The Police: A Forgotten Band?

Question to the OP, which punk musicians would you say are skilled on their instruments?

 

Here's the problem with SHF discussions of what the kids dig: Puffy's use of "Every Breath" was more than 20 years ago!

So a 15-year-old who got the song back then is now mid-30s.

On the SHF, anyone under the age of 60 is viewed as a kid!

 

Ah this stuff about who has remained prominent and canonical is fun to argue, impossible to win arguments about. I will say I lean toward "have not kept up their superprominence" as they had a unique sound that mostly people stopped trying to emulate, tho Bruno Mars had a hit a couple years back that seemed very much in a Police vein tho I forget title. But certainly not as returned to a sound as kind of the generic synthy dance pop of early 80s.

 

OK, Colin, you've used this icon twice already this morning. After 3 in a day, you gotta start paying taxes!

 

That's okay - I can afford it!



Send me the bill!

 

All of the Dead Kennedys
Steve Jones
Bad Brains

 

I was an early fan, and I saw them play live once. They had their own style, incorporating punk, reggae, pop, and jazz, but I wouldn't classify them as as specifically representative of any of those genres. They got so big so fast, that artists who can sustain that level of success for many years are the exception, rather than the rule.

Like Cream, there may have been some ego conflicts between them. I always thought that Sting was pretentious, and Summers was the weak link musically. Take away his flanger/chorus effects pedal, and there's not much there.
Copeland, OTOH, has always been a preeminent drummer. He could have lived nicely off the money he made with The Police, but has had a prolific career after that band, composing music for many films, video games, and as a drummer-for-hire by other A-list musicians, as well as numerous other projects, inc. short-lived bands (Animal Logic with Stanley Clarke). He also has six kids to keep him busy.

 

Someone who dreamed of blue turtles kinda dropped them a peg after awhile. Same thing happened with U2. From renegade to won't shut up.

 

The Edge gets similar criticism, and I think it's unfair. Both developed their own sound, and both were very influential.

I don't know how strong Andy's technical abilities were, but he created a guitar sound that was a strong part of the band's signature, and he deserves credit for that...

 

And the Beatles more thread than there are galaxies in the universe

 

They did a reunion tour a few years ago and sold out Wrigley Field here, so I wouldn't say they've been forgotten.

 

They have some great tunes, but I've tried listening to all of their albums and I find them very uneven. They are a fantastic Greatest Hits and a Few More band.

 

I think Synchronicity is a great album, the first two are pretty good and quite liked them / didnt mind them on LP.

However, I have tried hard to forget them but the live experience is indelibly etched on my brain.
I saw them twice in the mid and late 80's and they bored me senseless both times. So much, in fact, that my wife nearly laughed herself silly when I said I was going to see them the second time (she refused to go on this second time, on the sensible basis that they were complete crap the first time). Whenever Sting strips to the waist and starts all that "Woy Oy Oy Oy Whoh" cod reggae nonsense its time to go home...

- I suppose the definition of insanity is repeating your behaviour and expecting different results.

 

You think I have a problem? Oh well!

 

Currently playing Message In A Box (with deliberate omissions) and was I really ten when staring at that copy of Can't Stand Losing You and wondering why the guy was hanging over a block of ice? Sure I was and a few years later I got the three-bar fire.

TRACKS

"Fall Out"
"Nothing Achieving"
"Dead End Job"
"Can't Stand Losing You"
"So Lonely"
"No Time This Time"
"Roxanne"
"Peanuts"
"Message in a Bottle"
"Landlord"
"Visions of the Night"
"Walking on the Moon"
"Reggatta de Blanc"
"Truth Hits Everybody"
"Bring On the Night"
"The Bed's Too Big Without You"
"On Any Other Day"
"Don't Stand So Close to Me"
"Contact"
"Spirits in the Material World"
"Does Everyone Stare"
"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"
"It's Alright for You"
"De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da"
"Wrapped Around Your Finger"
"Synchronicity II"
"Deathwish"
"Invisible Sun"
"King of Pain"
"Every Breath You Take"

 

Not in this case. Despite my early antipathy, I have somewhat warmed to the band and have been listening to their first two albums in the car today.

I remember at the time, critics complained that, while the Police made 'great singles', their albums tended to be patchy. I think I'd go along with this. They would have been stronger if there had been more than on writer in the band.

 

Like their 80s contemporaries U2 the Police music doesn't seem to hold up well over time.Being the biggest in the 80s like U2 may be more of an indicater how weak 80s rock music was.I have The Police Greatest Hits lp and it sounds pretty good.Thats about all the Police I want.At least this is my theory.Others may vary.

 

When someone mentions Sting this century, I can only think of blue tantric turtles. Pity.

 

You've misunderstood what I wrote. The Police were never a punk band but they were lazily thrown in with that crowd by tone-deaf hack journos. Admittedly, they may have played up to it a bit with their early choice of stage wear and the aggression in some of their early singles (Fall Out) but they were never punk for the reasons I've given.

 

Right, it was one of the biggest grossing tours ever.
So, not forgotten by millions of fans all over the world (but not the type of people who hang out here )

 

They were really big in the 80s and they seemed destined for Classic Rock band status.

I would say that nowadays they are rated as just another major 80s act -- U2, Duran Duran, The Cure, etc.

Probably the Sting factor, as the OP mentions. He was all over the place in the 1980s and 1990s. Somehow, he completely overshadowed the band for the non-contemporary audience.

 

Hey, the thread has 25 people "viewing", so there's decent interest in the band here!

I'd be very curious to see how a 2019 Police tour would do. I think it'd fall short of the 2007-08's sales but it'd do well - definitely much better than any of Sting's tours...

 

Agree about Sting, but I think that's possibly unfair on Summers, whom I remember playing some good stuff when he backed Kevin Coyne on his previous gig. The Police were not a 'guitar band' as such (no instrument seems to predominate), so Summers didn't have many opportunities to stretch out.