Mark and you - a small "profiling" project

[tobi777]

1.) 13-14

2.) 1990-1991

3.) I was about 13-14 when I began to develop a certain interest in music and when I heard "Sultans Of Swing" on the radio I was instantly hooked. A few months later OES was released and "Calling Elvis" got a lot of airplay in Germany. I also liked this song (first I thought it was Chris Rea of whom I am a fan as well since "Road To Hell") and one of my friends told me it was a band called Dire Straits.

4.) At that time I didn't play the guitar yet but I was fascinated by his style of playing and the melodies.

5.) Soon after the discovery I convinced my parents to buy the OES album and I got the remaining albums as Christmas and birthday presents. When I started playing the guitar in 1993 Mark was a huge influence (alongside David Gilmour, Tim Renwick etc.) - and remains until today.

It still makes me sad to have missed the OES tour  although I think some of the arrangements were a bit corny and exaggerated. I also missed the '96 GH tour and the STP-tour. The former I simply failed to notice (no Internet at that time and bad marketing in the ticket shops) and the latter was sold out very quickly. I had tickets for the Ragpicker-tour but then there was Mark's accident. At last, in 2005 I was able to attend a concert, and then again in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013 and now today 

I have every solo album but don't like all of them. GH was good, STP was perhaps his best album ever, RPD, SL  and KTGC were nothing to write home about, GL is my favourite album after STP, PRIV was okay but not great and Tracker? Well, for me it is the worst album he has ever released. I understand Mark wants to be regarded as a songwriter primarily and is fed up with this guitar hero stuff but I cannot see that these "new" songs are in any way better than the old songs - neither from a guitarist's perspective and nor from a songwriter's perspective.

I therefore have to admit that I am looking forward to this concert with mixed emotions. When I look back I noticed a steady decline regarding Mark's guitar skills. I also liked his guitar sound better in the earlier days. His signature Strat may be an excellent guitar but the Texas Specials in combination with his amps he uses nowadays sound too rough and scratchy to my ears. I really dig the sound of his Pensa Suhr during the OES or GH tour or his red Schecter on "Going Home". Of course, I'd love to hear "Tunnel Of Love" (my all time favourite) or a few solo songs he never performed live but this is not realistic.

The concerts in 2010, 2011 and 2013 were a bit disappointing in terms of setlists, sound quality and playing so this is not an event I really have been looking forward to with great anticipation for months. It's rather like: Oh, today is the day. Nice. Let's see. I go to MK concerts out of habit like I go to Chris Rea concerts (even more static setlists  ) and because there are not too many musicians left I'd like to see live.

[Ar (aka Enlight)]

Nice story Enlight, sorry to hear your mum passed away way too young.

Thank you Ingrid,appreciated 
once in a while i still wonder....what if she hadn't called me??   


Nice to read all these stories

[Marijo58]

Nice story Enlight, sorry to hear your mum passed away way too young.

Agree with you Ingrid!!! Sorry Enlight that you lost your Mom so young!!!

[Ar (aka Enlight)]

Nice story Enlight, sorry to hear your mum passed away way too young.

Agree with you Ingrid!!! Sorry Enlight that you lost your Mom so young!!!

Thanks for your warm thoughts Marijo58 
She was a part of me becoming a fan if you look at it..... , otherwise i wouldn't have mentioned her .
i am sure she would have loved a bunch of people here.

[Marijo58]

Nice story Enlight, sorry to hear your mum passed away way too young.

Agree with you Ingrid!!! Sorry Enlight that you lost your Mom so young!!!

Thanks for your warm thoughts Marijo58 
She was a part of me becoming a fan if you look at it..... , otherwise i wouldn't have mentioned her .
i am sure she would have loved a bunch of people here.

You are welcome Enlight!! And I'm sure we would have loved her back!!! As we all remember so well when we heard DS/MK for the first time, I surely think that their music was very important to her as it is for us!!! 

[Ar (aka Enlight)]

Nice story Enlight, sorry to hear your mum passed away way too young.

Agree with you Ingrid!!! Sorry Enlight that you lost your Mom so young!!!

Thanks for your warm thoughts Marijo58 
She was a part of me becoming a fan if you look at it..... , otherwise i wouldn't have mentioned her .
i am sure she would have loved a bunch of people here.

You are welcome Enlight!! And I'm sure we would have loved her back!!! As we all remember so well when we heard DS/MK for the first time, I surely think that their music was very important to her as it is for us!!! 

 

[Lis]

I am also sorry to hear about your mom's passing.  I am so glad she introduced you to MK, and that you have wonderful memories layered into Mark's music. 

[Lis]

1) I was 15 years old. 

2) 1979

3) Heard DS play Sultans of Swing on the radio - and loved it from the first listen!!!

4a) 1979: Sultans of Swing  -- the song, the sound, the guitar.
4b) 1980: I absolutely fell in love with Making Movies - the passion, the emotion.
...lost touch for a few years...
4c) 2010 (possibly 2011?): Mark was a guest on The Mark & Brian Radio Show (a morning show).  It was a fun interview; he was intriguing and I was so curious to "catch-up" on what I missed out on.  I had 30 years of catching-up    Definitely, it was "The whole package".

5) Not sure why I had 30 years of a musical desert going on, but here's my best guess...  As much as I loved DS, I think I was turned off by the band having lost original members.  At that time in my life, I had a little less respect for hired hands, and I wanted to believe that a true "band" consisted of original members 
Fast-forward to 2010, and I immediately fell in love with MK's sound (blues, rock, folk) -- and his songwriting, singing, style, looks, um... just about everything.

[Ar (aka Enlight)]

I am also sorry to hear about your mom's passing.  I am so glad she introduced you to MK, and that you have wonderful memories layered into Mark's music.

when i wrote this little profile i didn't want to be "pathetic" in anyway, but i also didn't expect that these lovely notes would pop up and  give me such a  warm feeling. 

[Lis]

Not pathetic at all -- it's great to hear people's back-stories of how they came to love Mark's music.   

[MK-47]

1) I was 20 years old.

2) 2013

3) I was in a bar with a friend and Sultans of Swing started playing. We talked about Dire Straits and he recommended Single Handed Sailor to me, after that there was no going back 

4) The thing that got me hooked on DS at first was the guitar playing ofc. But after digging deeper into the song catalogue I realized that the man is one of the greatest songwriters ever. The only thing that slightly bothered me was Knopfler's voice but I got used to it (maybe one day the same will happen with Dylan haha). So I guess it's the whole package for me although I really dislike his singing sometimes.

5) My current relationship with DS/MK could be described as a slight obsession. Every spare minute of the day is spent on combing through the albums, bootlegs, concert videos and interviews. I think that in the last two years there hasn't been a day on which I haven't listened to some DS/MK. I started playing the guitar because of Knopfler and for that I'm really gratefull to him.

[Elise]

1) 13

2) 2008

3) My brother sent me a file of Walk of Life. Was smitten since then.

4) The lyrics in combination with the guitarwork. His emotions in the performances. I can relate to so many lyrics, I guess that is it. And him as a person.

5) Everyday before I go to sleep I listen to Brothers in Arms. My music in the car is always DS or MK. Looking at videos of the old DS-days almost everyday. Slight obsession here

[MK-47]

5) Everyday before I go to sleep I listen to Brothers in Arms. My muhttp://www.amarkintime.org/forum/Smileys/classic/smiley.gifsic in the car is always DS or MK. Looking at videos of the old DS-days almost everyday. Slight obsession here

I know the feeling. Not a day goes by without me looking some old DS video or playing some of Knopfler's music.

Said in many interviews: (read in Knopfler's voice) "I guess you have to be slightly obsessed." 

[Elise]

5) Everyday before I go to sleep I listen to Brothers in Arms. My muhttp://www.amarkintime.org/forum/Smileys/classic/smiley.gifsic in the car is always DS or MK. Looking at videos of the old DS-days almost everyday. Slight obsession here

I know the feeling. Not a day goes by without me looking some old DS video or playing some of Knopfler's music.

Said in many interviews: (read in Knopfler's voice) "I guess you have to be slightly obsessed." 

It is a very good obsession though and luckily I am not the only one. Mark's music deserves to be an obsession

[vgonis]

1) How old were you when you discovered Mark (also includes discovering Dire Straits as many people might not have known who Mark was at the time)?
2) In which year did you discover Mark (and/or DS)?
3) How were you introduced to Mark and his music?

It was 1989 and I was 13. We didn't have a TV in the house and radio stations in Greece were quite limited at the time. I was into heavy metal and a friend of mine gave me a tape of MFN, that his older brother just bought, telling me :"Listen to this guitar " I listened and I was stunned. Many of the songs sounded familiar, so I probably have heard them through the years, but wasn't in the position to appreciate. But by then I had started buying records, so in a way controlling what I wanted to hear and not listening random songs on the radio. I saved a months allowance and sold a Madonna and Michael Jackson tape to get the MFN compilation on vinyl. (together with Def Leppard's Pyromania)

4) What did you find so appealing about Mark and/or Dire Straits?

It was surely the whole "story telling" feeling that his songs radiated, even more than his guitar. Of course it was the superb and unique guitar sound. And it was his voice, as well.

5) Briefly sum up your "history" and current relationship with Mark and/or Dire Straits.

Totally hooked up, despite the fact that the last 20 years, I listen to a wide variety of music, much more than DS/MK. I have the mild collectors bug, and that probably makes me stick even if I don't like some of his work.  Adore his DS output, up until OES. Followed his solo career and some of his solo albums are favorites (TRD, SL, STP) some are good, while others are just nice to listen because of the familiar voice and guitar sound.