January 31, , PM. News: - Make sure you know the Forum Rules and Guidelines. Why the biggest-selling British rock band of the 80s deserve to be rescued from the dustbin of history. At It was the last time he did so as the singer, guitarist and undisputed leader of Dire Straits. It brought to an end a year journey during which time the band had risen from the pubs and sweaty clubs of London to the very biggest stages in the world.
The simple facts are these: Knopfler formed Dire Straits in London in with his younger brother David on rhythm guitar, John Illsley on bass and Pick Withers on drums. Theirs was no fleeting moment, either, with three more hit records following before they reached their apogee on their fifth studio album, Brothers In Arms. That record was unstoppable from the moment of its release in May It made Dire Straits superstars, but it also warped the popular perception of both Knopfler and his band.
Dire Straits became a byword for a certain sort of safe, homogenised music, and Knopfler was turned into a caricature of the middle-aged rocker, with jacket sleeves rolled up and wearing a headband. What was forgotten in the wake of its stellar success was just how striking and sometimes radical Dire Straits had seemed from their inception.
These were taut mini-dramas of dark depths and dazzling melodic and lyrical flourishes. It would be hard to conjure a less likely rock star than Knopfler. Balding and outwardly taciturn, he seemed born to the role of sideman. Yet his formidable talent was yoked to an iron will.
He drove Dire Straits on, expanding their boundaries right up to the point Brothers In Arms became too all-consuming to contain. In large part it was hushed and melancholy, a sigh rather than a roar. But it was damned by having its signature single explode out of context.
