Dire Straits 45th Anniversary- Mark Knopfler
The debut of the first Dire Straits album is indelibly etched in my memory as the “alternative to the alternative” that Autumn 1978. While the likes of the Sex Pistols, Ramones, and Elvis Costello stole the headlines away from rock’s Establishment then, thirty-ish college English professor Mark Knopler, living on rice and beans in Detford near the Thames River docks in London, was channeling American Dixieland and boogie woogie, distilled through his Uncle Kingsley, into a sound truly unique.
“It had to be electric, and it had to be red”, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Mark Knopfler tells Redbeard about his very first guitar in this week’s classic rock interview, focusing on the debut Dire Straits June 1978 release. Knopfler then proceeds to tell, in detail that betrays his English literature professor day job which he held before committing full time to his South London-based band of starving musicians, how as a boy he became enamored with New Orleans boogie woogie courtesy of his Uncle Kingsley. “Actually I first started on tennis racquets,” Knopfler sheepishly admits to mime-ing air guitar long before discovering American country blues after seeing Steve Phillips perform (they would later team up as the Notting Hillbillies when Knopfler retired the Dire Straits franchise).
