Which of MK´s (or DS) musicians is most successful in terms of sales

[Jules]

We are talking about most succesful in terms of sales, not the ones we like the most.

[MagicElliott]

John and Mike are very big and well known in the folk scene. John’s ex-wife, Kate Rusby, is very successful and probably helped launch his career a bit.

[benlitmaath]

I don't know man. My mum says all Mark's songs sounds the same, I guess it just your prefrence.

This is in my opinion (and absolutely no offense to your mum, Pavel) something someone with little knowledge of the artist would say.
I don't know your mum's musical knowledge of MK, ofcourse. So please correct me if i'm wrong.

But take my 2 nephews for instance,

One listens to The Beatles and The Traveling Wilburys
And the other one listens, almost exclusively, to Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Dominos etc.

When asked about their opinion on MK and DS they say: It sounds all the same, it's too slow and long and therefore it's boring to me

I bet you if i asked them they could barely name me 5 DS songs and maybe 1 MK solo song.

The songs they know are TR, SOS, WOF, MFN. The "mega" hits.

Yes, Telegraph Road is over 14 minutes with 3 guitar solo's. Yes, Brothers In Arms is a slow song. But these are some of the best songs ever written. And then to say the music is all the same and boring? Of course people have a difference in music taste but that, for me atleast, indicates a person with little knowledge of the artist.

Take Mark's "Golden Heart" album. Compare the title track GH and a song like "Darling Pretty". They're on the same album but the songs are so different
Take "Vic And Ray" and "Imelda". Again, same album and completely different songs.

[superval99]

I don't know man. My mum says all Mark's songs sounds the same, I guess it just your prefrence.

This is in my opinion (and absolutely no offense to your mum, Pavel) something someone with little knowledge of the artist would say.
I don't know your mum's musical knowledge of MK, ofcourse. So please correct me if i'm wrong.

But take my 2 nephews for instance,

One listens to The Beatles and The Traveling Wilburys
And the other one listens, almost exclusively, to Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Dominos etc.

When asked about their opinion on MK and DS they say: It sounds all the same, it's too slow and long and therefore it's boring to me

I bet you if i asked them they could barely name me 5 DS songs and maybe 1 MK solo song.

The songs they know are TR, SOS, WOF, MFN. The "mega" hits.

Yes, Telegraph Road is over 14 minutes with 3 guitar solo's. Yes, Brothers In Arms is a slow song. But these are some of the best songs ever written. And then to say the music is all the same and boring? Of course people have a difference in music taste but that, for me atleast, indicates a person with little knowledge of the artist.

Take Mark's "Golden Heart" album. Compare the title track GH and a song like "Darling Pretty". They're on the same album but the songs are so different
Take "Vic And Ray" and "Imelda". Again, same album and completely different songs.

LOL!    Totally agree with your post!   

 A similar thing happened between myself and one of my rather aloof neighbours.   We had just returned home from an MK concert and I was telling him about it.    With this sort of expression  he said that he disliked Dire Straits music, so of course I told him that it wasn't Dire Straits anymore.   I asked him which songs he knew by DS - his reply was that he didn't know any, but that he disliked them anyway!       

[quizzaciously]

I don't know man. My mum says all Mark's songs sounds the same, I guess it just your prefrence.

This is in my opinion (and absolutely no offense to your mum, Pavel) something someone with little knowledge of the artist would say.
I don't know your mum's musical knowledge of MK, ofcourse. So please correct me if i'm wrong.

But take my 2 nephews for instance,

One listens to The Beatles and The Traveling Wilburys
And the other one listens, almost exclusively, to Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Dominos etc.

When asked about their opinion on MK and DS they say: It sounds all the same, it's too slow and long and therefore it's boring to me

I bet you if i asked them they could barely name me 5 DS songs and maybe 1 MK solo song.

The songs they know are TR, SOS, WOF, MFN. The "mega" hits.

Yes, Telegraph Road is over 14 minutes with 3 guitar solo's. Yes, Brothers In Arms is a slow song. But these are some of the best songs ever written. And then to say the music is all the same and boring? Of course people have a difference in music taste but that, for me atleast, indicates a person with little knowledge of the artist.

Take Mark's "Golden Heart" album. Compare the title track GH and a song like "Darling Pretty". They're on the same album but the songs are so different
Take "Vic And Ray" and "Imelda". Again, same album and completely different songs.

LOL!    Totally agree with your post!   

 A similar thing happened between myself and one of my rather aloof neighbours.   We had just returned home from an MK concert and I was telling him about it.    With this sort of expression  he said that he disliked Dire Straits music, so of course I told him that it wasn't Dire Straits anymore.   I asked him which songs he knew by DS - his reply was that he didn't know any, but that he disliked them anyway!       

Well, to be brutally honest, Mark's music is kind of... boring. Don't get me wrong, I love it and am a hardcore get-a-lifer when it comes to MK music, but realistically speaking, and when compared to the likes of Queen, Red Hot Chili Peppers and people like that, Mark's music suddenly seems really boring, slow and yes, sounding almost the same. Especially if you don't know where to look. When people say Mark's music all sounds the same, they have something to compare it with and usually, the comparison is not in MK's favour.

It's just MK fans are people with different priorities it seems, we value soft and quiet music experience with slow and thought-provoking melodies and lyrics with very occasional bursts of true rock. "Darling Pretty" sounds rocky, yes, but it was still sung by Mark's "boring" voice and have that purposefully minimalistic guitar. And play some really slow and quiet MK song to a random guy, and chances are he'll fall asleep.

So I can't blame people who say MK is boring because he really kinda is. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and MK fans seem to don't mind.

[benlitmaath]

LOL!    Totally agree with your post!   

 A similar thing happened between myself and one of my rather aloof neighbours.   We had just returned home from an MK concert and I was telling him about it.    With this sort of expression  he said that he disliked Dire Straits music, so of course I told him that it wasn't Dire Straits anymore.   I asked him which songs he knew by DS - his reply was that he didn't know any, but that he disliked them anyway!       

Exactly, i took my red Strat to the shop one day for a setup and the owner told me he went to an MK concert back in 2013 or 2015. He told me: "If he (MK) ever goes on tour again make sure not to go. It was no fun, he only plays unknown songs".

The songs he probably meant were "Broken Bones" and "Skydiver" etc. I guess he was dissappointed and expected to go see MK for a DS setlist, lol

[Klaus74]

MKs music is boring.??
It is such a harsh word for the really marvellous sounds and compositions of MK and DS. What do you expect. ?? Should Mark play Brothers in arms like Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead, or Walk of life like AC-DC, Telegraph road like Nirvana Please don´t compare potatoes with apples.
To me MKs music is NOT boring, and of course i also accept and like his "slow-tunes" from various albums of the DS and MK-periods. That is not a disadvantage for a musician or a band to play slow tunes, ballads and so on.
Best example: Metallicas Nothing else matters, a rock-ballad, very successful in the early 1990s. More successful than the much harder and louder stuff, they mainly played.
So it sounds a little bit superficial to me, to declare Marks music as "boring" on the subject of his ballads or slow tunes. 

[qjamesfloyd]

Mark's music boring? if it was I wouldn't be such a huge fan and be listening as often as I do, if there are artists I consider boring, I just don't listen to them, but I don't think you can label Mark's songs songs sound the same, do these song sound the same? Sultans of Swing, Private Investigations, Follow Me Home, Les Boys, Why Worry, My Parties, that's just from Dire Straits, there are even more examples from his solo work, Mark is well known for being able to write in many different styles and genres, so how can it all sound the same? It's not like he is playing Blues songs or country songs on every album, the fact his songs are varied is for me a huge plus and proves how good a song writer he really is.

[superval99]

Mark's music boring? if it was I wouldn't be such a huge fan and be listening as often as I do, if there are artists I consider boring, I just don't listen to them, but I don't think you can label Mark's songs songs sound the same, do these song sound the same? Sultans of Swing, Private Investigations, Follow Me Home, Les Boys, Why Worry, My Parties, that's just from Dire Straits, there are even more examples from his solo work, Mark is well known for being able to write in many different styles and genres, so how can it all sound the same? It's not like he is playing Blues songs or country songs on every album, the fact his songs are varied is for me a huge plus and proves how good a song writer he really is.

The people who think Mark's music is boring are those who only have a smattering of knowledge and only know one or two songs - if that!

[quizzaciously]

Mark's music boring? if it was I wouldn't be such a huge fan and be listening as often as I do, if there are artists I consider boring, I just don't listen to them, but I don't think you can label Mark's songs songs sound the same, do these song sound the same? Sultans of Swing, Private Investigations, Follow Me Home, Les Boys, Why Worry, My Parties, that's just from Dire Straits, there are even more examples from his solo work, Mark is well known for being able to write in many different styles and genres, so how can it all sound the same? It's not like he is playing Blues songs or country songs on every album, the fact his songs are varied is for me a huge plus and proves how good a song writer he really is.

Why do you guys always take AMIT discussions so seriously? Yes, I said MK's music is boring. But it's only boring when you compare it to something. We were watching TV with my wife recently and we came across Queen's 1986 show in Budapest. I said — that's certainly no Mark Knopfler! Their shows and music are just on a completely different level, volume-wise, in your face, it's a great show. People do not necessarily like this because of great lyrics, guitar playing and whatnot. MK is not a singer, period. He's not Freddie! He's not Brian May either, his solos are just not so flashy. But we don't care! We love this voice, we love his slow guitar playing and his slow songs. The general audience considers all this boring, that's my whole point. Not offending anyone here folks!

[dustyvalentino]

Some people DO think MK and DS is boring, who cares? It's just different opinions. It would be boring if everyone liked the same things in life.

[superval99]

Mark's music boring? if it was I wouldn't be such a huge fan and be listening as often as I do, if there are artists I consider boring, I just don't listen to them, but I don't think you can label Mark's songs songs sound the same, do these song sound the same? Sultans of Swing, Private Investigations, Follow Me Home, Les Boys, Why Worry, My Parties, that's just from Dire Straits, there are even more examples from his solo work, Mark is well known for being able to write in many different styles and genres, so how can it all sound the same? It's not like he is playing Blues songs or country songs on every album, the fact his songs are varied is for me a huge plus and proves how good a song writer he really is.

Why do you guys always take AMIT discussions so seriously? Yes, I said MK's music is boring. But it's only boring when you compare it to something. We were watching TV with my wife recently and we came across Queen's 1986 show in Budapest. I said — that's certainly no Mark Knopfler! Their shows and music are just on a completely different level, volume-wise, in your face, it's a great show. People do not necessarily like this because of great lyrics, guitar playing and whatnot. MK is not a singer, period. He's not Freddie! He's not Brian May either, his solos are just not so flashy. But we don't care! We love this voice, we love his slow guitar playing and his slow songs. The general audience considers all this boring, that's my whole point. Not offending anyone here folks!

You're not offending me at all!    Everyone is different and, regarding Queen, I'm not a fan and I would be hard pushed to sit through a whole concert of Freddie cavorting around the stage and I really don't like Brian May's style of guitar playing either!   In fact, a lot of their songs sound like barber-shop singing, another genre I dislike, but others would love. 

[dustyvalentino]

MK's 80s solos were flashier than Brian May, Sultans on Alchemy anyone???!

[quizzaciously]

MK's 80s solos were flashier than Brian May, Sultans on Alchemy anyone???!

Depends on your definition of flashy. Mark never had a wall of amps behind him, he never used any true "metal" or "hard rock" tricks like sweep picking, insanely fast picking, a lot of tapping and all sorts of things. His playing is very simplistic and minimalistic compared to pretty much anyone in the game, including Dr Brian May. Yes, Mark had his share of "guitar hero" moments, but I feel like it was as if he was forced to do it, especially on the last DS tour. Nothing truly hard to play there, but looking cool. Mark's playing is all about touch and emotion, not about presence, speed and volume. That's why it's easy to find somebody copying Brian May's solos exactly, and so many people failing to recreate Mark's sound.

[dustyvalentino]

Back on topic, seems pretty clear that they have all been fairly unsuccessful.