Mark Knopfler - Lou Reed Influence

I don' t know of this has been addressesed before but i totally here Lou Reed when i hear these DS tracks, especially Romeo and Juliet

 

Surely you're on your own here. I don't hear that at all. But watch everyone agree with you and I'll be The odd man out

 

I agree. But then I think Greg Kihn sounds like Tom Petty on "Breakup Song."

 

I don't think there's an influence, but I can imagine a Lou Reed cover version of the song if I try real hard.

 

For a good part of his solo career, Lou Reed became more of a new agey guy and Mark Knopfler is more of a rootsy guy who is heavily influenced by country, blues, bluegrass and jazz.

 

I really can't imagine Knopfler having any interest in Lou Reed's output at all. Knopfler is into different music altogether. I think their limited rather dry sounding speak/sing voices are the only comparison and that's accidental due to said lack of range.

 

Never in my wildest dreams have a linked Knopfler with Lou Reed.

must be good acid

 

Knopfler is equal parts Dylan and J.J. Cale with dashes of Van Morrison (The Celtic soundscapes), Springsteen (Telegraph Road) and Chet Atkins.

 

No. NO. No.

 

Just listen to Lou Reed's Coney Island Baby from 1975 . The Knopfler sound is mostly there...

 

i don't hear it at all.

 

Wow, I do believe this is the first time I've heard Uncle Lou described as a new agey guy.

Maybe I can get my chiropractor to start playing him instead of Enya, etc.

 

It's a Dylan influence. There is none of the dark, New York City underground, intellectualist vibe going on, that I perceive anyway.

I get that they are both story tellers who talk-sing from a character's perspective, so there's a similarity there. Did Knopfler listen to Reed and Velvet Underground growing up? Well, it was hard to avoid that, so he might have been influenced.

 

I was watching youtube, Dire Straits & Eric Clapton: ,
and was struck, at times by Mark Knopfler's inflection and phrasing. It reminded me a lot of Lou Reed (at about 2 minutes in).
So I just googled "Lou Reed influence on Mark Knofler?" The first comment that came up was yours. So I joined this forum to respond, since it seemed no one else agreed with you. So, for what it's worth, I heard a similarity in this video! Now I'm going to see what else came up on my google search. And I hope to enjoy this forum!

 

Totally agree! I just did the same ; googled Lou Reed/Dire Straits influence and this was top of search results so signed up especially to tell you! I don't understand how everyone cannot hear this.

 

He's not influenced by Lou Reed at all, you've only got to hear his stuff to see where it came from and if you need proof look up some interviews, if you find one where he says I was influenced by Lou Reed I'll eat my virtual hat.

 

Good luck with that! Maybe a chiropractor who's a dominatrix on the side .

 

No-one seems to have anything quoteable as to whether Lou Reed was an influence or not on Knopfler, which may likely mean he wasnt. Who knows if Lou's tracks were on his record player or not...

It may be Dylan as a common influence and that may be why I hear similarities in Reed and Knopfler, guitar playing storytellers with a similar vocal 'speak' singing style IMHO

Great, when we hit 5 believers I can get t-shirts made or start a religion, gives those Jedi's a run for their money

 

It's an interesting connection and I can hear a similar phrasing in delivery on songs like "Romeo & Juliet," but if there is an influence, it's skin deep at best.

Let's be frank here - Knopfler writes stuff that is far too HAPPY to be comparable to Reed, who always has that dagger waiting behind the hook. Both are great writers, but I suspect it's less that Reed influenced Knopfler and more that Knopfler took on board some of the same influences as Reed. The similarities in their voices just make it sound like one is aping the other.

 

Nope don't hear it.

 

Suggest you listen to more Lou Reed because there's plenty of "happy" music between Berlin and Lulu. There's the aforementioned Coney Island Baby, Rock and Roll Heart and the New Sensations albums for a start. Lou was well rounded!

And Knopfler is too FWIW.

 

It's hard to imagine Mark Knopfler sit around and listen to The Velvet Underground.

 

"Walk of Life on the Wild Side"?
"Walk on the Wild Side of Life"?

 

I always considered Reed & Knopfler to be examples of vocalists OBVIOUSLY influenced by Dylan. Maybe that's what you're hearing?