h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Dire Straits - The Band - A864858
Author: Master B - H2G2 Code (A855641) now ready for use! - U190397

OK...the current EG entry, A311031, is, by its author's own admission (F38761?thread=108339), a load of rubbish.

Hence, my production of this (admittedly slightly hyperbolic) effort, which, I hope and imagine, will replace it altogether.

B

You b*****d- I was about to start writing a Dire Straits entry now that my Meat Loaf's going in, and you've just gone and written a brilliant article.

Any chance of a mention of both Knopflers' post-Dire Straits existence?

Jesus - that was quick. You'd better get started on the Roxy Music Entry before I do it, then. It's either that or Status Quo.

Knopfler already has his own entry (link included), plus which, I thought most of his solo stuff was cr*p. So, no plans for the Notting Hillbillies as yet.

B

Didn't spot the Knopfler link. What about David Knopfler's solo album?

I call Bruce Springsteen!

B- the mark Knopfler link is missing it's A.

Take him - I'm not a big Boss fan.

I'll have dibs on Spandau Ballet, then.

B

Simpost, there.

The A has been returned.

B

Does the guide *really* need spandau ballet.


Does *anyone* really need spandau ballet?

Gotta have Spandau Ballet

Nice entry Master B I've seen Dire Straits twice - on both occasions as a support band. The first time was when they were supporting XTC That gig (at Dingwall's in Camden... 1978 I think) might have been the show where Ed Bicknell saw them for the first time and offered to be their manager. They may or may not have scaled the same heights without his help. Just a little bit of trivia you could include if you so wish

Spaundau Ballet were huge steaming piles of horse manure.

I'm being objective here, you understand...

How can you such a thing about those darling Kemp brothers and that other geezer with the vioce

Oh, if you check out the peer review conversation for my Meat Loaf entry (I'm sure you were there at some point...), I do also describe one of his albums in horse manure terms. It's not merely a spandau thing you understand

But they sang 'Gold' and 'True'

(You do know that I'm being sarcarstic... don't you?)

(I did get that impression, yes)

*drags subject matter back to this entry*

I did write it on the benefit of a few pints, so there may be some grammatical errors if anyone wants to really sift through it

B

Hello B. Your output is prolific. Do you not have a job? On the popularity of the Straits I think it would be of interest to note that the last country they became commercially successful in was the UK. I can remember seeing them at uni in an end of year free concert playing sixth on the bill to David Allen's Planet Gong. They were about to release their second album when they broke big in the States thus delaying its release by a full six months. I'm pretty sure that they managed to get a recording deal through a radio session they did for the Nicky Horne show on Capital Radio. You're always going to get nit-pickers like me when you write an article like this because we all look at things in a different perspective. But Dire Straits did change my life. After I saw them in '77 I decided to stop wearing flares

I don't write that much, do I?

I think it's more a case of the fact that I tend to write about 'interesting' subjects (not that I'm disparaging other Researchers, you understand ), and people drifting through PR inevitably pop in and have a look. Plus, there's now A855641 to keep up-to-date of course.

I used to have a few music journalism jobs with local papers, student rags etc.etc. I even got paid for a few of them.

With regards to the band's origins, I didn't write that much as they were very much an impact band - the effects of that first album cannot be underestimated.

B

Here are my two shillings.

I'd open with the opening verse of 'Sultans of Swing', instead of 'Romeo and Juliet' ... it has parallelity (made up word).



"You get a shiver in the dark
It's been raining in the park but meantime
South of the river you stop and you hold everything
A band is blowing Dixie double four time
You feel all right when you hear that music ring ..."

- Sultans of Swing, Dire Straits

Otherwise, it's a ripper.

Well done B.

One pedantic note ... just check if you can use 'et al' like that. My limited understanding of these things is that it should be used if the list of names is obvious but you can't be bothered to write them down. Like in a court case. Trout v Master B. et al. The 'et al' are the defendants, done and dusted.

In the case of Tony Hadley et al, do you mean the rest of the Hadley family, the other members of Spandau Ballet, or all members of the New Romantic Movement, including, inter alia, Duran Duran, David Sylvian, etc.?