The Dire Straits chords |
Songs in Mine:
| 23 |
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No of Chords:
| 38 |
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| Most popular chords: | G, A, D, C, Dm |
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Chord Types used:
| 7 |
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| Most popular chord types: | Maj, m, 7, m7, 13 |
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Sub-Styles:
Album Rock, Pop-Rock | Links:
Artist Info, Learn to play rock guitar | 
Artwork courtesy of http://www.music-atlas.com | | Biography: | | Few groups can claim to be synonymous with a lifestyle, but Dire Straits are an exception, whether they like it or not. Brothers In Arms, released in 1985, established them as the first real darlings of the compact disc
20-something generation that grew out of the boom years of the 80s. Their accessible, traditional blues-based music made them perfect for the massive, mature, relatively wealthy strata of the public that likes its music tightly performed and readily digestible. The album was number 1 in the US charts for nine weeks and spent three years in the UK chart.
Surprisingly, Dire Straits first surfaced during a period that was the antipathy of what they were to become - the London punk scene of 1976/7. Mark Knopfler (b. 12 August 1949, Glasgow, Scotland) and his brother David Knopfler (b. 27 December 1952, Glasgow, Scotland) were the sons of an architect who moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, when the boys were young. Mark Knopfler studied English literature at Leeds University, and for a short while worked as a junior reporter with the Yorkshire Evening Post and with an Essex local newspaper. After university he played in a part-time pub band called Brewer's Droop but his main income was drawn from teaching. The Knopflers moved to London during the early 70s and Mark met bass player John Illsley (b. 24 June 1949, Leicester, England) and drummer Pick Withers. Illsley, a sociology graduate, was working in a record shop and Withers had been a session drummer for many years. The climate was not right for the group as punk took a grip on music and almost every UK record label passed on the offer to press up Dire Straits' polished music. One song began to stand out from their repertoire, a basic blues progression with dry, affectionate lyrics, entitled "Sultans Of Swing", it contained the line "check out guitar George, he knows all the chords", allegedly referring to jobbing guitarist George Borowski. It was picked up by Radio London DJ and Oval Records proprietor, Charlie Gillett, and by the end of 1977 the group were recording their debut, Dire Straits, for Vertigo Records with producer Muff Winwood. "Sultans Of Swing" was a hit first in Holland and later made the UK Top 10. The powerful Warner Brothers Records took over distribution in the USA and aggressively backed the album until in March 1979 it had reached number 2 in the Billboard chart. Their second single, "Lady Writer", was a relative failure but it did not impair their attraction as an "albums band". Communique, produced by Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett, sold three million copies worldwide. It missed the commercial edge of the debut but developed Knopfler's trademark incisive, cynical lyricism.
Before the recording of Making Movies, David Knopfler opted out to begin a solo career and has since released several records with various small independent labels. He was replaced by Hal Lindes (b. 30 June 1953; ex-Darling), with Alan Clark (b. 5 March 1952) joining on keyboards at the same time. Knopfler was heavily criticized for not varying his songwriting formula but the album still spawned a UK Top 10 single with the poignant love ballad, "Romeo And Juliet". Love Over Gold fared better than its predecessor in the USA and the single from it, "Private Investigations", reached number 2 …
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