Dire Straits gets my vote. I'm not a huge fan of either, but like some of both. For me, with Dire Straits, they have good songs littered throughout their short career. Petty had far more radio/chart hits, but I really only like the stuff from his early years, maybe up through the early 80's. After that, I really don't care for very much of his stuff. So, the timeframe (for me) is comparing say, 1976-1986 and I like much more of DS's stuff.