We grew up listening to the Police. Like, I remember my brother and I singing along to “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” while getting driven to elementary school and watching the video for “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” on some kind of pre-MTV music show. The band literally formed the soundtrack to our early years.
Anyway, this was just released: Stewart Copeland explaining the drumming behind “Message In A Bottle.”
My friends wife is named Roxanne.
She hates The Police.
In reply to ShawnG :
She must love NWA.
ShawnG said:My friends wife is named Roxanne.
She hates The Police.
How old is she? If she's younger than 46, it may not be an accident. If she's 45 or 46, it definitely wasn't.
Sorry, but that group is an instant channel-changer. S.O.S. is probably one of the worst offender songs for a band that just plays the same riff over and over and repeats the same lyrics. It's like having a stuck record.
In reply to ddavidv :
Yeah, I love Stewart Copeland - he wrote the fantastic soundtrack to Spyro The Dragon - but having turned 16 in 1981, I never really liked more than a handful of their songs.
Stewart was one of my drumming heroes as I grew up. Him and Neal Peart.
Thankfully, they went on tour when I was able to go see them.
For me, the Police is one of those bands that keeps getting better in retrospect. I was somewhat ambivalent towards them when they first hit the radio airwaves with Roxanne, but that first album is uniquely quirky and quite listenable. Synchronicity, their fifth and last studio album, is a masterpiece, IMO. There are no weak albums between their first and last. Giant steps are what you take walking on the moon.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Literally just bought the 'Regatta De Blanc' LP on Tuesday and listened to it last night.
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
Hey, I have it playing right now. :)
I am glad I was able to see them in 2007 on their reunion tour when it came to Miami. Maroon 5 opened for them, no one knew them.
I have all their albums.
I love The Police and especially Stewart Copeland. He had such a unique playing style for the time, and remains one of my favorite drummers to look to for inspiration when I am feeling "writer's block" while playing. With the Jamaican (and apparently Arabic) influences in his playing, it's like working with an entirely different set of tools to get the job done. I didn't get through all the Drumeo stuff he did yet, but what I saw was really cool.
Side Note: Drumeo's YouTube channel is fantastic. They do a series where they have famous drummers play other people's popular songs that they have never heard. The results can be pretty entertaining. Their in-depth sit-downs with famous drummers walking through their songs can be enlightening.
Slippery said:I am glad I was able to see them in 2007 on their reunion tour when it came to Miami. Maroon 5 opened for them, no one knew them.
I have all their albums.
Saw that tour, too. I don’t know why, but I expected backup singers, strings, horn section, etc. Maybe I was expecting more Sting than the Police.
Was totally happy to see just the three of them take the stage. It was perfect.
Thanks for that, it was fun to watch. The Police are one of my favorite bands, and I am still kicking myself for never seeing them live.
I'm not hugely familiar with their entire catalog, but a big fan of Stewart Copeland and their "hits." Our physics and chemistry teacher (same person) always seemed to have The Police on in the background when we were doing lab work.
You mentioned being driven to school listening, the album that we played almost every day when my mom was driving my sister and I to school was "ZZ Tops Greatest Hits." I'm a huge fan of ZZ Top. So many iconic songs.
Having worked some of Sting's shows. I must say he is a class act. He would actually eat with us as he loved our venue's salad bar.
I turned 21 in 1976, I loved Bob Marley, Reggae music, and the Police. Saw Stink in Reno around 1986, he was kind of tired and I took a nap in the nose bleed seats of some giant arena.
A long time ago, I heard a Police song on the radio, a totally instrumental song without any singing. I searched for many hours but couldn't figure out what it was. Never heard it again but it was great.
In reply to VolvoHeretic :
It's probably 'Behind My Camel' from Zenyatta Mondatta.
Good song. Sting hated it, so Andy Summers played bass and guitar on it.
I just watched that entire video and enjoyed it quite a bit more than I thought I would.
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
He’s a good host. His IG videos are entertaining and educational as well.
I saw them on their Synchronicity tour and thought they were kind of boring. Of course, I had just seen Pat Benatar not too long before that so I might have been a little spoiled.
Duke said:In reply to VolvoHeretic :
It's probably 'Behind My Camel' from Zenyatta Mondatta.
Good song. Sting hated it, so Andy Summers played bass and guitar on it.
Oops, my bad. I think it might have been the Rolling Stones. 
In reply to VolvoHeretic :
In that case, it was probably the coda at the end of 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking?' from Sticky Fingers.
Also a fantastic song. That part was allegedly improvised in a single take.
[edit] This?
Duke said:In reply to VolvoHeretic :
It's probably 'Behind My Camel' from Zenyatta Mondatta.
Possibly "Regatta de Blanc". That does have a bit of vocals, but no lyrics. One of my favorite tracks of theirs.
The Police are probably my favorite band to listen to running. Stewart Copeland is probably the biggest factor there. Highly rhythmic to make it easy to set a pace, but his lines are so synchopated and varied that, if I get off tempo, chances are I can make my stride match up with *something* that he's playing.
The Regatta de Blanc album in particular is great. "Message in a Bottle" is my perfect running pace song (~155bpm). Then "Regatta de Blanc" drops the tempo a couple BPM (about 150), but then gradually accelerates to push things *just* a bit (~160).
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