Was Mark Knopfler bullied?

[WaterofLove]

In the BBC-interview with Mark Lawson he talks a bit about that being picked on makes you a more observing person, a person who asks questions instead of just accepting. Did he have problems fitting in like Bruce Springsteen, Keith Richards and many others?

[the visitor]

Interesting question to which I hope the answer is no.

However I read an interview somewhere with a guy called Adrian Sherwood of the On U Sound label who had some involvement in Brewers Droop which does confirm he did suffer the attentions of some idiots -

"o Ron had a band called Brewers Droop, in which he was the lead singer! At one stage Mark Knopfler was his little guitarist. We used to throw things at him cos we thought he was an idiot."

http://www.djhistory.com/interviews/adrian-sherwood

They were probably jealous of his abilities...

[ds1984]

Interesting because Dave Pask was not that much impressed at the time Mark played in The Café Racers, actually he was once Mark had quit and found out how great he was because it was way difficult to find a replacement for him.

[11-54_Stringcheese]

Interesting question to which I hope the answer is no.

However I read an interview somewhere with a guy called Adrian Sherwood of the On U Sound label who had some involvement in Brewers Droop which does confirm he did suffer the attentions of some idiots -

"o Ron had a band called Brewers Droop, in which he was the lead singer! At one stage Mark Knopfler was his little guitarist. We used to throw things at him cos we thought he was an idiot."

http://www.djhistory.com/interviews/adrian-sherwood

They were probably jealous of his abilities...

The whole question and answer reads like this:

I wanted to ask you about punk. You worked with a lot of the interesting people that came out of punk and I’m wondering if the music itself had any impact on you at all?
The interesting thing about punk is Pete Stroud and I lived in High Wycombe and a mate of ours who ran the non-black things was called Ron Watts. Ron became our partner as well. As well as doing local promotions Ron did Uxbridge University and he also promoted Tuesday nights at the 100 Club. So Pete would finish work and he’d go home and drive Ron (because Ron was a bit of a pisshead). Also Ron had a band called Brewers Droop, in which he was the lead singer! At one stage Mark Knopfler was his little guitarist. We used to throw things at him cos we thought he was an idiot. [Adrian’s mum wanders in] Hello mum. Mum knows all this. She’s a personal friend of Prince Far I, my mum.

Could it be that "he" in "we thought he was an idiot" refers to Ron Watts, not Mark Knopfler? Technically no, but considering the whole paragraph and the fact that he referds to Ron Watts as a "pisshead", I have a feeling it's rather him they thought were an idiot, not Mark.

[WaterofLove]

It does seem like it is not Mark he is referring to. But have anyone seen the interview with Mark Lawson? I think the way he talks about being different and picked on is heartfelt in a way, like it is from his own experiences

[Justme]

Somehow I feel inclined to think that it wasn't easy with his quite exotic surname up north in the sixties. I remember him talking in an interview about getting into fights as a kid. But even in todays world this still does seem to be a regular thing for boys.

[Ingo]

"o Ron had a band called Brewers Droop, in which he was the lead singer! At one stage Mark Knopfler was his little guitarist. We used to throw things at him cos we thought he was an idiot."

http://www.djhistory.com/interviews/adrian-sherwood

They were probably jealous of his abilities...

Didn't they want him to be in their band as he was obviously on a much higher level than they at the time? I think they called him silverfinger or such.

I can imagine however that they were more into having fun, drinking beer, making noise,... , in contrast to the silent, more academic Mark who was into literature, or musical perfection.

[ds1984]

But at the time of Café Racers I think Mark still had a daytime job.