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The Latest Breaking News from Dire Straits

This iconic guitar appeared on the cover of one of the most successful albums ever – but what’s the story behind it?

It’s one of the most famous guitars in music – and its picture is in more than 30 million homes

Louder

“I gave up trying to be a great guitar player. I have enough to get by in the studio – I got away with murder”: Mark Knopfler on why he doesn’t consider himself a “guitar god” – and the ones in the industry who deserve that title

40 years after the release of the Dire Straits’ seminal album, Brothers in Arms, Knopfler reflects on that game-changing period and why he was always a reluctant rock star

Guitar World

“It’s a cheap guitar, it sounds very direct, I did everything wrong, but I think they’re perfect notes”: Mark Knopfler names his favourite guitar solo

“I just said what I had to say. I didn’t go too far”

MusicRadar

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How Dire Straits outsold everyone, hijacked MTV, and accidentally made a classic: Only in the new issue of Classic Rock

Also in this issue: Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Mike Peters, Buckcherry, Adam Duritz, Battlesnake, Eureka Machines, H.E.A.T, Steve Lillywhite, Live Aid USA and more

Louder

A Dolby Atmos-ready rival to the Sonos Arc Ultra, iFi hi-fi travel gadgets, top end streamer and more

Our hi-fi and home cinema experts detail the top stories to break over the past week

What Hi-Fi?

Ramshackle Canonbury studio where Dire Straits and The Police recorded set for conversion into house

The unassuming building saw everyone from Madness to John Cleese come through its doors

Evening Standard

Here’s why audiophiles still love Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms 40 years on

Now look at them yo-yos, that's the way you do it

What Hi-Fi?

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“Playing four notes to the bar with your thumb... That changed everything for me, because that’s what I wanted to be able to do”: How Mark Knopfler grew up wanting to be Jimi Hendrix until he ditched the pick and went fingerstyle

Or how one lesson with a folk singer from the northeast of England (and a bunch of lost picks) changed the history of electric guitar

MusicRadar

"Pure manna for a fanbase denied any whiff of a reunion": Dire Straits' 30-million-selling Brothers In Arms celebrates its 40th birthday with energised extras

Mark Knopfler’s crowning achievement: mildly dated, largely evocative, expanded with live shows

Louder

"Everybody was going 'Does anybody know how to work this thing?'": How Guy Fletcher and a classic ‘80s synth became Dire Straits’ secret weapon on Brothers In Arms, and helped to turn it into one of the biggest albums of the decade

“Without him there, we would have probably been completely lost"

MusicRadar

Mark Knopfler on Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing: ‘I wrote it in the window display of a New York appliance store’

‘A big bonehead of a delivery guy was looking at all these TV screens tuned to MTV and the lines he was saying were too good to be true. So I borrowed a pen and paper, sat down and started writing’

The Guardian - UK

“He thought that the band should be a democracy, and it was more like a brutal dictatorship as far as he was concerned”: The tangled story of Dire Straits, the million-selling band who quit at the height of their fame

How Dire Straits went from the pubs of London to become one of the biggest bands of the 1980s

Louder

Stevie Ray Vaughan, Simple Minds, Megadeth, the Cult and the class of 1985 – only in the new Guitar World

Also starring Jimmie Vaughan, GA-20, Kiki Wong, Dead Kennedys, the Smithereens' Jim Babjak, Cracker's Johnny Hickman, King Diamond, Third Man Hardware, Sue Foley's new GW column, Money for Nothing and more

Guitar World

“What’s going through our mind is ‘What the…?’ And if you see Bob’s face, you could see he’s thinking the same thing”: When Bob Dylan played with an LA punk band to promote the album he made with Mark Knopfler

1983's Infidels, Dylan's first secular album in half a decade, was graced with a bounty of sweetly tasteful leads from the Dire Straits man. To recreate two of its songs on Late Night with David Letterman, Dylan hired LA punks the Plugz

Guitar World

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Louder

10 huge hits given away from one artist to another

From Prince to Joni Mitchell and Macca to the Bee Gees, the stars who were in such a creative purple patch that they had classics going spare and shopped them elsewhere.

The Independent UK

The Who’s Pete Townshend backs album in support of Parkinson’s disease charity

The album is raising funds for the Cure Parkinson’s charity.

Guitar World

“I don’t think they do too well living in a case all their lives”: Mark Knopfler parted ways with his guitar collection – but he hopes they all get played

2024 Year in Review: The Dire Straits icon raised a huge amount of money for charity selling off 120 prized instruments, including his 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard

The Independent UK

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Dec. 22-28

Celebrities having birthdays during the week of Dec. 22-28 include actor Timothée Chalamet, comedian Seth Meyers and guitarist David Knopfler of Dire Straits

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Evening Standard

William’s ears left in dire straits thanks to Prince Louis’ drumming practice

The Prince of Wales spoke to musicians at the Tusk Conservation Awards.

Guitar World

A master of making major key licks sound moody, Mark Knopfler is one of guitar’s true alchemists – take your melodic phrasing to new heights with this lesson in the Dire Straits icon’s soloing style

Few players can pick out the notes like Knopfler, and this lesson goes deep into his fingerstyle approach, and how he foregrounds melody to tell a story with his leads

What Hi-Fi?

Tidal is definitely lossless, and my mate can prove it

I decided to see what the real measurable differences were between the (hopefully) lossless service and the admitted lossy Spotify...

Louder

“It’s loud, it’s obnoxious, it’s brainless, and It’s definitely not music for wimps.” When The Pogues' Shane MacGowan reviewed singles by Deep Purple, The Smiths, Robert Fripp, Dire Straits, Nico and more

Shane MacGowan didn't hold back when asked to review the music of his peers

The Independent UK

‘Are you not entertained?’ Russell Crowe’s shockingly good set epitomises the spirit of Glastonbury

The ‘Gladiator’ star and former busker charged enthusiastically through covers of Dire Straits and Johnny Cash, along with some original songs, on Glastonbury’s Acoustic Stage. Louis Chilton was charmed

PC Gamer

FiiO SP3 BT review

A marvellous pair of speakers with a weighty feel and smooth, rich audio.

Evening Standard

OPINION - Move over Dire Straits, stadium pop is now fashion, fabulous and gay

I conceded that this week belonged to one woman, on waking up Monday morning to be greeted by every news channel leading with concurrent Taylor Swift stories. I found myself unknowingly adjudicating their sincerity on the subject. Kay Burley was the only believable Swiftie. Lorraine laid it on a bit…

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