Such a melodic, distinctive style.

... to take notice as he passed by my bedroom. He asked, "Who is THAT?!"

Told him it was Dire Straits. "Why?"

"That guitarist is really good!"

My Dad played guitar and he was a big fan of Chet Atkins, who coincidentally later collaborated with Knopfler (as shown in the video).

My father picked with his fingers, and he could tell immediately that Knopfler was playing that way too.

I made him a cassette copy of that Dire Straits album and he played it a lot in his car.

Saw you in Chicago almost a year ago today...you played this classic on this lovely guitar!

It was early 1980, I think. The tour for the Communiqué album.
We got lucky.
4th or 5th row, stage center. We were 20 feet from Mark.
They opened with Lady Writer. Closed with Sultans.

That must have been amazing!

Making Movies was very good, but not as distinctive.
Love Over Gold & Brothers in Arms lost me.
Mark suddenly decided he wanted to be Billy Gibbons and started using a distortion box. I don't care for his ear for distortion. Muddied up his playing, and of course, he never got that incredible cut distortion Billy gets.
When it was just playing his Strat through the Fender amps, he had a unique tone that was superb.
Of course, he doesn't care what I think because those two albums went multiplatinum in 12 countries.
Just my opinion.