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Your bar is way too high if Dire Straits is the bar for poor taste. Even for the 90's.

Mark Knopfler's americana-spirit might be a bit much for some people, but ALL those guys are A-class musicians and they've never done a bad song.

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Twisting by the Pool? :-) I don't dislike any others. I think this poor taste thing seems to occur if something becomes too popular, it becomes poor taste in the eyes of many people, even if that thing is actually good. I'm not convinced anyone can seriously listen to Telegraph Road and say that doesn't have artistic merit. Similarly there is Phil Collins that has a huge background in prog rock and is a top class musician, that is now maligned by many people because he wrote some highly catchy and accessible pop songs.

Dire Straits is better if you forget that they made anything past Brothers in Arms, just like U2 probably should have stopped somewhere around Rattle and Hum.

The problem with Dire Straits is not that they are bad players but they are just so unbearably SMUG about their technical chops.

Sounds like an attitude which would be popular with youth.

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