The Police

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This article is about the band. For law enforcement agencies, see police.
File:Thepolice4.jpg
The Police (L to R): Stewart Copeland, Sting, Andy Summers.

The Police was a three-piece British pop-rock band which was strongly influenced by reggae. Coming to prominence in the wake of the punk rock phenomenon, they rose to become one of the most popular groups in the world from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s.

Members

Career

Strontium 90

The Police evolved from the short-lived group Strontium 90, which was formed by expatriate Australian musician Mike Howlett. He began his career as the bassist with the late 1960s Australia harmony pop group The Affair before moving to London in 1970. In 1973 he joined the noted progressive rock group Gong, which had been founded by another Aussie expatriate, Daevid Allen. He remained with the group until 1976. Howlett and drummer Pierre Moerlen composed much of Gong's material.

After leaving Gong ca. 1976, Howlett formed Strontium 90, recruiting singer-bassist Sting, guitarist Andy Summers, and American-born drummer Stewart Copeland, whom Howlett already knew from Copeland's previous band Curved Air.

Strontium 90 was the band in which the three future Police first met and played together. Howlett claims to have introduced the three musicians to each other. He taped several demos of the band, including the first recorded version of Sting's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic", which was also the first recording the trio ever made together. Howlett also taped a London live performance from the same period, which marked the first time that the future Police played together in front of an audience.

Strontium 90 were unable to secure a recording contract, so Sting, Summers, and Copeland eventually left. Howlett became one of the leading producers of the New Wave period, with a string of chart-topping production credits.

The Police

After Strontium 90 disbanded, Copeland decided to form another band. He initially recruited Sting as bassist and lead singer and Henry Padovani as guitarist. This line-up issued "Fallout", the band's first single, in May 1977. Padovani's relatively limited ability as a guitarist meant that his tenure in the band was short, and soon after the single was released, he was replaced by Andy Summers, who was several years older than Copeland and Sting and whose experience as a guitarist went back to the early 1960s and included a stint in Eric Burdon's New Animals in the late '60s. When the band recruited Summers, Copeland told Padovani that he wanted to experiment with "new sounds". Padovani accepted this and quit the band.

Copeland had previously played drums in the progressive rock band Curved Air. Shortly after quitting, he caught notice of Sting, then bass player and singer with a jazz fusion group called Last Exit. Sting proved to be a capable songwriter; he had previously spent time as a secondary school English teacher, and his lyrics are noted for their literary awareness and verbal agility. Material in the later album Ghost In The Machine was inspired by the writings of Arthur Koestler, and material in Synchronicity was prominently inspired by the writings of C.G. Jung. "Tea in the Sahara" on the latter album showed interest in Paul Bowles as well.

The Police are notable as one of the first mainstream white pop groups to adopt reggae as a predominant musical form and to score major international hits with reggae-styled material. Although reggae was already very popular in the United Kingdom (due to the large number of Caribbean immigrants) the style was little known in the United States or other countries, and prior to the emergence of the Police only a handful of reggae songs—e.g. Eric Clapton's 1974 cover rendition of Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff"—had enjoyed any significant chart success. In this and several other respects, the Police invite comparisons with Cream, a trio of highly regarded "star" players with a bass-playing lead singer, who achieved huge success adapting a novel African syncretic music form (in Cream's case, blues music) for white pop-rock audiences, and who achieved enormous international fortune while for the most part retaining the respect of critics.

Signed

File:Thepolice3.jpg
The Police: early image.

For the Police, their first album, Outlandos d'Amour was a hardship, working on a small budget, with no manager, record deal, or any kind of contacts. Stewart Copeland's older brother Miles heard "Roxanne" for the first time and immediately got them a record deal with A&M Records. The single was re-released in 1979, and it was then that the Police achieved widespread fame in the United Kingdom, as well as scoring a minor hit with the song in several other countries, notably Australia. Their success led to a gig at the infamous New York club CBGB and a grueling United States tour in which the band drove themselves and all their equipment around the country in a Ford Econoline van.

As with several other international acts of this period (e.g. Blondie), the Police enjoyed some of their first international hits in Australia, well before most other countries. Their popularity there was greatly assisted by the fact that the group was enthusiastically supported by Australia's only non-commercial rock radio station, Double Jay in Sydney, which in turn led to early exposure for their music videos on the popular national pop show Countdown.

In October 1979, the group released their second album Regatta de Blanc, which was a major seller in many countries and which spawned the singles "Message In a Bottle", "Walking on the Moon", and "The Bed's Too Big Without You".

In March 1980, the Police decided to embark on their first world tour, and they were one of the first major rock bands to play in places like Bombay, India and Egypt. The Police toured the world long before they were a world class act. The much generated hype of their new music and tour caused an outbreak of popularity among new wave devotees across the rest of the world.

Pressured by their record company for a new record and a prompt return to touring by fall's end, the Police quickly released their third album, Zenyatta Mondatta in the fall of 1980. The album gave the group a UK number one hit, "Don't Stand So Close to Me", and "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da", which charted successfully in the United States. Mondatta gave the Police worldwide fame. In subsequent interviews, Sting himself expressed some disappointment with the album, regretting the rushed nature of its recording. However, many critics would later cite it as one of their strongest efforts. It was however the last album in which the group collectively cooperated, or as Sting would later put it, the last album they worked on "as a band".

Stardom

File:Thepolice2.jpg
Album: The Police, Ghost in the Machine.

By this time Sting was becoming a major star in his own right, and he was clearly intent on establishing a career beyond the confines of the Police. He branched out into acting with fair success, making an impressive debut as the mysterious visitor in the Richard Lonchrane film version of Dennis Potter's play Brimstone & Treacle, as well as scoring a minor solo hit in the United Kingdom with the movie's theme song, "Spread A Little Happiness". This was followed by a well-received performance as 'The Ace Face' in the film version of The Who's rock opera Quadrophenia and an appearance as the heir of house Harkonnen Feyd-Rautha in the David Lynch screen adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune. Although he was admirably suited to the role and performed well, the film itself received very mixed reviews, mainly due to the fact that Lynch's control was usurped by his producers, who drastically re-edited the feature film.

As Sting's fame rose, he began to exert more and more control over the group, aided by the fact that he wrote the bulk of their material. His relationship with band founder Stewart Copeland began to deteriorate, with the two reputedly coming to blows on some occasions. One notable fight occurred during an interview backstage, just after Stewart proclaimed, "How about footage of me whooping Sting? That'd be interesting." Stewart also wrote "FUCK OFF YOU CUNT" on his drumheads and purposely arranged his cymbals to block out Sting on stage in response to the situation. The increasingly strained partnership was further stretched by the attendant pressures of worldwide fame, conflicting egos, money, publicity, and drugs.


The Police's fourth album, Ghost In The Machine, produced by Hugh Padgham, was released in 1981. It featured thicker sounds and vocal textures, spawning the hit singles, "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic", "Invisible Sun", and "Spirits In The Material World."

They released their last album, Synchronicity, in 1983; it is widely regarded as a classic. Notable songs from that album include "Every Breath You Take", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", "King Of Pain" and the foreboding "Synchronicity II". Except for "King of Pain", the singles were accompanied by memorable music videos directed by Godley & Creme.

Dissolution

Although there was never an official break-up, each band member gradually began his own solo career. A short-lived attempt to reunite in 1986 produced only a subdued re-recording of "Don't Stand So Close to Me" (as well as an as-yet-unreleased version of "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da"). By this time, it was clear that Sting had no intention of continuing with the band, having already released a successful solo debut LP in 1985, the jazz-influenced Dream Of The Blue Turtles.

In 1992, Sting wed Trudie Styler. Summers and Copeland were invited to the ceremony and reception. Aware that all band members were present, the wedding guests pressured the trio into playing, ultimately performing "Roxanne" and "Message In A Bottle". Copeland said later that "after about three minutes, it became 'the thing' again."

On March 10, 2003, the Police were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and performed "Roxanne", "Message In a Bottle", and "Every Breath You Take" live, as a group.

In 2004, Henry Padovani released an album with the participation of Stewart Copeland and Sting in one track, reuniting the "original" Police members in a performance for the first time since 1977.

Discography

Singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
US Billboard Hot 100 US Modern Rock Tracks US Mainstream Rock Tracks UK Singles
1979 "Roxanne" #32 - - #12 Outlandos D'Amour
1979 "Can't Stand Losing You" - - - #2 Outlandos D'Amour
1979 "Message In A Bottle" #74 - - #1 Regatta De Blanc
1979 "Fall Out" - - - #47 -
1979 "Walking On The Moon" - - - #1 Regatta De Blanc
1980 "So Lonely" - - - #6 Outlandos d'Amour
1980 "Six Pack" - - - #17 -
1980 "De Do Do Do De Da Da Da" #10 - - #5 Zenyatta Mondatta
1981 "Don't Stand So Close To Me" #10 - #11 #1 Zenyatta Mondatta
1981 "Invisible Sun" - - - #2 Zenyatta Mondatta
1981 "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" #3 - #1 #1 Ghost In The Machine
1982 "Spirits In The Material World" #11 - #7 #12 Ghost In The Machine
1982 "Secret Journey" #46 - #29 - Ghost In The Machine
1983 "Every Breath You Take" #1 - #1 #1 Synchronicity
1983 "King Of Pain" #3 - #1 #17 Synchronicity
1983 "Synchronicity II" #16 - #9 #17 Synchronicity
1984 "Wrapped Around Your Finger" #8 - #9 #7 Synchronicity
1986 "Don't Stand So Close To Me '86" #46 - #10 - Every Breath You Take: The Singles
1997 "Roxanne '97" (f. Pras) #59 - - #17 The Very Best Of Sting And The Police

See also

External links

Official websites:

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