The Police: A Forgotten Band?

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

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Say It Right

    Say It Right Not for the Hearing Impaired

    Location:
    Niagara Falls
    Well, an 800 page extravaganza was out here for the McCartney, which rightly nobody else gives a flip about outside this forum. So there's your sense of perspective.
     
    DavidD, Comet01, danielbravo and 2 others like this.
  2. Neil Anderson

    Neil Anderson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
  3. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    I doubt that The Police are "forgotten" in any real sense, but I don't have much to base that on. They were huge for 3-4 years in the early 1980s here in the U.S.; before that they were more of a large cult band. They didn't really last long enough at that enormous level of popularity to have made the indelible impression that some other artists have made amongst the general public.

    I was never a huge fan, at least until Synchronicity. I found their instrumentation too sparse and limiting. Sting's lyrics, especially once he started venturing into more intellectual and substantive subject matter, were the main appeal to me. I do still enjoy their albums.

    I'm a much bigger fan of Sting's solo work.
     
  4. Black Magic Woman

    Black Magic Woman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chile
    Wrong band, we’re talking about The Police here :D
     
  5. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    But, it doesn’t ROCK!
     
  6. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    I'm glad to see someone else who is a solo Sting fan, too. :righton:

    I've followed all of their solo careers and other projects.
     
  7. noahjld

    noahjld Der Wixxer

    Excellent.
     
  8. noahjld

    noahjld Der Wixxer

    It doesn't have to...........
     
    ARK and Comet01 like this.
  9. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic Thread Starter

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    I think you need to consult a dictionary on the correct meaning of the word 'absurd' which you so lazily throw about. And while you're about it, my below-bridge dwelling ami, why don't you also consult the correct meaning of the word 'skill'.....

    I can think of a few 'punk' musos who would have punched your lights out for even hinting that they might be 'skilled'.

    Gotcha. :)
     
  10. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    No but, it sure feels good:)
     
    noahjld likes this.
  11. Eno_Fan

    Eno_Fan Staring into the abyss: Brockman BIF, Pilbara WA

    Location:
    Izieu, France
    Sycnchronicity? Meh, Pish and Tosh. Any band that produced 'Outlandos d'Amour' and 'Reggatta de Blanc' as its first two albums could never be called 'forgotten' by any stretch of the imagination. History's class-acts are not defined by what teh kiddies today think -- such people are equally unlikely to have any knowledge of King Crimson, but that is no measure of anything (and I would venture to suggest that more noobs will recognise 'Roxanne' than they will COTCK...
     
    Cat People and jay.dee like this.
  12. Denim Chicken

    Denim Chicken Dayman, fighter of the Nightman

    Location:
    Bakersfield, CA
    Never forgotten by me. On my top five favorite bands. Andy Summers is one of my favorite guitar players. Stewart Copeland is my favorite drummer, no question. Sting is also one my favorite songwriters of all time. His first four solo albums are flawless.
     
  13. overdrivethree

    overdrivethree Forum Resident

    Agreed. They already toned the arrangements down so it didn't have the pop their music requires. And by the time I saw them (the last half of the reunion tour), I'm pretty sure they were over it. Elvis Costello opened, stuck mainly to the closest thing you could call "hits", and blew the Police off the stage, energy wise.
     
  14. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    I hear them on the radio all the time. :shrug:
     
    Cat People and Dudley Morris like this.
  15. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic Thread Starter

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    The quality of their output (which most people on this thread, myself included, acknowledge) won't stop them from being forgotten. We've had similar threads on artists who were popular once but who aren't that well remembered.
     
  16. Certainly the Police seem to get more play on classic hits/'80s radio than Sting. Although it's possible I'm just tuning the Sting tracks out. :)
     
    zither likes this.
  17. Eno_Fan

    Eno_Fan Staring into the abyss: Brockman BIF, Pilbara WA

    Location:
    Izieu, France
    What can this mean? Because the Pistols couldn't play to save their lives a band must be poor musicians to be classed as punk?! Tell that to The Ruts (or indeed The Members)...
     
  18. Synthfreek

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

    absurd=wildly unreasonable, illogical, or inappropriate.
    Hey, that's just like your answer.

    skill= 1. an ability to do an activity or job well
    I stand by my statement that there are punk musicians who posses skill.

    Next?
     
    jay.dee and Dudley Morris like this.
  19. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic Thread Starter

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    Thinking back to the early 80s when the Police were still together but Sting's solo career seemed to be burgeoning - Mr. Sumner was practically everywhere, in Britain at least. It was around this time someone decided that his 'extraordinary stage presence' might qualify him for acting roles and he began to pop up in all sorts of films - including the main role in Brimstone & Treacle, where his inexperience/lack of ability was cruelly exposed and ruined the film. He featured in radio plays, too. The man was seriously over-exposed and probably (even then) as famous, if not more, than the band he was still a member of. It was inevitable by, say 1982, that he'd fly the nest and strike out on his own....
     
    mtvgeneration and Yovra like this.
  20. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic Thread Starter

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    You've had more than your five minutes, pal. Time to move along. :)
     
  21. Crimson Witch

    Crimson Witch Roll across the floor thru the hole & out the door

    Location:
    Lower Michigan
    I wouldn't exactly call 8 years a brief career.
    I don't think they ever posed or purported themselves as 'punk' ~ they just happened to rise at about the same time as 70s punk did, and because they weren't classic rock they sort of got lumped in with punk/ new wave by some people, owing to the fact. So-called "white man's Reggae" isn't exactly accurate either. They incorporated reggae into their songs, a few being pure Reggae, but most just borrowing ideas and creating something new. When they played Reggae ("Bed's Too Big Without You") it was indeed Reggae ~ they just happened to be Caucasian. I'm sure if they had wanted to, they could've copied authentic Jamaican Reggae, hid their faces, and everyone would have assumed they were West Indian ~ they certainly were competent enough to have pulled that off. They chose to be original. I think what they were primarily is: a pop-rock band that incorporated Reggae, post-Psychedelic, and progressive-jazz fusion in a very radio-friendly amalgam.
    * To your question ~ not forgotten! :)
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2018
    DolphinsIntheJacuzzi likes this.
  22. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic Thread Starter

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    I said their career was 'relatively brief': in eight years, most bands have fulfilled their potential and said most of what they've got to say, if not all of it (there are exceptions, of course). I became aware of them in mid-1979 and they were all over by 1983, so they spanned my adolescence. That does seem like a fairly short period.

    Apparently, they were mistaken for a Jamaican group by several ratio stations in the early days.....

    Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) maintains that the Police were the last (and best) progressive rock band, though I'm not entirely sure what he means.
     
    Crimson Witch likes this.
  23. pool_of_tears

    pool_of_tears Searching For Simplicity

    Location:
    Midwest
    I enjoy Sting’s solo stuff from 1985-2001. I moved on and got off the bus after that...no apparent reason.

    Blue Turtles and Ten Summoner’s are my favorites. I’m amazed there haven’t been any deluxe editions from Universal, for Sting solo or The Police. Blue Turtles would be a great choice...album, b-side, demos, full live show, 5.1 mix. Synchronicity would bode well, too. Or how about the unreleased live album that was completed in 1981, prior to the Ghost sessions.
     
    Cat People and Comet01 like this.
  24. pool_of_tears

    pool_of_tears Searching For Simplicity

    Location:
    Midwest
    The Police were all over/done by 1986, not 1983.
     
  25. Crimson Witch

    Crimson Witch Roll across the floor thru the hole & out the door

    Location:
    Lower Michigan
    True their last studio album was '83 but they were active until '86. I tend to think of that as a long career, but then I'm of the mindset that most bands ride the gravy train far too long, usually to their detriment artistically. I remember hearing them played on a public radio program dedicated to Reggae that was hosted by a man who was from Cayman Islands in the West Indies.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine