During the era of 70s rock, Dire Straits music was old school, toned down rock and roll. Dire Straits hailed from England, started in 1977 by Mark Knopfler and his brother David Knopfler, along with John Illsley and Pick Withers. They were managed by their friend Ed Bicknell. The band became popular due to their simplistic sound, getting back to the fundamentals of rock and roll after of the excessive style of rock in the 1970s. Mark was known to ask the pub to turn their music down so people could converse, in the band’s early days. In spite of their aversion to pop culture Dire Straits became one of the most successful bands of the 1980s.

Mark and company recorded their first self titled album in 1978. Dire Straits was initially met with little enthusiasm; however five months after they released the single “Sultans of Swing” Dire Straits became a hit on the charts. Their album sales skyrocketed. The band’s second work, an album called Communique was released shortly after this. The first two albums of Dire Strait’s music highlighted the band’s toned down sound. Dire Strait’s third release, the album Making Movies included a new keyboardist named Roy Bittan who had plaid with Bruce Springsteen. In 1985 Dire Straits released the Brothers in Arms album; this album was an instant hit and produced several singles. Money for Nothing became a number one hit and was the first music video shown in England by MTV.

Adding to Dire Strait’s success was the fact that the Brothers in Arms album was the first CD that was recorded fully digitally. Brothers in Arms was a “must have” album for people with brand new, shiny Compact Disc players. This along with an appearance at the Live Aid concert, a charity event for hunger, helped Dire Straits become one of the best selling bands of that decade. The band’s popularity swelled beyond the United States and the United Kingdom; Mark Knopfler enjoys immense popularity still today in countries from South Africa to India. Dire Straits remains one of the most well known bands throughout the world.

The band had no major releases after Brothers in Arm until 1991 when they released the album On Every Street. This was the band’s final studio release and featured Vince Gill on the album. Vince Gill had done backup vocal work on several of Dire Strait’s albums but declined joining the band. After this album Mark Knopfler began to work on his solo projects include film soundtracks. Dire Straits broke up in 1995 when all the other band members decided to start solo projects of their own.