One of the things that confuses me about hipster music snobs (pot and kettle, I know. Shut up) is how they can use “dad rock” as an insult while pointing to the picture of Dire Straits next the dictionary definition (”dad rock” is in the dictionary, right?).

The War on Drugs (who are excellent) have been pejoratively compared to Dire Straits for using the same sort of atmospheric new wave/roots rock mixture, and I’m so confused about why the hell that’s a bad thing. 

Sure, dad’s listen to Dire Straits, and Mark Knopfler’s tongue has worn a hole straight through his cheek by the final verse of Money for Nothing. And okay, it’s kinda hard to not hear Walk of Life and divorce it from that diabetes commercial. And yeah, that album cover is just kiiinda terrible.

But I’ll fight anyone who says this album isn’t Capital G Great. The sax line on Your Latest Trick is iconic. Sting’s intro into Money for Nothing is perfectly epic. Ride Across the River’s spacy mixture of new-wave, Reggae, and roots rock predicts the best parts of Iron and Wine’s The Shepherd’s Dog. And every guitar lick (how do you talk about Dire Straits without talking about Knopfler’s lead guitar work?) is impeccably crafted and tastefully placed. If you designed a guitar playing robot and programmed him with the perfect mixture of technical skill and self restraint (which we should all know by now is maybe more important than talent), its processors would burn out trying to write better lead lines. Seriously. If your list of best lead guitarists does not include Mark Knopfler, tear it up and write a new one.

But I digress.

To restate my opening point, I find it hard to understand why hipsters would use this album as an insult for anything when, in so many ways, it is the platonic ideal of the high-concept, self-conscious genre melding they love so much.