½ months)AT
- UK1
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(200 weeks)UK
US19th
gold
gold

(32 weeks)US
First published: September 20, 1982
Sales: + 2,685,500
1985 Brothers in Arms
Vertigo Records
DE1
platinum
platinum

(131 weeks)DE
AT1
Quadruple platinum
× 4
Quadruple platinum

(82 weeks)AT
CH1
diamond
diamond

(75 weeks)CH
UK1
14 times platinum
× 14
14 times platinum

(271 weeks)UK
US1
Nine-fold platinum
× 9
Nine-fold platinum

(97 weeks)US
First published: May 14, 1985
Sales: + 30,000,000
1991 On Every Street
Vertigo Records
DE1
platinum
platinum

(37 weeks)DE
AT1
platinum
platinum

(21 weeks)AT
CH1
Quadruple platinum
× 4
Quadruple platinum

(25 weeks)CH
UK1
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(36 weeks)UK
US12
platinum
platinum

(32 weeks)US
First published: September 2, 1991
Sales: + 15,000,000

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Web links

Commons : Dire Straits  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Dirk Müller: Contribution. Retrieved July 16, 2020 .
  2. Patrick Cooke: Updated - Mark Knopfler arrives - to sing solo and Straits tonight. Times of Malta, June 17, 2013, accessed December 19, 2016 .
  3. http://www.markknopfler.com/about/timeline/
  4. ^ Peter Buckley: The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides, 2003, ISBN 978-1-843-53105-0 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  5. ^ The Straits
  6. Your official Rock Hall class of 2018 roster. Hall of Fame website, accessed December 14, 2017
  7. Mark Knopfler hurt in crash. ( Memento of April 1, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) news.bbc.co.uk, March 18, 2003, accessed on March 23, 2020 (English).
  8. Jonathan Wingate: John Illsley: Strait from the Art. ( Memento from July 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) performing-musician.com, November 2008, accessed on March 23, 2020 (English).