1986 vs. 1987

I am a huge Mark Knopfler fan, and a big fan of Dire Straits.  You may have also noticed, I'm a big fan of "Rock History" stuff and I love commenting on events from the past.  OK, so now that I've made that statement, let's get on with it.

Back in 1987, Dire Straits' album Brothers in Arms was awarded "Britain's Best Album".  A phenomenal album that was released in 1985, and whose biggest "hits" from it were also released in 1985.  It continued to sell very well in 1986 so it was nominated to receive the award in 1987.  Clear as mud?  Here's more...

The competition for this award back in 1986 was pretty thin.  The only other rock albums for consideration were "So" from Peter Gabriel and "Invisible Touch" from Genesis.  It's not hard to see why Dire Straits made the list and won.  But imagine this scenario ... what if "Brothers in Arms" would have come a year later?  It would have been fighting for "Britain's Best Album" against both U2 "The Joshua Tree"  and Def Leppard's "Hysteria" !!   Who knows what the outcome would have been, but the Brits were sure glad they had a respectable album like "Brothers in Arms" to save them from embarrassment back in 1986.