How One Band’s Terrible Bar Gig Turned Into Dire Straits’ Breakthrough Hit in 1978

A friendly reminder to any hometown musician suffering through a three-hour “wallpaper” gig in the corner of a dusty sports bar: you might not get your big break playing to the barflies watching the game while you play their favorite covers from five decades ago. But you might inspire someone to write a song that will give them their big break. So, maybe, in some way, it’s worth it?

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The jury’s still out as to whether the band that inspired Dire Straits to write “Sultans Of Swing” believes that. But hey, at least it got Mark Knopfler and his band their first Top 10 hit. At least it worked out for someone, right?

How Mark Knopfler Came Up With Dire Straits’ Breakthrough Hit

Anyone who has ever tried their hand at wallpaper, jukebox, or “dinner sets” knows that the vibes can be immaculate…or horrendous. Connecting with bar and restaurant patrons over songs they love (or, in best-case scenarios, songs they don’t know but end up loving) can be immensely gratifying as a musician. When those patrons are indifferent, rude, or are constantly doling out cover requests or, even worse, unsolicited mix advice, these kinds of gigs can suck the soul right out of you. Can you tell this writer speaks from experience? She digresses.

Mark Knopfler was at one such gig—of someone else’s, not his own—when he got the idea for a song that would go on to become Dire Straits’ first big hit. According to the frontman, per Rolling Stone, Knopfler was at a Deptford pub listening to a Dixie cover band. Neither Knopfler nor the few remaining bar patrons seemed to be there to watch the band. The band just happened to be there, providing background music while people drank their pints and chatted.

But when the band introduced themselves, Knopfler’s ears perked up. “When the guys said, ‘Thank you very much, you know, we are the Sultans of swing,’ there was something really funny about it to me because Sultans, they absolutely weren’t. They were rather tired little blokes in pullovers.”

“Sultans of Swing” Offers a Play-By-Play of That Fateful Night

If you pay close attention to the lyrics of Dire Straits’ “Sultans Of Swing”, Mark Knopfler sets the scene in great detail. The band playing Dixie music, the sparse attendance, the bandmate who “doesn’t mind if he doesn’t make the scene” because “he’s got a daytime job, he’s doing alright,” and the indifferent young adults who don’t care about the band because it “ain’t what they call rock ‘n’ roll.” Knopfler was practically offering a play-by-play of that night’s gig.

While it might not have been a knockout night for the Sultans of Swing, “Sultans Of Swing” was certainly a knockout success for Dire Straits. The band released the track as the lead single off their eponymous debut in 1978. The song peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 8 in the band’s native United Kingdom. “Sultans Of Swing” remains one of Dire Straits’ most well-known tracks, which is either a great point of pride or a pesky thorn in the side of the Dixie bar band of the same name.

Photo by Erica Echenberg/Redferns