Pablo Cruise

They followed it up with several more hits before New Wave pushed the band off the charts in the early 1980s.
Money for Nothing (1988) - compilation
On The Night (1993) - live
Live at the BBC (1995) - live
Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits (1998) - compilation. Their first hit was "Whatcha Gonna Do?" (1977). "Tunnel of Love", which contains an instrumental section based on music from Carousel but is otherwise all Knopfler's own work.). Pablo Cruise was an American pop band formed in 1973 including members of It's a Beautiful Day, Santana and Stoneground. (The best-of album Sultans of Swing contains only two songs not credited to Knopfler alone: "Money For Nothing", which is credited as co-written with Sting, in fact Sting, at the behest of Knopfler, merely added the line "I want my MTV" in the style of The Police hit, "Don't Stand So Close To Me". The band's line-up changed over the years, but one constant was Mark Knopfler, who wrote most of the band's songs and acted as clear leader of the band.

Mark Knopfler would later concentrate on solo projects and film music. The band's final original studio album, On Every Street was released in 1991 to mixed reviews and moderate success (guest star Vince Gill, who sang backup on several of the album's songs, turned down an offer to join the band full time). A long period of inactivity followed with only a hits compilation and a live set released for the next six years. The popularity of the band extends beyond the UK and US: in many parts of the world including India, Southeast Asia and Africa, Dire Straits has been one of the most well-known and admired western bands.

Partly as a result of this (and a successful appearance in Live Aid), Dire Straits were the biggest selling band in the world in the mid 1980s. This had the accidental side effect of making it one of the "must buy" albums for consumers wishing to demonstrate the new technology. Equally, the new format was an excellent showcase for Knopfler's meticulous production values on the earlier albums, leading many existing fans to repurchase the whole back catalogue. Aiding the success of Brothers in Arms was the fact that it was one of the first fully digitally recorded and produced albums available in the (then) new Compact Disc format. The band's 1985 release Brothers in Arms was an international hit and spawned several singles including the number one hit "Money for Nothing".

The third album, Making Movies featured keyboardist Roy Bittan (from Bruce Springsteen's band) and marked a move towards more complex arrangements and production which would continue throughout the band's career. The second album followed soon afterwards; these first two albums featured a stripped-down band sound. Dire Straits recorded and released their first, self-titled album in 1978 to little fanfare but five months later a single release, "Sultans of Swing" became an unlikely chart hit and album sales took off. Despite this complete antithesis to popular culture at the time, Dire Straits still became hugely successful.

Mark Knopfler (the band's frontman) was heard to have asked pub managers to turn down the sound, so people could talk over the music, while they were still in their early days. In an era when punk rock reigned, they played subdued, almost old-school rock and roll. Dire Straits are a British rock band, formed in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (guitar and vocals), David Knopfler (guitar), John Illsley (bass) and Pick Withers (drums), and managed by Ed Bicknell. "Encores EP" (1993) #31 UK.

"Calling Elvis" (1991) #21 UK. "Your Latest Trick" (1986) #26 UK. "Walk of Life" (1986) #2 UK; #7 US. "Brothers in Arms" (1985) #16 UK.

"Money for Nothing" (1985) #4 UK; #1 US. "So Far Away" (1985) #20 UK; #19 US. "Twisting by the Pool" (1983) #14 UK. "Private Investigations" (1982) #2 UK.

"Skateaway" (1981) #37 UK. "Romeo and Juliet" (1981) #8 UK. "Sultans of Swing" (1979) #8 UK; #4 US.