The Police: A Forgotten Band?

The Police are one of my top favorite bands. they were huge in the 80's. I saw them in 1982 during the Ghost in the Machine tour and 2007 the reunion tour. Ghost in the machine is my favorite album.

 

"Walking On The Moon" was part of the soundtrack to many a rainy afternoon - along with Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello, The Jags and that first great s/t Huey Lewis album - hanging out in the UC Berkeley dorms with my best friend, back in the early 80's.

Such a great, carefree time - anything was possible. Their music brings all that back for me.

And Sting's solo work? Absolutely wonderful. I never grow tired of it. I've introduced a few younger music fans to him, and they inevitably sit up and ask - "wait - what's this guy's name? I have to get this album." I finally saw him perform live a few years back in Barcelona during a business trip. He was incredible.

 

Young-ish person here. The Police are still big, at least among 30-something rock fans. Couldn't name a single solo Sting song.

 

Not wishing to wish injury on anybody, but I reckon Stuart's injury was a blessing, the idea of an album of "remakes" is a pretty uninspiring thought.

As much as I liked Sting's songs I always looked forward (still do) to Stuart & Andy's "quirky" contributions to the albums.

The Police really were a terrific band

 

Come to Spain and tune in any rock radio. Chances are the first thing you hear is: "Roooooooooooooxaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaane".

Also, Every Breath You take was featured on the 2nd season finale of Stranger Things. That probably gave them huge exposure to generation Y and Z audiences:

 

My favourite band of all time.
You just have to look at the world class musicians that credit them as influences or who hung out with them on the synchronicity tour.
Jaco pastorius ,Joni Mitchell,Pat metheny,Miles Davis ,Billy Joel ,Weather Report , Stanley Clarke , Robert Fripp .
Their live jams are legendary and I remember a bass teacher telling me that their bootleg live tapes were traded and taught at Berklee as part of the improvisation studies when he was there.

 

"Message In A Bottle" was one of the songs in Guitar Hero years ago, so at least my kids know who The Police are. My 11-yo seems to like Synchronicity a lot.

 

Dec. 31 : today is Andy Summers' 76th birthday ....

 

They were the best band of their generation, but they were a singles band not albums

 

Been a fan since the beginning and still listen to them.

 

Well, he’s doing it now, 30 years later! A Sting album of remakes (both Police and solo) is due out soon.

 

Yeah I heard about the remakes. Can't say I'm looking forward to it.

 

I couldn't agree with that.. Five great albums ... sure they had good singles, but the albums were always in the top lists until people got burnt out on Sting

 

Sting releasing new album: 'My Songs'

 

I enjoy all five of the Police albums in different ways but pretty much equally. While they all include a bit of filler, they also include a lot of great "deep cuts" beyond the big hits, so I definitely don't think of them as being exclusively a singles band.

 

Outlandos d'Amour RIAA platinum
Reggatta De Blanc RIAA platinum
Zenyatta Mondatta RIAA 2x platinum
Ghost In The Machine RIAA 3x platinum
Synchronicity RIAA 8x platinum

 

I'm not talking about sales

 

Good albums regardless. Ghost is probably the patchiest but the rest are fine.

 

"The Police had a hit; therefore they were a singles band"

 

Recently I’ve been listening the original AM+ (Audio Master Plus) CD’s. Cheap, good sounding and easily available. For some reason, the only disc I do not have is Outlandos d’Amour. I need to remedy that...

 

Different strokes. I personally find it to be their most consistent, cohesive effort in a lot of ways. I guess that I'm a sucker for that Orwellian dystopian vibe. I've been finding myself going back to it a lot these days. . .

 

I somewhat liked their first album at the time, but never had much use for anything else they did.

 

Your first point? That’s a bold statement. A generation is a long time and there were a lot of great bands between say ‘70 and ‘90.

Second point? Totally disagree.

 

Dream of the Blue Turtles is as good as any Police album but after Nothing Like The Sun there’s nothing great. Instead of going back with a smaller band in 1991, Sting should have brought back The Police.

 

No, it's not that bold of a statement. A music generation only lasts four-five years.