[Closed] Verdict on The Police (as in Sting, Copeland, & Summers)

Sting is a bit of a dick and I've only really heard the obvious stuff which is ok, but I heard Darkness on an episode of Mindhunter which I thought was excellent so might have to investigate.

Every little thing they've done is magic?

Allegedly hit the drums harder than anyone else (NSFW)

Don't think you can leave aside Sting - the Police are underrated here because Sting was seen as a colossal ****er in the 80s and 90s which sort of clouds their oeuvre.

They are loved in the US where someone like Sting would be seen as an unremarkable, garden variety rock star.

Ask anyone British what they think of the Jam, say, versus the Police and you'll get laughed at for the comparison. But elsewhere those two bands, from the same era, would prob both be rated equally highly.

fantastic in the late 70's.
those 2 albums with the French names, were ace.

I think they were alright. Couple of really good tunes, some embarrassing white boy reggae lite and otherwise unremarkable. Definitely not one of the greatest rock bands ever. Then again I suppose it depends on ones definition of rock.

Bland. Puff Daddy's version was better.

Back when we had a physical media player installed on a PC, I used to play their (US version?) greatest hits CD an awful lot, but this thread has just inspired me to listen to one of their tunes on Youtube for the first time in a while, that talks about shouting above the din of their Rice Krispies! 😀

Didn’t sting do a half decent colab with the beat

Good when remastered

They started to get interesting around the Synchronicity album, then they split up.

Some good ideas but far too repetitive, write half a song, then repeat the chorus over and over and over until everyone has fallen asleep. Then repeat.

There’s no denying they are all very good musicians, but collectively “OK”.

Just 3 words. Reggatta de Blanc.

Sting the man that wrote a "musical" about the decline of ship building and the destruction of its community and did the opening night on Broadway

The man is a t**t and the Police were a "pop" band....

Sting , sitting on top of the barbican.

Message in a bottle is a banger. Drum solo in that is so so good.

I think 'bland' sums them up. Some not-bad pop songs, but very, very soft reggae, on par with mid-period UB40. Nothing much to be offended about, but if I never heard one of their songs again I probably wouldn't notice.

Stuart and Miles Copeland, however, are top dudes. They donated some money to a youth club where I grew up, which was for instruments and recording equipment. It sparked a little scene which produced some pretty decent local bands, and gave lots of people a chance to have a go. The effect lasted for years - right up until they knocked down the youth club.

Got few of their albums. Used to listen to The Police for a while because they were good. I think the last song I listened to was Every Breath You Take.
Then noticed Sting started to smell his own fart and I moved on ... never again. Apparently Sting came to Newcastle for a visit few years back (I think ...) and nobody really care apart from the local news.

Definitely a pop band! The acceptable face of "new wave" who your parents could like.Was at this gig https://www.mdmarchive.co.uk/artefact/6220/FREE_TRADE_HALL_TICKET_1979
I ended up briefly dating a girl who got on stage and was enticed off by being given one of Sting's sweaty towels,her mate got a slice of his water melon,ticket price only £1.75!!!
This Joy Divison gig a couple of weeks later which I also attended was more my thing
https://www.joydiv.org/c250679.htm
Oh to be 16 again! " And I hate modern music disco boogie and pop it goes on and on and on and on and I wish it would stop!"

Massage in a brothel was ok. I have something to thank them for, coped off with a hottie who loved The Police, because I had a passing resemblance to Sting in my youf, well I had short blond hair.

What easily said +1. Police were to reggae and rock what Foreigner were to blues and punk.

The 1dt 2 albums were top quality pop of their day (was listening today).

To compare with all reggae is stupid and to talk about personalities moreso.

The best thing Sting did ???

Well that's cleared that up for me ..I always thought he was singing about "massaging a botty"..
Never a rock band ..a pop/ whiteboy reggae band at best ..ok at the time but sound a bit shit now ..

Copeland hit the drums harder than anyone else ..?
Wonder what Bonzo or Moon would say to that ..probably laughing from a cloud somewhere right now .

Ah yes, that Zappa/Sting Murder by Numbers is brilliant. "I wrote the ****ing song".

It's always a bit pointless people blathering on about who hit the drums hardest - so what.

Copeland was/is a superb drummer and much underrated.

IMO obvs.

Summers is almost as big a dick as Sting. Some good songs, but veered too much towards MOR for me.

JP

Copeland is a legend.... end of.

The best worst thing Sting Zappa did???

ftfy 😉

I'm a fan.

Roxanne and Walking on the Moon are bloody excellent tracks if nothing else. Copelands' off beat "moving one beat to the left" as he called it on Roxanne was pretty innovative at the time and one of the reasons Rolling Stone put him at no.10 on their all time 100 best drummers. Andy Summers is a brilliant guitarist and while Sting isn't everyone's cup of tea fo'shure, he's a great composer and arranger and again like the other two a brilliant musician. Like many 3 piece bands they were forced to be creative to fill in the space left out by a rhythm guitarist, and I think if we're being hyperbolic, they were massively influential in the late 70's and early 80's. They were one of the few English bands that could fill a US stadium .

Sure some of their tracks haven't dated well, but then neither have lots of other artists of that era, and I'd still put a few of their songs as all time greats, Don't stand so close to me, and Every Breath you Take for example.

Yeah Sting turned out to be a right nob but I've always had a soft spot for The Police. Always thought of them as an interesting pop band rather than a risk averse alternative band

Here's what I learnt today: Stewart Copeland wrote the theme tune to The Equalizer

To me - a decent pop band with a tendency to do awful cod reggae.

I think If yo liked real reggae as I do then the polices crap attempt at reggae simply sounds shite

They were an OK pop band, but not in the same league as Prince or Bowie, for a couple of random examples off the top of my head.

The police were the first band I saw live at Milton Keynes bowl in 1980. Flippin ace it was (even though I was only 7 at the time).

Copeland is one of the greats imo.
But TBF sting has done some great stuff (but not the album with Shaggy!!) and he did write "hung my head" which was covered superbly by Jonny Cash and is still one of my favourite songs from the American IV album.

I still have regatta, zenyatta and Synchronicity on vinyl from my youth and still rate them.

NickC's examples made me smile ..Dont stand so close to me and every breath you take ..did someone fart then?

I still have vinyl copies of Regatta & Zenyatta ..open to offers if some mug wants to pay me lots 🤑

Depends on the chronology really - the early stuff like Roxanne, Can't stand losing and Sue Lawley are great but the later stuff, especially Every Breath, King of Pain etc were massive MTV players in an age of soft rock so they get lumped in with a lot of other bland stuff. Sting is a great songwriter though, even if he does have an ego that got a bit out of hand at the time; he wasn't the only one.

It's pop, for sure, but it's musically original and quite sophisticated whilst still being catchy. This is pretty difficult to pull off and very few bands can do it. A sign of real talent, as composers. But I don't own any of their albums...

As Ton said first two albums were great, then Sting kept taking his shirt off and that was it.

Copeland is a brilliant drummer, really special, he did a film called the Rhymatist which is excellent.

He also did the soundtrack for Rumble Fish, one of my favourite films.

I saw them at the Rushcliffe Leisure Centre in 1978 - supported by the Cramps.
At the time, I thought they were great ( and I used to go out with Andy Summer's niece when I was younger).
Sting became to gobshite model that later morphed into Bono and Geldof. he had a smug opinion on everything (even the Russians loving their children too, FFS). The coke consumption didn't help him, mind.
They were all musos riding the New Wave thang - Summers background was with Robin Fripp and King Crimson, so Prog rock at its best, Copeland was ex Curved air (with a brother that was something to do with the CIA) and Sting was Jazz Rock & Funk through and through.

Loved the first two albums, they are part of the soundtrack of my life. But haven't listen to them since about 1981. Gave up at the one with the orange cover, when the drug induced egos took over...
( I did have a soft spot for Copeland appearing on the OGWT with "****" and "Off" taped on this drums ... as mentioned above)

They like a prototype Coldplay

Saw them in either Leeds or Bradford probably round 79ish as I left school in 1980. Someone had a ticket to get rid of. I was very, very into music at the time and saw a lot of bands. The police was my first meh gig. Band appeared to be acting having a good time. Audience went along with it. I was left pretty cold. Not much coming back from that really...

That said, I liked the stotts scene posted above, and Sting did a hyper geordie interview on the word to wind up a nervous new presenter, which was kind of funny. And copeland on drums expressing his disdain for the backbeat ("just play a backbeat!") was funny too. Maybe one day I'll watch Sting's NPR tiny desk with Shaggy. Nah. Enough?