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

[quizzaciously]

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

Yes, and that's what I meant by saying that being a musician is tough. I'd hate to release an album, let alone a dozen of albums, only to receive mediocre attention. I hate when musicians struggle to make do with their music for a long time as much as old musicians who struggle to play but still do it.

Music is still a business and if your product doesn't sell a lot, that may simply mean it's not that good, to begin with. I know a lot of BS music is selling like crazy, but it sells because of good marketing and a dumb audience, so it's still a good "product".

If I were a session musician, I'd think 100 times before releasing a solo record because that means you lift yourself from being a musician to being an artist, and that's a completely different story.

[Jules]

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

Yes, and that's what I meant by saying that being a musician is tough. I'd hate to release an album, let alone a dozen of albums, only to receive mediocre attention. I hate when musicians struggle to make do with their music for a long time as much as old musicians who struggle to play but still do it.

Music is still a business and if your product doesn't sell a lot, that may simply mean it's not that good, to begin with. I know a lot of BS music is selling like crazy, but it sells because of good marketing and a dumb audience, so it's still a good "product".

If I were a session musician, I'd think 100 times before releasing a solo record because that means you lift yourself from being a musician to being an artist, and that's a completely different story.

Studio musicians often release their own music just for fun, not in order to start a career themselves, as their career is on the sessions really. Look Snowy White, he released a record that went quite well, and that was all, he went back to sessions.

[qjamesfloyd]

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

Yes, and that's what I meant by saying that being a musician is tough. I'd hate to release an album, let alone a dozen of albums, only to receive mediocre attention. I hate when musicians struggle to make do with their music for a long time as much as old musicians who struggle to play but still do it.

Music is still a business and if your product doesn't sell a lot, that may simply mean it's not that good, to begin with. I know a lot of BS music is selling like crazy, but it sells because of good marketing and a dumb audience, so it's still a good "product".

If I were a session musician, I'd think 100 times before releasing a solo record because that means you lift yourself from being a musician to being an artist, and that's a completely different story.

Studio musicians often release their own music just for fun, not in order to start a career themselves, as their career is on the sessions really. Look Snowy White, he released a record that went quite well, and that was all, he went back to sessions.

Yes, and Bird of Paradise is a great song.

[quizzaciously]

Well, Bird of Paradise has 12 million streams on Spotify alone, that's QUITE a success! Don't think anybody from MK crew has that. By the way, my man Glenn Worf has no solo records!

[MagicElliott]

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.

I don’t want to derail the thread again but I was to offer some support to this brave but evidently controversial post. I agree entirely. I LOVE MK’s music but I do get that’s it’s quite samey. My dad thinks MK is very samey in comparison to Paul Simon who dad loves.
However, if you like the MK sound then you won’t mind-and that’s the boat I’m in.

[Knopflerfan]

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!

Comparing Queen to DS/MK - no question who I'd rather listen to/watch!! Queen - crap sameish, loud music with no appeal and DS/MK with outstanding music, thoughtful guitar/musicianship and songs with words that actually mean something!!! As for Brian May's guitar playing - no thanks....

[dustyvalentino]

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.

I don’t want to derail the thread again but I was to offer some support to this brave but evidently controversial post. I agree entirely. I LOVE MK’s music but I do get that’s it’s quite samey. My dad thinks MK is very samey in comparison to Paul Simon who dad loves.
However, if you like the MK sound then you won’t mind-and that’s the boat I’m in.

Paul Simon has gone out of his way to do different stuff.


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