[86] On a possible reunion performance he added, "Mark is quite sort of restrained about things like this. [101] In 2011, Alan Clark, Chris White, and Phil Palmer, along with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' drummer Steve Ferrone, formed a new band, the Straits, to perform at a charity show at the Royal Albert Hall in London. His replacement was Terry Williams, formerly of Rockpile and a range of other Welsh bands including Man.[34]. The song speaks of a Romeo who is still very much in love with his Juliet, but she now treats him like "just another one of [her] deals". Close Your Eyes Forever - Lita Ford w/Ozzy 155. C G Am G C Well, you can fall for chains of silver, you can fall for chains of gold G Am F You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold G G C You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin, yeah F G Now you just say ..oh Romeo? The album features many of the band's later hits, including the singles "Walk of Life" and "Money for Nothing It first appeared on the 1980 album Making Movies and was released as a single in 1981. The band played 248 shows in over 100 different cities. Dire Straits regrouped in 1988 for the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert staged on 11 June 1988 at Wembley Stadium, in which they were the headline act. Whatever the zeitgeist was that we had been part of, it had passed." Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals), and Pick Withers (drums and percussion). [89] Released in June 1995, their third and final live album was a contractual release to Vertigo Records (now a division of Mercury Records). [23] This led to a United States recording contract with Warner Bros. Records; before the end of 1978, Dire Straits had released their self-titled debut worldwide. [76], Dire Straits released their sixth studio album, On Every Street, in September 1991, which turned out to be their final studio release. Smash Hits was a pop music magazine aimed at teenagers and young adults, featuring lyrics, photographs, interviews and news related to celebrity music acts in the UK (Later offshoots arrived in the US and Australia). The double album Alchemy Live was a recording of excerpts from these two concerts and was reportedly released without studio overdubs. Produced by Jimmy Iovine with Mark Knopfler also sharing credit, Making Movies was released in October 1980. The track fared much better elsewhere however, reaching the top 10 in Australia, New Zealand and throughout Europe, peaking as high as the number 2 position in several countries including Denmark and Switzerland and number 1 in Italy. 26 UK). Called "the biggest British rock band of the 80s" by Classic Rock magazine,[9] their 1985–1986 world tour, which included a performance at Live Aid in July 1985, set a record in Australasia. There were several changes in personnel, with Mark Knopfler and Illsley being the only members who lasted from the beginning of the band's existence, to the end. She's Always A Woman To Me - Billy Joel 154. In the United States it peaked at number 12.[23][25]. [54], The 1985–1986 Brothers in Arms world tour which followed the album's release was phenomenally successful, with over 2.5 million tickets sold. "Rock stars encyclopedia" p.229. [20] Guitarist Hal Lindes left the band during the recording sessions and was replaced by New York guitarist Jack Sonni. [19] A best of / greatest hits compilation Money for Nothing, was released in October 1988 and reached number one in the UK. They played 51 sold-out concerts over a 38-day period. "[citation needed]. Stagger Lee - Wilson Pickett 157. He has since declined reunion offers.[8]. [71] During this period, Alan Clark joined Eric Clapton's band for 3 years, during which time Knopfler also briefly joined Eric's band. [73] The song, a blues rock track with solos by Knopfler and Clapton, also appeared on the 1990 album Hell To Pay as a gift[74] to Canadian blues/jazz artist Jeff Healey from Knopfler. "[104] The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recognised John Illsley, David & Mark Knopfler, Pick Withers, Alan Clark and Guy Fletcher as "significant members" of the band. Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits, The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "The Phineas Gage Project, Three Phorm Live", "Guitar Stories: Mark Knopfler on the Six Guitars That Shaped His Career", "Italian single certifications – Dire Straits – Romeo & Juliet", "British single certifications – Dire Straits – Romeo & Juliet", Private Investigations: The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler, The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet, Mônica e Cebolinha: No Mundo de Romeu e Julieta, In Fair Palestine: A Story of Romeo and Juliet, A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Romeo_and_Juliet_(Dire_Straits_song)&oldid=1003438127, Song recordings produced by Mark Knopfler, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2020, Articles needing additional references from August 2020, All articles needing additional references, Certification Table Entry usages for Italy, Pages using certification Table Entry with streaming figures, Certification Table Entry usages for United Kingdom, Pages using certification Table Entry with streaming footnote, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz work identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 29 January 2021, at 00:13. It also won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in February 1986. [28][43] The album spent 34 weeks at number 1 on the Australian ARIA Charts, and it remains the longest-running number one album in Australia. [3] In the Sky Arts documentary Guitar Stories: Mark Knopfler, "Knopfler picks up the National and demonstrates how he hit on the famous arpeggio lines in "Romeo and Juliet", from the Making Movies album, while experimenting with an open G tuning. [44], The album featured a more lavish production and overall sound than Dire Straits' earlier work, and spawned several big chart singles: "Money for Nothing", which reached number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and number 4 in the UK Singles Chart, "So Far Away" (No. [106] Dire Straits remains one of the most popular British rock bands, as well as one of the world's most commercially successful artists, with total worldwide album sales of more than 120 million. [83] While musically more elaborate than the previous 1985–86 world tour, the band's gruelling final tour was not as critically acclaimed nor as successful commercially. [94], The most recent compilation, The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations, was released in November 2005 and reached the UK Top 20. Love Over Gold was the first Dire Straits album produced solely by Mark Knopfler, and its main chart hit, "Private Investigations", gave Dire Straits their first top 5 hit single in the United Kingdom, where it reached the number 2 position despite its almost seven-minute length, and became another of the band's most popular live songs. Several singles were released from the album, some of which achieved success in Europe, Australasia and the United States, however none were successful in the UK. Not only is Romeo and Juliet seen as one of the best trumpet songs, but it also is one of the most successfully crafted songs performed by the Dire Straits. [39], Released in May 1985, Brothers in Arms entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1 and spent a total of 228 weeks in the charts,[41] and sold over 4.3 million copies. The track reached the top 20 in Canada and Belgium and peaked inside top 30 in other European countries as well as Australia. [5], Dire Straits' sound draws from various influences including country, folk, the blues rock of J. J. Cale, and jazz. Knopfler has both stated and implied that he believes Vincent was using him to boost her career. [89] At this time, Mark Knopfler quietly disbanded Dire Straits and prepared to work on his first full-fledged solo album (still signed to Mercury Records). "[4] The instrumentation remains simple during the verses and moves to a full-on rock arrangement in the chorus sections. [65] In August 1986, MTV Europe was launched with Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing". After the recording sessions were completed, keyboardist Alan Clark and Californian guitarist Hal Lindes joined Dire Straits as full-time members for tours of Europe, North America, and Oceania. In December 2009, the band were commemorated with a Heritage Award from PRS for Music. [46][53] The Guardian ranked the Brothers in Arms CD number 38 in their list of the 50 key events in rock music history. Dire Straits are one of the world's best-selling music artists, with album sales of over 100 million. 26. [24] "Sultans of Swing" scaled the charts to number four in the United States and number eight in the United Kingdom. [13] Withers was already a 10-year music business veteran, having been a session drummer for Dave Edmunds, Gerry Rafferty, Magna Carta and others through the 1970s; he was part of the group Spring, which recorded an album for RCA in 1971. [59] The band also made an impromptu attempt at the Australian folk song "Waltzing Matilda". Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals), and Pick Withers (drums and percussion). There's not an accent then on the music, there's an accent on popularity. [48] In 2007, the 25th anniversary of the war, Knopfler recorded a new version of the song at Abbey Road Studios to raise funds for British veterans who he said "are still suffering from the effects of that conflict. [14] Mark and Withers had both been part of the pub rock group Brewers Droop at different points in around 1973. [20] Produced by Muff Winwood, it was first released in the United Kingdom on Vertigo Records, then a division of Phonogram Inc. In 2009, Illsley and Clark performed several Dire Straits songs in an open air concert in San Vigilio, and since then Clark, Palmer, Illsley, Cummings, Collins, Sonni and Withers, in various line-ups, have toured as the Dire Straits Legends, and continue to this day as the Dire Straits Legacy. 5 in the album charts. "[86] Knopfler did not appear at the ceremony, with Illsley stating, "I'll assure you it's a personal thing. It's essentially up to him if he wants to do anything, and I completely respect his feelings about it. The result was Dire Straits' most commercially successful hit single in the UK, peaking at number two. The most successful chart single was "Romeo and Juliet" (number 8 in the UK Singles Chart), a song about a failed love affair, with Knopfler's trademark in keeping personal songs under fictitious names. It's not for Knopfler", "Mark Knopfler: how did we avoid disaster? [51] "Walk of Life" meanwhile was nearly excluded from the album when co-producer Neil Dorfsman voted against its inclusion, but the band members out-voted him. In January 1983 a four-song EP titled ExtendedancEPlay was released while Love Over Gold was still in the album charts. [56] Saxophonist Chris White joined the band, and the tour began on 25 April 1985 in Split, Croatia (then part of Yugoslavia). [23] The four track Encores EP was also released and rose to number one in the French and Spanish singles charts and reached number 31 in the UK.