money for nothing dire straits album cover

The younger Knopfler therefore wasn't part of the band's biggest success when in 1985, Dire Straits landed at the top of the album charts worldwide with their fifth album, Brothers in Arms. Mark's younger brother David left the band after the second album because he felt Mark was too dominant. The Dire Straits' fifth album, 'Brothers in Arms,' was a huge success

Read more: Sting's 'musical hard drive': Guitarist Dominic Miller on his new album Their 1978 debut album, Dire Straits, was an international success, establishing the band's trademark sound marked by the frontman's unique fingerpicking and a laconic singing style unmistakably influenced by Bob Dylan. In the documentary Mark Knopfler: Guitar Stories, Knopfler and Dire Straits bassist John Illsley discuss guitars recall how they had missed that live broadcast because they were helping someone move. The record companies showed no interest until legendary radio DJ Charlie Gillett played a Dire Straits demo tape in his Honky Tonk BBC show, a track called 'Sultans of Swing.' Even before the last bar had been played, several record labels called the station to find out who had written the song. The band name referred to its members' initial financial situation. While he was a student, Knopfler worked first as a reporter and farm hand and later as an English teacher, until he founded Dire Straits with his younger brother David in 1977. His uncle's piano playing sparked his passion for music, and his parents gave him his first guitar. His mother was a teacher, his father was a Hungarian architect who had fled his country in 1939 because he was close to the Communists. The successful British band Dire Straits' frontman, who now turns 70, finds looking back as unpleasant as life in the limelight. Nostalgia is not guitarist Mark Knopfler's strong suit.

Money for nothing dire straits album cover