“I had an absolute ball”: why did Mark Knopfler put an end to Dire Straits?
Is it better to be loved for who you are or loved for what you do? As much as people love to develop parasocial relationships with their favourite artists, there are just as many who will drop their favourites at the drop of a coin the minute that they say something that they don’t like or when the well of hits dries up. Dire Straits were never meant to be the pinup boys of rock and roll anyway, though, and Mark Knopfler had had enough by the time the band called it a day in the early 1990s.
When they first started to gain traction with songs like ‘Sultans of Swing’, they seemed one of the least likely bands ever to reach the spotlight. In an age when the glam rock movement was starting to gain traction and punk was on the horizon, Knopfler’s outfit felt like the kind of group you would hear when ducking into your local pub late at night with nothing better to do.
They did have one ace up their sleeve, though: they could play their asses off. Even without using a pick, Knopfler was developing his trademark style of guitar playing by approaching the guitar almost like a bluegrass player might, which brought a more personal touch to the way he played.
Knopfler may have thought of himself as the kind of artist who could make chart-toppers, but there was no way that he wanted to be a part of the rock and roll Tinseltown. Even though they notched up hits like ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Money For Nothing’, they were not meant to be a commercial band.
If you looked at the way they played in their first videos, it was either through live footage or computer graphics that they even got seen. Considering he had to play gigs around the world and still find time to put on a happy face, Knopfler preferred to fade into the background of rock history.
By the time he called it quits in 1993, Knopfler said he felt tired of moving on, not wanting to commit to another tour, and having to play the game of being treated like a piece of meat that got fans screaming. Since he had already built up a decent second career working for legends like Tina Turner and Bob Dylan, Knopfler would have continued on in his solo career had there not been more demand for shows.
Although Knopfler still held the group’s swan song On Every Street in high esteem, he felt he was becoming too disassociated from that band mentality, telling The Independent, “I had an absolute ball for as long as it lasted until it got so big that I didn’t know the names of all the roadies, it was just getting big.”
Despite all of the money in the world that it would probably take for the outfit to reform, Knopfler felt that he was much more suited to playing his guitar in the background and adding texture rather than putting on the headband one more time and strutting his stuff across the stage. While bassist John Illsley has asked Knopfler if he wants to reform the group, the band that gave the world ‘Walk of Life’ feels like it’s in a completely different century these days.
