‘Sultans Of Swing’ was Dire Straits’ debut single. Let that sink in -- the fully-formed, blues-drenched tune was the first song many heard from the British act. However, its appeal was evident long ...

Released as the first single from Dire Straits‘ eponymous 1978 debut, “Sultans of Swing” hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has remained a staple song within the British rockers’ classic catalog.

It was a rainy night in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, when Mark Knopfler found himself in a small pub watching a Dixieland jazz band playing to an audience of less than a handful of drunken patrons. The ...

It really was a dark and stormy night in 1977 when guitarist Mark Knopfler popped into a tumbledown bar in London and happened upon some song inspiration. Inside, as Knopfler would later recall, was a ...