Why Dire Straits should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

As we know, Dire Straits has been nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class of 2018. Despite being eligible since 2003, this is the first time they’ve made the shortlist. If they have lucky, they will be inducted next year.

When in the spring of 1978 they released their debut single, “Sultans of Swing”, it sounded like there is nothing else on the radio at the time. Mark Knopfler have special own style of playing guitar, his tone is clean and powerful at the same time for the ears.

Mark Knopfler just saved the sound of the standard Rock N’ Roll from that time, and he just implicate that style into his music. In 1977 when Dire Straits was formed, they employed elements of the British pub, rock scene from the early 70’s, folk, blues and folk-rock same as Bob Dylan and other bands and artists at the time.

In the era of punk music, they were almost a throwback to a previous generation and at the same time, they sounded positively fresh and unique. All these factors made band to stand out and immediately, people took notice on that. Then, “Sultans of Swing” started to touch top charts in the US and all around the world. The same hit status would apply to their self-titled debut album, which hit double-platinum status.

In the end, with every new album Dire Straits expanded their sound. There were many albums like Making Movies, Love Over Gold, and then the band bust into their mega success in 1985 with their fifth studio album Brothers in Arms. The album’s first song – “Money for Nothing” picked the number 1 at many countries, and the video for the song become one of the most successful videos of that era.

Brothers in Arms was sold in over 30 million copies, but it was also the end of the band. They regrouped again in 1991 for the final album On Every Street. After that, Mark Knopfler was more concentrated on his solo career which includes working with Bob Dylan, Chet Atkins, Emmylou Harris, Randy Newman and others, as well as doing soundtrack work for several films.

Here are five things why Dire Straits should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame:

1. Mark Knopfler’s guitar

In the decade full of guitar heroes, Mark Knopfler was one of the heroes which changed something in the music. With his natural, clean, lyrical tone and fingerpicking style, like David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, Mark was master for the music that he created and make with Dire Straits.

2. Dire Straits was band for people who knows the valuable of music

In 1978, when the first Dire Straits album was released, the radio airwaves were awash from the rock sounds of bands like Boston, Foreigner, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and the sounds of disco music. The underground was vibrating with the sounds of the Ramones, Clash and Elvis Costello. Into that scene, Dire Straits was not fitting in anywhere, and despite that, or maybe because of that, they quickly found themselves at the front of the line, selling records.

3. Their masterpieces

There is no doubt that their debut kicked the door open, and the classic “Sultans of Swing” will live forever as the band’s defining song. It is also true that the mega hit “Money for Nothing” put them on more televisions and radios beyond their wildest dreams. All that being said, the band’s third album, Making Movies, was their true masterpiece. “Tunnel of Love”, “Romeo and Juliet” and “Skateaway” are all massive, epic songs. The band were in top form and, while Knopfler would continue to write great songs, he was at his peak here.

4. “Money for Nothing” & MTV

The slap in the face was to then-new creature known as MTV. Knopfler came up with that song which gave voice to the whole new idea of music videos. The song become a huge radio hit, but the video went on to become one of the most identifiable videos on MTV with its early use of computer animation, ultimately being crowned with “Video of the Year” at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1986.

5. End, at the top of the success!

At the height of their success, Dire Straits ceased to exist, pulling the plug on the band just as it had entered that upper echelon of fame and fortune.

“A lot of press reports were saying we were the biggest band in the world”, said Knopfler for The Rolling Stone in 1988. “There’s not an accent then on the music, there’s an accent on popularity. I need a rest.”

It takes guts to pull the plug on something so big and so deeply entrenched in the music business, but Knopfler pulled that plug and never has looked back.