Re the OES album, Mark said during interviews at the time that that album he actually could listen to, whereas the previous DS albums made him feel uncomfortable. I could imagine his opinion of it now would be very different.
Not necessarily, It's still his favorite DS album.
He reintroduced On Every Street on recent tours so presumably it wasn't too triggering.
Or maybe that was just the bad luck of hiring a saxophonist and needing songs that he could play.
Poor MK, what an unlucky bastard. If he fell into a bucket of tits he'd come out sucking his thumb.
Or maybe that was just the bad luck of hiring a saxophonist and needing songs that he could play.
More like pedal steel.
It would.
When I knew him neither of us looked backwards, we rarely discussed our lives before we met ( except our time in Leeds and the music we listened to from age 13/14 on ).
So I'm a bit surprised by the quotes various of you mention and that he listens to the DS records at all.
But we are not in each other’s lives really.
The “ pedal steel” bit made me laugh.
I must say playing in the NHB’s with Paul F was a treat, especially soundcheck where he and I jammed.
Playing with all of them was but some of the musical policy …nah, never mind.
One of my life’s highlights, better than a well administered colonic.
So I’m told.
I LOVED the "bucket of tits" line. If only…..
Am I the only one who finds CW's posts extremely annoying and evidently full of irritation towards the person the forum is dedicated to?
Obviously yes.
I guess you are just not used to a guy who delivers absolute clear thoughts and first hand knowledge, seldomly opinions, practically no trash talk and who is after the facts only. Humour might lacking (seemingly) which sometimes leads to a somewhat cold atmosphere around his posts, but if you are really honest to yourself you cannot nail a single post where Chris said something about MK that was not true. Worshipping is just not his thing, it seems. And why should he. However 90% of members come here to take a daily bath in a lot of hot MK love and feel comfortable among others to dive deep into praising our hero.
I for my part think that the forum has become much more relevant since Ed and Chris decided to post here on a more or less regular base.
I feel uncomfortable to write about a guy and knowing that he will read it. But I did it to point out the fact that I don't like it and to mirror the way you wrote. We better should talk WITH each other, not about others. Just my two cents.
LE
Honest question; who are these 90% which you claim bath in hot MK love? I don't see a single one, and very, VERY seldom read anything even near that. None of us thinks MK behaved like an angel!! Geeez, can we move forward??!
To go back to OES I remember that Mark objected songs on this album being too much cynical.
Recently Mark even said that MFN lyrics were kind of unfair toward working class people.
He could wrote a song about that on his next album.
Chris first tried stand up comedy performing as The Paradiddle Penis but he couldn’t get on TV, not even late night.
So he dropped the Penis bit and stuck with paradiddles and look where that took him.
To this site ..you lucky drummer, you.
As you will have realised, I've essentially confirmed 95% of everything he’s posted.
He’s a very straightforward guy, no side to him, and I’m sure that there are bits of all this that have an element of getting stuff off both of our respective chests.
Some of what he’s said…..about his treatment by certain other band members ( disgusting ) , the whole issue of monitors and volume, song tempo stuff etc etc has actually shocked me.
I had two problems back then…..the whole tale underpinning that record and tour which I've probably exhausted ( as in what I can tell you ), and being so busy that I couldn’t see what was going on in front of me.
And of course no one told me , so I wasn’t able to at least try and remedy it.
As far as post 153 goes, well said and droll humour which I love eg the "daily bath of hot MK lurve "…sounds like a Barry White lyric.
Ed Greene who played drums on White’s records is one of the great unrecognised drummers.
To go back to OES I remember that Mark objected songs on this album being too much cynical.
Recently Mark even said that MFN lyrics were kind of unfair toward working class people.
He could wrote a song about that on his next album.
If I remember correctly, Mark said he wouldn't write Money For Nothing today.
He couldn’t write MFN today, Motley Crue have fucked off.
(thanks ds1984 :-) He probably had a lot of dark things to get off his chest, and felt he had to excuse it? Of course it is only my feelings and not facts, but for me the difference in mood from OES to Golden heart is huge. "Darling pretty" is love flowing over, you can't help but smile, it is such a happy song! It is said that bad things makes great songs, and I think that is the case for OES. "When it comes to you" was an instant favorite, same with You and your friend and also Iron hand.
Substitute Kitty for Pretty.
Meeting her changed everything once they’d sorted things out.
Everything.
Like I said, I've moved on. I don't think about the bad things much any more, unless someone brings them up.
Same, decades ago.
None of the things you mention have anything to do with luck or lack of luck. Apart from the death of his father - which was sad, but something that everyone has to experience - everything else was the result of Mark's own choices. (OK, I'm speculating about the divorce, but anyone who's been or is married knows it takes two to tango ...)
Yes, pretty much everything except the death of his father. It also wasn't 'the worst tour' or 'worst album'.
I'm sure Mark was very happy with OES, it just wasn't as big a hit as BIA. I'm sure Mark regretted agreeing to the tour once it became a reality, but at the same time it netted Mark and John millions and they walked out to 25,000-60,000 people screaming adulation most nights.
But Ed said something along the lines of; Mark said: "I've made a crappy record". And it clearly wasn't as big as BIA. And the tour was "strange", to say the least. So I don't know, guys. I still think... Well, maybe it wasn't "unlucky", it's the wrong word for it, but it certainly wasn't the best time to be Mark Knopfler. Don't you think?
Bugger me sideways, Pavel is heading towards Bono’s kneeling stool.
There's a problem with all this for me.
There’s a huge hole in the story that I just can't tell you about and if I did it would make sense of all this for you.
Stuff Chris, actually none of the musicians including John don't know, nor my office staff either.
And maybe they never will and it probably doesn’t matter.
It's a bit like buying a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and eventually finding 50 pieces are missing.
No, it wasn’t a good time but eventually it turned into the best time for him.
But it wasn’t as bad as the Communique late 79 episode.
Now THAT was truly fucked, the stuff of nightmares .
Am I the only one who finds CW's posts extremely annoying and evidently full of irritation towards the person the forum is dedicated to?
Brief history lesson about how this forum came about if I may.
There used to be an official forum where even the slightest of criticism was not tolerated.
This forum was established to allow free and full discussion in a respectful way. I must say, I don’t think any of us ever imagined that an actual member of Dire Straits would join to talk about their real life experience being in the band for the best part of two years, or indeed the Dire Straits manager who was there from start to finish.
Rather than being annoyed, I’m extremely grateful for this input.
An actual member of Dire Straits answering questions? I’m tempted to say “you don’t know you’re born”…
AMIT is the best forum I have ever seen. I'm dead serious. The sheer fact it's still alive in the year 2025 alone deserves some kind of medal. Who on Earth uses forums nowadays anyway? Nobody! How it combines so many people from so many countries and walks of life, and many of the members have been there for a two-digit number of years, it seems.
I'm actually surprised not so many band members checked in because, seriously, it's the best source of information and fun in the MK world. Yes, discussions often go out of hand, but I've explained a million times the limitations of digital correspondence, and a lot of people on this forum are walking encyclopaedias when it comes to MK&DS.
Does anybody have problems with these statements? Let's respect each other and our unique contributions to this unique place. Now, I'm ready to take rotten tomatoes! 
YES!
He’s on Bono’s kneeling stool .
He’s assumed the position .
It’s the ONLY forum I’ve ever seen and apart from some uninformed and loopy posts it’s been huge fun to interact with you lot, help fill in a few gaps and learn things.
It's difficult when you're the manager to know what fans think, looking at nude polaroids doesn’t really do it.
Shame this wasn’t around to help or confound me back then.
I completely agree about digital communication.
I like to look into the other person's eyes and smell their armpits , someone should develop computers that smell of bodily functions, that would eliminate so many misunderstandings.
