“A big turning point”: The three guitarists who shaped Mark Knopfler into a genius
Mark Knopfler was a unique force in the 1970s. Emerging as an unexpected presence during a strange in-between era without any major explosive acts leading the way, Dire Straits managed to popularise sounds that many deemed long lost, bringing them back to the fore with a new fervour that encouraged the embracement of old meets new.
While it’s easy to forget such an early explosion today, Dire Straits also entered their space with an energy that’s not to easy to discover in today’s landscape, with ‘Sultans of Swing’ commanding the spotlight with unmistakeable familiarity despite emerging from a band that had yet to prove themselves as one in it for the long hail. Others, too, like ‘Walk Of Life’ and ‘Lady Writer’, immediately evoked the same pull, the kind that only enhanced with repeated listens.
From the start, Knopfler’s inherent intuition was a major driving force, which helped enhance the music and give it an edge of inexplicable authenticity. Among these unparalleled traits was also the acknowledgement that inspiration could appear at any time under any circumstance, planting seeds of sonic ideas that would eventually become timeless anthems, much like how ‘Walk of Life’ came to be.
Growing up, Knopfler also learned many of his guitar charms from the best, drawing from various distinctive guitar heroes to shape his own approach and mindset when it came to supercharging the instrument’s full potential. However, unlike many of his peers, Knopfler was also privy to the diversity of the sounds he heard and loved, knowing that many players, whether in jazz or rock, picked and pulled from each other more often than not.
“They’re all so different,” he once said while discussing some of his favourite guitarists, his statement carrying a subtle undertone that reflected his broader understanding of how those differences often stem from similar roots before branching off into more distinctive sounds. While he also centred his line of thinking around the obvious names, including Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton, he elsewhere discussed the importance of three other key figures—BB King, Lonnie Johnson, and Eddie Lang.
In a strange way, these three names were each a crucial discovery in Knopfler’s understanding of how different guitar players learn from one another, building on the groundwork others had established before to reach new levels of excellence. In this scenario, BB King was the first player Knopfler became endeared to as a teenager, only learning later that he had been inspired by the two other heroes.
“When I heard BB King, at age 16, that was another big turning point, because I was really struck with the relationship between the guitar and the voice and the whole bending thing, the way it sounded,” he explained, adding: “Later, when I was 20 or 21, I remember hearing Lonnie Johnson with Eddie Lang – the Blue Guitars album. Then I realised that there was a connection, and I read an interview with BB King saying that Lonnie Johnson had been a big influence on him. It’s great to make these little connections and see how they do line up.”
In many ways, this also alludes to a similar foundation that ensured Dire Straits always held appeal. Not only did they approach music uniquely and authentically, but they also adopted Knopfler’s knowledge of what made others so great in the first place. After all, great music isn’t always about basic originality; it’s about how musicians repurpose well-done tropes as their own, honouring with freshness without appearing as a poor imitation.
