For me it was after "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You". That song spoke very deeply to me as I was going through a very tough personal crisis at that point. For me, it was a call to not lose faith in myself / what was important to me. But I suppose Sting was actually directing the lyrics to someone else (meaning someone outside himself). I don't know the correct answer to that. After that powerful statement, he couldn't match that IMO, at least in the short term. The Sting songs I remember after that didn't speak to me very well (e.g., Brand New Day). But (wow) that's been 20 years. That went by in a blink of an eye. I don't know his most recent material. I also haven't found a reason to go search it out.
I recalled Denis Leary delivering this Funny Line on Sting from a concert or TV Talk Show Appearance, but found it on this link to an MTV Advert(about 40 Seconds), that also had a few funny takes on other Musicians(The Doors Movie Take was Wicked Funny and I am a Massive Doors Fan).
Never. He just stopped doing what some people wanted him to do and some can’t accept he wanted to do different stuff than the police
Other than the first track/single I love the album with Shaggy, it’s just a fun album. As was the concert. I wish the critics in here could have seen him having some fun on stage with shaggy. I think people taking him too seriously is more the issue than him being too serious.
Mercury Falling was the drop off into blandness. Everything before was excellent. That's a good 15-ish year run. Most artists have about 5 years.
This. The guy is a hugely successful artist. He's restless. Why do you have this need to put him down? I understand people lamenting on Rod Stewart's career choices. But Sting? So what he recorded a lute album? AND, is there anything less commercial than a lute album?? He can do a friggin shamisen music album every year for what its worth. (& I'd gladly be his proudest fan, as I love the shamisen). Sure, Brand New Day may be weaker than his early solo outputs, but is still in the same rock/pop/softjazz vein that Sting perfected as his craft. So... a musician puts out commercial albums: he's sold out. But if he take chances, try different musical engagements and puts out artistic albums: he lost his muse. You guys are something.
"Ten Summoner's Tales" was and still is a brilliant album, one of my favorites. "Mercury Falling" had some of that going for it but after that he seemed to loose the plot...then as if things couldn't get worse came his fascination with the lute and that horrible Christmas album.
He lost it when he wrote "Walking in Your Footsteps", which provided the blueprint for his banal solo career.
I do agree those were decent songs; the last ones I recall liking by Sting. Coincidentially I've recently been on a "classic" Sting kick, relistening to his first decade of solo material. As overplayed as dome of those songs were, he still had a great knack for melody and hooks in those days.
It really did! I almost didn't go because I figured it would consist of a PG solo set, a Sting solo set, and a token collaborative set that lasted maybe 6 songs. Boy, was I wrong. The "mix and match" nature of the show made it a delight, and the opposite of what I expected...
However, many of us (including me, the OP) haven't said he lost anything after The Police. What many of us think is that he "lost it" (I'm using the term loosely) after about 1993. I think his solo stuff c.1985 to 1993 is very much on par with his Police stuff, if not better. But I'm glad someone brought up the Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams trio single. I think I had mentally blocked that out. That was definitely the exact moment when Sting lost it. An embarrassment.
Couldn’t agree more!! I don’t like all “different” stuff he has done, but it was his choice. He hasn’t lost anything. He was great when I saw him last month. Some people are so damn entitled and think artists should do what they want all the time
There are many posts in here that state after the police or during the police or never had it. Either way, he hasn’t lost anything. He’s done what he wants. You or someone else not liking it doesn’t equal he lost it.
Based on the theory of some in here, I am just going to claim Bob Dylan never had it.....I mean, I am not a fan of his voice or a large percentage of his music. He obviously never had it
He never lost it - he still is a great musician. I just can't get into his solo music, though. In 1983, I was all about The Police, having seen them on the Synchronicity tour. I found myself eagerly awaiting the next album. Then came the "Don't Stand So Close To Me '86", and I should have seen what was coming. At the time, I was dating a girl who was very conservative and Plain Jane. She actually thought The Police were too rock-n-roll and rough. When Dream Of The Blue Turtles came out, I was disappointed, and she was ecstatic. She loved it; I was lukewarm at best. The band he had for that tour, though, was fantastic. I lost interest after that. Sting was a jazzer before The Police. That he went back to his roots surprised no one. It became obvious to me that, without the friction that existed in The Police, Sting would be free to be....very bland. He needs that tension to be his best.
The Dream of the Blue Turtles project and engagement of bona fide jazz musicians was a good effort, but for me the evidence of Sumner's clueless and irrevocable cultural appropriation was in the "Bring On the Night" film, when he obstinately tries to get the band to join in on the Flintstones theme as a reaction to not understanding why tbe guys find it funny that they've received a review from George Jefferson.
