The Police: A Forgotten Band?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Siegmund, Sep 14, 2018.

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  1. wwaldmanfan

    wwaldmanfan Born In The 50's

    Location:
    NJ
    I don't disagree. Perhaps my original comment was too harsh. I think Andy Summers must have been a big influence on The Edge. ("Hey, listen to what I can do with all these cool effects boxes!") My personal taste leans more towards skilled playing without all the gimmicks, but that's just me.
     
  2. Echoes Myron

    Echoes Myron Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Synchronicity and GITM are two of my all time faves...love them.
     
  3. drbryant

    drbryant Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Saw them only twice, once in 1979 in a small venue on the campus of the University of Hawaii, and on their reunion tour when they played two shows at 55,000 seat Tokyo Dome. Both great shows.
     
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  4. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    I'd say that the "punk explosion" permitted them to find a platform and I'm sure that the punk scene inspired them to get together and do their thing. That first single and the graphics that went with it were very much in the punk style (even though Sting was still wearing flares at the time).
    Inspired by what The Clash were doing, they soon brought in a reggae style to their music, which brought them enourmous success.
     
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  5. Dhreview16

    Dhreview16 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London UK
    I have no idea whether the Police have been forgotten or not, but (to me at least) some of their big hits are still instantly recognisable - Message In A Bottle, Roxanne, Walking on the Moon etc. But I could say the same about Sting's Fields of Gold or Englishman in New York, and I think albums like Ten Summoners Tales get an unfair press. Personally, I still remember the Police from a London pub around '77 (probably) before they hit the big time and were vying with the other punk/new wave bands hoping for the breakthrough that happened to the likes of the Clash, Pistols, Pretenders, Billy Idol, (yes) Dire Straits, and Elvis Costello, all playing similar small gigs. They clearly had talent.
     
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  6. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    You know U2 are still arguably the world's biggest rock band, right? Their popularity far exceeds that of the other bands you mention...
     
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  7. Saintbert

    Saintbert Forum Resident

    Location:
    Helsinki
    "That was the Police, or as they are now known, Sting" - (fictional) radio DJ, Alan Partridge.
     
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  8. Synthfreek

    Synthfreek I’m a ray of sunshine & bastion of positivity

    I'm simply asking you a question. I didn't misunderstand anything.
     
  9. zen

    zen Senior Member

    Maybe it's the repetitiveness of their songs. They liked to milk a good idea. I can't blame them, I guess. Or maybe the classic rock radio burn out took care of it. Great band.
     
  10. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    I kinda think of them as forgotten too, so it's nice to be persuaded that it's a mistaken impression. They WERE really the biggest band in the world when they broke up. I still think they should have stuck it out a few more years.
     
  11. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic Thread Starter

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    I think you could argue that they were opportunists - old timers who'd been doing the rounds for a long time (Summers was in the his mid-thirties!) without much in the way of mainstream success, who latched onto the coat-tails of punk/New Wave and - bingo! - made it big. Sting's previous gig was in a fusion band and Copeland had been in the 'prog' band Curved Air.
     
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  12. Andrewb

    Andrewb Claiming squatter's rights

    Location:
    UK
    My favourite cover/mash up of a Police song bar none:
     
  13. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic Thread Starter

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    Well then, to answer your question: None. The Police were never punk.
     
  14. Exile On My Street

    Exile On My Street Senior Member

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    These "forgotten" threads always make me....sigh...:sigh:

    Forgotten by whom? People who weren't even born before the band had broken up? Why would we expect younger generations to love the same music *we* grew up on?

    Forgotten by members of this forum? You mean *this* place? Where people still reminisce awful bands like Grand Funk and Foghat? The Police actually get a lot of love in the "What Are you Listening To" threads if anyone has never checked those out.

    Forgotten by radio? If I put on a Classic Rock station The Police are played quite often. When I put on my local indie station they play The Police quite often.

    So let's check our calendars, it is 2018 (for those of you who haven't flipped some pages in awhile) and see there is no reason a band whose commercial peak was 1983 shouldn't be somewhat forgotten as that was a long, long time ago.
     
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  15. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Again, I think it's unfair to call what Summers and/or the Edge did "gimmicks". They utilized the tools available to them to create unique sounds.

    I think Andy is a "skilled player" anyway...
     
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  16. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    It seems like there's a pattern on this site that if we're either (a) not talking about the Beatles or a closely Beatles-related artist, or (b) not talking about an artist or style of music that's niche/fringe enough that most folks don't bother with the thread, then people feel compelled to say as many negative things about the artist as positive, either in alternating posts or the same person will just go ahead and do both themselves in the course of a single post.
     
  17. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    They were, like a lot of other bands at the time, kind of buoyed up by the punk thing, They looked kinda punk, they played some really aggressive songs at first, they had a reggae fixation, and they played a lot of the same clubs that punks played at. I don't think it was just "hack journos" - when I was a teenager I thought they were at least peripherally associated with punk. They grew out of it of course, but so did the Clash.
     
  18. intv7

    intv7 Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    To be fair, "a few years ago" was actually 10 full years ago.

    Not that I agree that they're forgotten. Those who were there at the time remember them fondly. As Oatsdad said upthread, they just don't have all that big a catalog to discuss. Five albums and they were out. They distilled all their albums and plentiful B-sides down to a 4-CD box. There's not gonna be nearly as much to say about them on this forum, compared with other 70s/80s rock acts who had much longer careers.
     
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  19. noahjld

    noahjld Der Wixxer

    No.
     
  20. zen

    zen Senior Member

    If the Police wanted to stay "more" relevant they could have recorded a few albums within that 10 year period. Then we'd have more to talk about. :D
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2018
  21. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    Because they're interested in music and one of the things you do when you're interested in music is start exploring stuff from previous eras. It's part of being culturally literate in an art form that you have a special interest in.
     
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  22. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    Andy Summers was on of the first people in Britain to meet Jimi also! Chas and Jimi went round to Zoot Money's place on the way back to London from Heathrow Airport. Andy even jammed with Jimi at the house that day.
    Andy went on to join the amazing Kevin Koyne.

    I think what Andy did was pure genius. Copeland too and Sting needs no introduction - and I'm not even a big fan!
     
  23. ianuaditis

    ianuaditis Matthew 21:17

    Location:
    Long River Place
    I meant at the time that song came out. My previous posts to that one were talking about the turn of the millennium, and my last post before this one said 'I have no idea what the kids are into these days.'

    My point was they were still fairly popular 15 years after their breakup, because of their genre having a resurgence here and also because of that song, in response to the OP premise that the Police are a forgotten band.

    I think it's a rough go when you get into 'this one was authentic, this one wasn't' based on how well they play their instruments. You won't get very far trying to argue Bad Brains aren't a punk band, even though they started out playing fusion.
     
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  24. Hermes

    Hermes Past Master

    Location:
    Denmark
    Police >> Sting

    That would be Iron Maiden on their debut album :D
     
  25. Robber Soul

    Robber Soul Forum Resident

    Forgotten? Certainly not by me anyway!
     
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