Bring On the POLL - ILM Artist Poll #116 - THE POLICE - (Results Thread)

https://i.imgur.com/Dz5zOXd.jpg

27 Ballots Received
55 Songs
22 Album Ballots
10 Albums
14 Solo Ballots
43 Solo Songs

Thank you to all of you who voted! Also thanks for your patience as it took some time to put this all together and my work delayed me as well.

Were this all came from: When the World is Running Down, You Make the POLL of What's Still Around – ILM Artist Poll #116 – THE POLICE - (Voting extended to Friday, Dec 2, 2022)

A taste to get us started tonight.

Going to start with the solo stuff.

Sting - Desert Rose

20. Desert Rose - Sting
74 Points, 2 Votes

With one breath
With one flow
You will know

Sting - Love Is The Seventh Wave

19. Love Is the Seventh Wave - Sting
78 Points, 2 Votes

there is a deeper world than this

Don't Box Me In Stan Ridgway & Stewart Copeland

18. Don't Box Me In - Theme From Rumblefish - Stan Ridgway w/Stewart Copeland
79 Points, 2 Votes

In tribute, here's a college band I was in — can you tell it was 1991? — playing "Love Is the Seventh Wave." I can tell because it was the only song I played congas on, I was usually on the kit.

https://i.imgur.com/3YTSl3e.jpg

Also, I was one of the 2 votes for "Don't Box Me In," good tune.

Are we expecting anything from the Sting and Shaggy album to place?

I didn't know that "Don't Box Me In" had Copeland on it, love this song.

"In this video you can see Mickey Rourke, Matt Dillon, Tom Waits, Nicolas Cage, and Dennis Hopper."

Sting - Consider Me Gone - 1985 (from the movie Bring On The Night)

17. Consider Me Gone - Sting
82 Points, 2 Votes

Only posting one more tonight and then we will chat tomorrow morning.

Sting - We Work The Black Seam (Complete, RM)

16. We Work the Black Seam - Sting
83 Points, 2 Votes

This is a reconstructed version of this video. This track from Sting's album "Dream Of The Blue Turtles" was released as a single in Germany. I believe the video was made to promote the single, but what I found online (on YouTube) was incomplete. Using some audio/video software, I decided to reconstruct the video from what was available by editing in some "old industrial England" footage, and by re-using the bit for the chorus. Then I remastered the sound.

Didn't Stew do the whole soundtrack to "Rumble Fish"?

Holy shit, I haven't heard We Work The Black Seam in years. Decades?

xp yes!

"Dont Box Me In" is such a cool tune. I guess they knew it too, because when I saw Stan Ridgway he played it, and Gizmodrome was playing it on their tour too.

Holy shit, I haven't heard We Work The Black Seam in years. Decades?

lol for a second I thought you meant the Brötzmann/Sharrock/Laswell.Jackson supergroup

I voted for those last 2, thanks for using the BOtN version of Consider, absolutely the best. Had no idea of Black Seam's pedigree (and I still laugh at the "deadliness" of carbon-14 even if it ties into the carbon of coal).

its the perfect Sting lyric

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPz93eqtAeA

Stewart Copeland on writing and recording the Rumble Fish soundtrack. He wrote and performed everything but some strings and horns.

I was the other vote.

Dang, forgot that thing of Stewart's from Earth Girls Are Easy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmKjw9UGi78

lol for a second I thought you meant the Brötzmann/Sharrock/Laswell.Jackson supergroup

the extent of my police solo opinions are that sting's "i'm so happy i can't stop crying" has such a great & bizarre video, and copeland's spyro the dragon soundtracks are so strangely unmusical - maybe a peak of late 90s digital muzak? that's not to say that i like them, just that they push so far in that direction that i have to begrudgingly respect it, they feel like they were composed specifically to be unmemorable

Yeah, his soundtrack work sometimes reminds me of Zappa getting his first Synclavier and finally being able to realize everything in his head all by himself, and it turns out it sucks.

the Spyro soundtrack is great - I guess if you were born in a certain era you maybe have an affinity for that ugly digital sound. my first thought when playing Spyro was that the music was great - had no idea who did it until later, but when I first heard the Rumblefish OST I do remember thinking "hmmm sounds a bit like the Spyro music"

agreed re: the "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying" video. was he making fun of Garth Brooks or are they just kindred spirits?

something about the sing-songy verses in ‘we work the black seam’ bugs me but i’m not sure why

isn't there a Toby Keith duet version xpost

One of my favorite Blue Turtles songs – and it dates from Sting’s Last Exit era:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy0PRsQqbVU
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, December 5, 2022 9:37 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

amusing how he actually kept some of the lyrics. I kinda like the wild psychedelic jamming in place of the chorus. did any of his other songs originate in Last Exit?

Maybe "I Burn for You"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhNb3XK8Y0g

I have covered "Love is the Seventh Wave" on bouzouki - very much reconfigured to a vaguely celtic folk feel - but I'm not proud of it. Darkest depths of pandemic solo loneliness. My mandolin version of "Why Should I Cry for You," however, is almost acceptable.

I'm up and ready to go.

Sting - Why Should I Cry for You (HD) Live in berlin

15. Why Should I Cry for You? - Sting
90 Points, 2 Votes, 1 Number One

Love it. He rarely sounded this bitter.

Sting - Children's Crusade (from the movie Bring On The Night)

14. Children's Crusade - Sting
92 Points, 2 Votes

Away From Home - Klark Kent (Stewart Copeland) (Promo) (RM)

13. Away From Home - Klark Kent
96 Points, 2 Votes, 1 Number One

Fun video but never heard this song before. It got a number one vote and the other vote was second place.

Why Should I Cry For You? is great, sounds like it could've been one of those 80s Peter Gabriel hits. minus the electric piano of course

Dire Straits / Sting - Money For Nothing (Live Aid 1985)

12. Money for Nothing - Dire Straits w/Sting
109 Points, 3 Votes

That is a great live performance at Live Aid.

Sting - Englishman In New York (Live from the DVD at Italy)

11. Englishman In New York - Sting
112 Points, 3 Votes

boy, did VH-1 love this one

Top 10

Sting - If I Ever Lose My Faith In You (Live in studio)

10. If I Ever Lose My Faith In You - Sting
126 Points, 3 Votes, 1 Number One

boy, did my AT40 station love this one.

There was that overlap era in the early '90s when all these boomer pop stars were still pop stars, before they were put out to pasture.

before they were put out to pasture fields of barley

Peter Gabriel - Red Rain

9. Red Rain - Peter Gabriel w/Stewart Copeland on hi-hat
132 Points, 3 Votes, 2 Number Ones

ch-ch-chick ch-ch-chick

That is a great live performance at Live Aid.

It is. It also makes you realize how much Sting really drives a lot of that song -- not just with the "I want my MTV" stuff but his harmonies throughout the verses and chorus. And while I didn't vote for it, it's def. one of the biggest celebrity cameos that comes to mind.

I remember putting on So fresh out the plastic wrap, hadn't heard anything off it except "Sledgehammer," and those hihats immediately made me go to the liner notes to verify the obvious culprit.

I one day need to do a deep dive into Peter Gabriel as I know I'm missing out. I only know the hits.

Sting - We'll Be Together - Live In Verona 1988

8. We'll Be Together - Sting
149 Points, 4 Votes

UGH

I hate the squeaky keyboard preset, his panderer's approach to songwriting and singing, the way the song stinks of I NEED A TOP TEN.

lmao come on

Sting - Love Is The Seventh Wave

19. Love Is the Seventh Wave - Sting
78 Points, 2 Votes

Never noticed this before, but when I watched the video the entry was linked to, it actually has a different version of the song.

At 1:35, there's a whole section that does not appear in the album version (the only version I was familiar with). Looked into it and found out there's a single mix that's different than the album version - I couldn't find it on YouTube but it's possible that's what's used in the video. I don't think it's an improvement though - much prefer the album version.

(Also, very amused when Sting flashes that look at the camera when he sings "every breath you take.")

ok to be fair I thought the whole origin of this song was just that? Nothing Like the Sun didn't have anything commercial on it and the label asked for a single. Sting himself said he didn't really like it.

xxxp I thought he wrote that to order for a Japanese beer company?

There was that overlap era in the early '90s when all these boomer pop stars were still pop stars, before they were put out to pasture.

Any votes for "All for One, All for Love"? #1 on the charts the week Kurt Cobain died!

(so not so much "I NEED A TOP TEN" as "THE BEER COMPANY GAVE ME A SHITLOAD OF MONEY!")

I'm not selling out, I'm buying in.

Per Wikipedia:

Sting wrote the song for a beer commercial for Kirin Brewery Company. He said that they asked him for the word "together" to be included in the song. He wrote the song in a few minutes and said both the Japanese and the producers both liked the song, despite the short amount of time it took to come up with the song. The original recording included Eric Clapton on guitar, while other takes feature Bryan Loren instead.

ok to be fair I thought the whole origin of this song was just that? Nothing Like the Sun didn't have anything commercial on it and the label asked for a single. Sting himself said he didn't really like it.

Other thoughts ...

I'll have to check that video for "Love Is the Seventh Wave." I would have expected the jokey world music stuff to have aged really badly ("Every cake you bake ...") but it's actually not bad. The bgd vocals and Marsalis's sax interludes are all pretty solid.

"Why Should I Cry For You" was pretty turgid IIRC, like a lot of Soul Cages.

"Children's Crusade" was on my ballot, I think. It holds up and feels like one of Sting's more sincere and successful political statements.

"Englishman in New York" always seemed like Sting's version of twee to me, with all of the bouncy pizzicato strings. Not entirely unpleasant but kind of annoying.

I was a huge fan of "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You" at the time, tho I remember a percussionist in college who was obsessed with Vinnie Colaiuta told me he thought that Ten Summoners Tales was disappointing because despite great playing and memorable tunes Sting had stopped writing incredible bridges and middle-8s. Re-listening last night, I was struck by how in this one, instead of a middle-8 proper, he does a little key change on the chorus and builds the shit out of it before another transposition up that returns the song to its proper key and allows him to end with a bang. It's super powerful still.

Yeah, I like "Love Is the Seventh Wave." Nothing earth-shaking, but it's frothy and pleasant and sounds like it could've been a track on a new Police album.

^^ yeah I know what you're talking about. Sting was so good at writing big powerful choruses like that. I also like the one in "Seven Days" though the lyrics are so snotty and dumb that it practically ruins the tune.

"They Dance Alone" was a good 'un.

I was struck by how in this one, instead of a middle-8 proper, he does a little key change on the chorus and builds the shit out of it before another transposition up that returns the song to its proper key and allows him to end with a bang. I

otm. And it didn't get as much airplay (though it did earn lots!) as "Fields of Gold," which hung around well into the late '90s.

...Nothing Like the Sun has worthwhile songs -- I voted for a couple! -- but not its hit. We should poll Worst Songs Written to Be Hits.

speaking of

xpost

Sting - Fields Of Gold (HD) Ten Summoner's Tales

7. Fields of Gold - Sting
150 Points, 4 Votes

song is pretty...almost too pretty

I had a soft spot for this when I was a kid (back when I knew maybe three albums). Hearing it now, it's a complete snooze, but I do remember liking it a lot when I was really young.

Now for something completely different.

Andy Summers and Robert Fripp - I Advance Masked

6. I Advance Masked - Andy Summers and Robert Fripp
168 Points, 4 Votes, 1 Number One

Whoa

"Ten Summoner's Tales" is pretty MOR, iirc, but I saw him and the band touring behind it in a Spanish bullfighting arena and it was awesome.

yess I did not vote for this part but I love love love I Advance Masked

Song is great, thanks everybody.

I'm a big I Advance Masked stan -- there are a ton of great tracks on it, it's basically Fripp's Crimson riffs combined with Andy textures. What's not to love?

Don't Care - Klark Kent (TOTP) (RM)

5. Don’t Care - Klark Kent
189 Points, 4 Votes, 2 Number Ones

lol nice

all the songs on that Klark Kent record are so catchy. feel like the best stuff probably didn't make it though.

Sting and Branford Marsalis - If You Love Somebody Set Them Free (Sting's 60th Birthday Show)

4. If You Love Somebody Set Them Free - Sting
198 Points, 5 Votes

you can do you can do

Another one that could've been a Police track, though had that happened, I wonder if it would still have Marsalis's sax solo or if Summers would have stepped in? Guess we'll never know.

Yay for "I Advance Masked," that's a really nice album. Maybe the most artistically respectable solo Police work period.

Sting || Live @885 KCSN || All This Time (The SoCal Sound)

3. All This Time - Sting
204 Points, 5 Votes, 1 Number One

My favorite solo Sting song: for once the Simon-indebted talk-singing finds a correlative in well-chosen words and a killer chorus. His last solo top ten.

yup fantastic tune

Totally blanked on this one or I'd have given it a sixth vote.

I also voted for it. I'd be down for a Greatest Hits EP from Sting - this would be one of the tracks I'd want on it.

beginning to think "take me home" may not place... guess I should have voted win this side-poll but I trusted y'all to do the right thing!

Not one vote for "Take Me Home" FWIW.

Sting - Fragile Live

2. Fragile - Sting
210 Points, 5 Votes, 1 Number One

Didn't vote as I'm only casually familiar with their discography but am happy to follow along with the rollout. Thanks Bee OK!

One of Neil Tennant's favorite songs by anybody.

I forgot “Fragile”, most likely would have voted for it. Guessing “IBFY” as number 1 then!

Sting - Fortress Around Your Heart - 1985 (from the movie Bring On The Night)

1. Fortress Around Your Heart - Sting
445 Points, 10 Votes, 2 Number Ones

"Fragile" might be the closest Stinghas ever come to writing a song that sounds like a standard he is covering.

Fortress Around Your Heart - Sting	445	Points	10	Votes	2	Number Ones
Fragile - Sting	210	Points	5	Votes	1	Number Ones
All This Time - Sting	204	Points	5	Votes	1	Number Ones
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free - Sting	198	Points	5	Votes		
Don’t Care - Klark Kent	189	Points	4	Votes	2	Number Ones
I Advance Masked - Andy Summers and Robert Fripp	168	Points	4	Votes	1	Number Ones
Fields of Gold - Sting	150	Points	4	Votes		
We'll Be Together - Sting	149	Points	4	Votes		
Red Rain -  Peter Gabriel w/Stewart Copeland on hi-hat	132	Points	3	Votes	2	Number Ones
If I Ever Lose My Faith In You - Sting	126	Points	3	Votes	1	Number Ones
Englishman In New York - Sting	112	Points	3	Votes		
Money for Nothing - Dire Straits w/Sting	109	Points	3	Votes		
Away From Home - Klark Kent	96	Points	2	Votes	1	Number Ones
Children's Crusade - Sting	92	Points	2	Votes		
Why Should I Cry for You? - Sting	90	Points	2	Votes	1	Number Ones
We Work the Black Seam - Sting	83	Points	2	Votes		
Consider Me Gone - Sting	82	Points	2	Votes		
Don’t Box Me In - Stan Ridgway w/Stewart Copeland	79	Points	2	Votes		
Love Is the Seventh Wave - Sting	78	Points	2	Votes		
Desert Rose - Sting	74	Points	2	Votes		
Across the River - Peter Gabriel/Stewart Copeland/Shankar/David Rhodes	50	Points	1	Votes	1	Number Ones
I Burn For You - Sting	50	Points	1	Votes	1	Number Ones
Bring On the Night/When the World Is Running Down (Bring On the Night) - Sting	46	Points	1	Votes		
Only You - Sting	46	Points	1	Votes		
Shape of My Heart - Sting	46	Points	1	Votes		
I Hung My Head – Sting	43	Points	1	Votes		
Excesses - Stewart Copeland	43	Points	1	Votes		
There's A Spy (In The House Of Love) - Animal Logic w/Stewart Copeland	40	Points	1	Votes		
Be Still My Beating Heart - Sting	38	Points	1	Votes		
The Equalizer Busy Equalizing - Stewart Copeland	38	Points	1	Votes		
Long Long Way to Go - Phil Collins and Sting	36	Points	1	Votes		
Big Time - Peter Gabriel w/Stewart Copeland	35	Points	1	Votes		
Hardy Country - Andy Summers and Robert Fripp	35	Points		Votes		
How Can I Forget - Andy Summers	35	Points	1	Votes		
Mad About You - Sting	34	Points	1	Votes		
The Soul Cages - Sting	34	Points	1	Votes		
Brimstone and Treacle (Theme) - Sting	33	Points	1	Votes		
China Yellow Leader - Andy Summers and Robert Fripp	33	Points	1	Votes		
Seven Days - Sting	33	Points	1	Votes		
Brand New Day - Sting	32	Points	1	Votes		
Guide - Andy Summers and Robert Fripp	32	Points	1	Votes		
Mr. Oysterhead - Oysterhead w/Stewart Copeland	32	Points	1	Votes		
The Ballad of Mack The Knife - "Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill"	32	Points	1	Votes

1	Fortress Around Your Heart - Sting	445	10	2
2	Fragile - Sting	210	5	1
3	All This Time - Sting	204	5	1
4	If You Love Somebody Set Them Free - Sting	198	5	
5	Don’t Care - Klark Kent	189	4	2
6	I Advance Masked - Andy Summers and Robert Fripp	168	4	1
7	Fields of Gold - Sting	150	4	
8	We'll Be Together - Sting	149	4	
9	Red Rain -  Peter Gabriel w/Stewart Copeland on hi-hat	132	3	2
10	If I Ever Lose My Faith In You - Sting	126	3	1
11	Englishman In New York - Sting	112	3	
12	Money for Nothing - Dire Straits w/Sting	109	3	
13	Away From Home - Klark Kent	96	2	1
14	Children's Crusade - Sting	92	2	
15	Why Should I Cry for You? - Sting	90	2	1
16	We Work the Black Seam - Sting	83	2	
17	Consider Me Gone - Sting	82	2	
18	Don’t Box Me In - Stan Ridgway w/Stewart Copeland	79	2	
19	Love Is the Seventh Wave - Sting	78	2	
20	Desert Rose - Sting	74	2	
21	Across the River - Peter Gabriel/Stewart Copeland/Shankar/David Rhodes	50	1	1
22	I Burn For You - Sting	50	1	1
23	Bring On the Night/When the World Is Running Down (Bring On the Night) - Sting	46	1	
24	Only You - Sting	46	1	
25	Shape of My Heart - Sting	46	1	
26	I Hung My Head – Sting	43	1	
27	Excesses - Stewart Copeland	43	1	
28	There's A Spy (In The House Of Love) - Animal Logic w/Stewart Copeland	40	1	
29	Be Still My Beating Heart - Sting	38	1	
30	The Equalizer Busy Equalizing - Stewart Copeland	38	1	
31	Long Long Way to Go - Phil Collins and Sting	36	1	
32	Big Time - Peter Gabriel w/Stewart Copeland	35	1	
33	Hardy Country - Andy Summers and Robert Fripp	35	
34	How Can I Forget - Andy Summers	35	1
35	Mad About You - Sting	34	1
36	The Soul Cages - Sting	34	1
37	Brimstone and Treacle (Theme) - Sting	33	1
38	China Yellow Leader - Andy Summers and Robert Fripp	33	1
39	Seven Days - Sting	33	1
40	Brand New Day - Sting	32	1
41	Guide - Andy Summers and Robert Fripp	32	1
42	Mr. Oysterhead - Oysterhead w/Stewart Copeland	32	1
43	The Ballad of Mack The Knife - "Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill"	32	1

"Fortress Around Your Heart" is a catchy motherfucker. What a chorus!

Going to try one more.

Place, Points, Votes, Number Ones, Song - Artist

1	445	10	2	Fortress Around Your Heart - Sting
2	210	5	1	Fragile - Sting
3	204	5	1	All This Time - Sting
4	198	5		If You Love Somebody Set Them Free - Sting
5	189	4	2	Don’t Care - Klark Kent
6	168	4	1	I Advance Masked - Andy Summers and Robert Fripp
7	150	4		Fields of Gold - Sting
8	149	4		We'll Be Together - Sting
9	132	3	2	Red Rain -  Peter Gabriel w/Stewart Copeland on hi-hat
10	126	3	1	If I Ever Lose My Faith In You - Sting
11	112	3		Englishman In New York - Sting
12	109	3		Money for Nothing - Dire Straits w/Sting
13	96	2	1	Away From Home - Klark Kent
14	92	2		Children's Crusade - Sting
15	90	2	1	Why Should I Cry for You? - Sting
16	83	2		We Work the Black Seam - Sting
17	82	2		Consider Me Gone - Sting
18	79	2		Don’t Box Me In - Stan Ridgway w/Stewart Copeland
19	78	2		Love Is the Seventh Wave - Sting
20	74	2		Desert Rose - Sting
21	50	1	1	Across the River - Peter Gabriel/Stewart Copeland/Shankar/David Rhodes
22	50	1	1	I Burn For You - Sting
23	46	1		Bring On the Night/When the World Is Running Down (Bring On the Night) - Sting
24	46	1		Only You - Sting
25	46	1		Shape of My Heart - Sting
26	43	1		I Hung My Head – Sting
27	43	1		Excesses - Stewart Copeland
28	40	1		There's A Spy (In The House Of Love) - Animal Logic w/Stewart Copeland
29	38	1		Be Still My Beating Heart - Sting
30	38	1		The Equalizer Busy Equalizing - Stewart Copeland
31	36	1		Long Long Way to Go - Phil Collins and Sting
32	35	1		Big Time - Peter Gabriel w/Stewart Copeland
33	35			Hardy Country - Andy Summers and Robert Fripp
34	35	1		How Can I Forget - Andy Summers
35	34	1		Mad About You - Sting
36	34	1		The Soul Cages - Sting
37	33	1		Brimstone and Treacle (Theme) - Sting
38	33	1		China Yellow Leader - Andy Summers and Robert Fripp
39	33	1		Seven Days - Sting
40	32	1		Brand New Day - Sting
41	32	1		Guide - Andy Summers and Robert Fripp
42	32	1		Mr. Oysterhead - Oysterhead w/Stewart Copeland
43	32	1		The Ballad of Mack The Knife - "Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill"

More to come...

I thought "Fragile" was too slick to do anything for me, but I gave it another shot just now...if you mentally isolate the vocal, I can see the appeal. Like that melody is actually beautiful and can be moving (and do justice to the song's inspiration - an American civil engineer who was killed by the Reagan-backed Contras while working on a hydroelectric project in Nicaragua).

I just think the way they recorded it is too glossy. The delicate backing is devoid of emotion - it's an overly tasteful backdrop that feels like a poor match to what the song's supposed to do. And the little prettifying touches like the chimes at the end feel like a lapse in judgment.

"Fortress Around Your Heart" is a catchy motherfucker. What a chorus!

Yeah, this is another keeper for me. My three favorite tracks on Turtles and "All This Time" are pretty much all I need anymore from solo Sting.

I think it was sort of foolish of me to think that an album outside of the band would crack the Top 5.

22 Album Ballots Received

https://i.imgur.com/ztwfktY.jpg

5. Outlandos d'Amour
126 Points, 18 Votes, 1 Number One

I didn't vote in the solo poll due to my lack of knowledge about Stuart and Andy's extra-curricular stuff, but a little gutted that my favourite Sting solo track, 'They Dance Alone', missed the cut.

I don’t get the love for “All This Time” at all. It’s fine enough for early 90s VH-1 fare but the creaky river metaphor and Paul Simon-isms of the verse (who himself loved a river metaphor) feel, well, secondhand. The arrangement is pedestrian and snare drum irritatingly insistent. And while the chorus is memorable I don’t find it particularly catchy.

“Fragile” OTOH …

might be the closest Stinghas ever come to writing a song that sounds like a standard he is covering.

I thought "Fragile" was too slick to do anything for me, but I gave it another shot just now...if you mentally isolate the vocal, I can see the appeal. Like that melody is actually beautiful and can be moving (and do justice to the song's inspiration - an American civil engineer who was killed by the Reagan-backed Contras while working on a hydroelectric project in Nicaragua).

I just think the way they recorded it is too glossy. The delicate backing is devoid of emotion - it's an overly tasteful backdrop that feels like a poor match to what the song's supposed to do. And the little prettifying touches like the chimes at the end feel like a lapse in judgment.

https://i.imgur.com/2NQootb.jpg

4. Synchronicity
147 Points, 19 Votes, 2 Number Ones

I remember decoding the imagery on the sleeve as a teen - different for LP/CD/CS if I recall correctly

different cover variations on the LPs as well

Feels about right - Outlandos and Synchronicity both have some amazing songs but I feel like those two also have some of the worst things they ever did? I mean I remember wincing at 'Sally' when I was 10, and it's only got more cringe with age

I had this on cassette and thinking the same thing. So much filler was on this album.

But the good songs are great and the bonus was awesome too.

one confession, I can't sing 'walking In Your Footsteps' in my head anymore without it turning into 'hakuna matata' halfway through

https://i.imgur.com/nsxaQ9G.jpg

3. Zenyattà Mondatta
164 Points, 20 Votes, 4 Number Ones

Where I had it but surprising nonetheless. You could argue Zenyatta is their best.

https://i.imgur.com/WTCq0Gg.jpg

2. Ghost in the Machine
174 Points, 20 Votes, 7 Number Ones

https://i.imgur.com/8ZY60TS.jpg

1. Reggatta de Blanc
190 Points, 22 Votes, 7 Number Ones

Place, Points, Votes, Number Ones, Album

1	190	22	7	Reggatta de Blanc
2	174	20	7	Ghost in the Machine
3	164	20	4	Zenyattà Mondatta
4	147	19	2	Synchronicity
5	126	18	1	Outlandos d'Amour
6	10	1	1	The Soul Cages - Sting
7	8	1		...Nothing Like The Sun - Sting
8	8	1		Klark Kent
9	7	1		Dream of the Blue Turtles - Sting
10	6	1		Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings

Zero votes for "Russians" lol

Fascinating that so many love Zenyatta when they always used to talk about it as a rush job and slapped together between tours. There are a fair few “feel pieces” but they seem to have aged better than a lot of the lesser “proper songs”.

Yeah it’s a cool record if you just wanna hear them play.

The order of the albums almost matched my ballot, but I had #s 4 and 5 flipped.

I think that was exactly mine. Outlandos definitely my #5 but that's a pretty good worst album to have.

I didn't include albums on my ballot, but Outlandos would've been my #1. It the least fussy of all their albums and I admire that (which means I'm probably seeking out the wrong qualities in The Police). It's the only one I ever play with no skips.

I do dig the early-installment weirdness on it. there are several directions on that album they'd never go in again.

yeah i’d swap outlandos with zenyatta, zenyatta kinda gives up after the first 4 tracks

Zenyatta was my pick. That scrappy, raggedy sound on "When The world is Running Down..." is heaven to my ears.

Albums results are about right imo

By the way, the Eva Cassidy cover of "Fields of Gold" seems to have had a longer shelf life (in terms of TV / movie use and general lovability) than the Stingster's.

Was surprised to find Outlandos ranked so low. But it was my gateway into the band, so maybe I have an outsized sense of its rep generally. The highs are really high! I admit that Born in the 50s, and the spoken-word part of Be My Girl, are kind of unbearable.

The BBC often used to have humorous poets with regional accents on early evening light entertainment shows - I'm thinking of Pam Ayers etc - and 'Sally' always make me think I've just accidentally caught the tail-end of That's Life and some joker's doing a bad knock-off of 'In Every Dream Home A Heartache'. It is quite impressive how much of the shittest bits of Britain in the late 70s are encapsulated in that piece

That scrappy, raggedy sound on "When The world is Running Down..." is heaven to my ears.

Mine too — I ranked that song VERY high on the tracks ballot. And I like the album, but it is a bit of a hodgepodge and I don't love its big singles.

Thirded, voted for that track but also had the album as my #1. I thought it was uneven when I first heard it, but it's all grown on me and wouldn't change a thing. I know the Police don't think highly of it because of the deadline pressure but in retrospect I wonder if that helped. They didn't labor too much over anything, and they had to fall back on what they did easiest/best. Great rhythms, great hooks, for the most part nothing they messed with too much, much to the album's benefit.

Doing a Top 40, which is really too many. I did a Top 60 when I ran Daft Punk earlier this year and the 60th placement only had three votes. But that is a different animal and that was the right length, good collaborations in the bottom half of that poll but I digress. The Police poll has a floor of four votes, which works. This way we get all number ones in the main rollout, where if I went for only 30 then some would have missed the rollout.

https://i.imgur.com/xmDJBpK.jpg

40. Mother
From: Synchronicity
Released: June 17, 1983
110 Points, 4 Votes

I didn’t know how I wanted this poll to look. There aren’t a lot of different band shots and video shots did intrigue me. I finally decided to go with movie posters from the year the song came out. I would not say 1978- 1983 is a golden age for Hollywood but there are some pretty good posters. I did mess up a bit as these are gross US numbers so some films do bleed into to more then one year. I don’t think I will repeat a poster however.

too high

solo is awesome tho

Ha, this being the start to the rollout is perfect - I didn't vote for it and don't even like it but I love that it's right there, forever, on side 1 of the platinum-selling album Synchronicity.

This song used to piss my dad off so much when it came on, maybe this was the most punk thing they ever did? Also funny that Andy goes full-freudian on sting's jung-themed album

Didn't vote for it though - as much as I admire it, it really is terrible

"You think you can misread Freud, boy-o? Watch MEEEEEE!"

xps 1978-1983 is a kind of a transitional time. The last gasps of the New Hollywood ("Days of Heaven," "Apocalypse Now," "Raging Bull," "King of Comedy," "Heaven's Gate," etc.) The "creative executives" were taking over and you can see more studio meddling with the mutilation of films like "Blade Runner."

But a lot of great stuff happening in the margins. Great burgeoning talent (Albert Brooks with "Real Life" and "Modern Romance," David Lynch with "The Elephant Man," Jonathan Demme with "Melvin and Howard," David Cronenberg with "Videodrome," Sara Driver with "You Are Not I," George Miller and Joe Dante getting established in Hollywood with their "Twilight Zone" segments), long-time mavericks making a comeback or still plugging away (John Cassavetes with "Gloria," Sam Fuller with "The Big Red One" and "White Dog," Ivan Passer with "Cutter's Way," Dennis Hopper with "Out of the Blue," John Huston with "Wise Blood") and the underground scene was just starting to flourish (Charles Burnett's "My Brother's Wedding" among many others).

This song is amazing and hilarious. And it's in 7/4.

solo is awesome tho

Great post birdistheword and I agree that there are some great movies during this era. Looking at a list of movies tho, there was a lot of crap too. I hope I got some good posters out of this exercise.

https://i.imgur.com/gQ7QXsZ.jpg

39. Rehumanize Yourself
From: Ghost in the Machine
Released: October 2, 1981
119 Points, 4 Votes

I mean:

https://i.imgur.com/EEAgjra.jpg

I'm very busy at work today and won't be able to do 20 like I had originally planned. This will be a slow reveal today but maybe that's OK?

That movie looks like a remake of Bedazzled which was actually a fun movie.

it's okay -- rehumanize yourself!

love this song, maybe my favorite of Copeland's Police tunes

It’s actually a collab with Sting? I’d forgotten that.

I think Sting wrote the lyrics, Copeland did the music. well, Sting is probably responsible for the uh "sax arrangements" as well

sting wrote the lyrics, Stewart wrote the music iirc. Never been a fan of this one tbh, lyrics are way too on-the-nose and delivered with sting's most snide-sounding vocal, listening to it actually makes me want to turn into a robot and tase the guy till his socks catch fire.

shocked by the c word in this as a kid, first time I heard it on record

https://i.imgur.com/gKfLJkw.jpg

38. Too Much Information
From: Ghost in the Machine
Released: October 2, 1981
143 Points, 5 Votes

the weird filler tracks on ghost are better than the weird filler tracks on the other albums. i voted for a couple, not this one tho

xp or this one

love this one, what a groove

otm

See the whole world six times over

Voted for both of those Ghost tracks, they're jams.

https://i.imgur.com/QyBPbIo.jpg

37. Shadows in the Rain
From: Zenyattà Mondatta
Released: October 3. 1980
148 Points, 5 Votes

RIP

have realised that I now very much prefer the police when they're exploring atmospheres, textures and grooves - I guess in retrospect you could say their proto post-rock tendencies - rather then when they're more bent on rocking out, as potent as they often were in that mode. But it's the spaces I'm into, and how they arrange things around that, and this ghostly one is one of their best for that I think

anyone want to say anything about the differences between the police and the clash in how they approached dubby sounds? clash always seem to use dub for political songs, police use it for creating haunted spaces

I mean I could develop that thesis further myself but I know fuck all about the clash tbf

https://i.imgur.com/QlqmmEK.jpg

36. Murder by Numbers
From: Synchronicity
Released: June 17, 1983
Bonus track on cassette and CD editions
149 Points, 5 Votes

lol, i did not relate images with songs but in this case it works.

I think the Police incorporated dub more organically than the Clash did — as a core part of their Sonic foundation rather than an adventurous add-on. Though some things on Combat Rock got close, like “Ghetto Defendant.”

lol

"police use it for creating haunted spaces": in this, they mostly resemble Remain in Light Heads to me…

is it at all clear that the Police knew about and listened to dub? The Clash surely did, whereas I almost think Sting was like, "I like Bob Marley and reggae is the element that differentiates us from many acts," but did he go further than that? I don't see Andy being particularly interested, and Stewart liked it again as a way to distinguish his drumming, but I don't see them being all into King Tubby or Heart of the Congos…

I dunno -- I could imagine Stew blasting HOTC.

In the movie Copycat there's a part where Sigourney Weaver is reading a letter written by a serial killer and I'm pretty sure it's verbatim from "Murder By Numbers."

Murder by Numbers made my ballot. I had the cassette version of the album. Was surprised that it only got five votes.

eh, i'm pretty sure that most bands hanging around in london at that time would've been exposed to some dub. don't see why he wouldn't have heard HOTC either - he loved the beat and the beat released it on their label. check the tees!

https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.imvdb.com/video/250306704722-police-the-dont-stand-so-close-to-me_music_video_ov.jpg http://quietus_production.s3.amazonaws.com/images/articles/9007/Congo_Main_1339269341_crop_550x500.jpg

was just listening to this actually, it is a pretty terrible recording but they are literally playing dub reggae - with a guest appearance by ranking roger!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XqvfyRkGCI

I find the lyrical conceit and sing-songy chorus of “Murder By Numbers” to be a little insufferable.

“Too Much Information” OTOH is a pretty fun afropop jam. Didn’t make my ballot but it’s def. a good time.

https://i.imgur.com/9hsuinW.jpg

35. Contact
From: Reggatta de Blanc
Released: October 2, 1979
165 Points, 6 Votes

lol winner

"Shadows in the Rain" the only one from my list so far.

lovely picture that i hadn't seen before of the police hanging out with uk reggae legends steel pulse:

https://www.urbanimage.tv/img-get2/I0000xCneKoF51f8/fit=1000x750/Steel-Pulse-U16822.jpg

andy not in that shot as i'm assuming he took the picture?

xxxp dammit

Forgot about this - Zenyatta Mondatta actually makes a memorable appearance in Jacques Rivette's Le Pont du Nord. Couldn't find a good clip, but here's two screencaps:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/106eeb397cc442b7d8e6153863188c7a/82e8c559c574302a-a4/s540x810/c53cc5708913a3b8f0ab1b89c04f1fd2f706c76d.png

https://64.media.tumblr.com/6f1c932d13604964e0d7cc36d94b4880/82e8c559c574302a-b6/s540x810/98cb4d81da8184b4b53e185c4851fdc4c9655ece.png

alright now here's a photo

https://i.redd.it/y8j84eep98541.jpg

oh wow! O_O

https://i.imgur.com/8ArviBS.jpg

34. Does Everyone Stare
From: Reggatta de Blanc
Released: October 2, 1979
170 Points, 6 Votes

its so catchy, that last chorus could go on forever

yes! love the odd timing on the piano, so far behind the beat that it winds up being on beat again

anyone want to say anything about the differences between the police and the clash in how they approached dubby sounds? clash always seem to use dub for political songs, police use it for creating haunted spaces

I'd suggest that the Clash associated Jamaican music with being rebellious - underground sound systems, race riots, etc. - and the Police were mostly just poseurs. Not that the Clash were somehow more "authentic" or not poseurs themselves, but they kind of edged their way into reggae's mythology through sheer force of will while the Police mostly borrowed stylistic surface elements (Stew often bristles when people call the Police a reggae band, noting that only three or so songs in their entire catalog could even pass for reggae). Of course, the Police were much better players, which is why they could pull off something like "Bed's Too Big Without You," but beyond that the Police generally never got that political. Surprisingly, neither did Sting solo, come to think of it, not much, and usually only in the most ham-fisted, least self-aware ways possible ("Russians"). Songs like "They Dance Alone" are the double-exception: political and subtle.

love the way this one develops from the intro, starts so simple and then somehow builds this unstoppable sense of momentum. are they doing some sort of clever sort of chord progression trickery there where it doesn't ever resolve or something? i don't have the knowledge to say, but it feels like there's something going on there. and i love the switch-up in vocalists too (via the opera sample!), that's just a great touch i think

I think this song is a great example of Stew displacing the beat in really cool ways that must have bothered Sting.

https://i.imgur.com/tRRf1IX.jpg

33. Bombs Away
From: Zenyattà Mondatta
Released: October 3. 1980
174 Points, 6 Votes

such a great summers solo

xp to Josh: yeah certainly the police never pretended to be rebels of any sort - sting's innate aloofness prevents him from being any sort of rabble-rouser like joe strummer. maybe 'they dance alone' works as it's very much a song about a 'them' rather than an 'us'. mind you, so was 'russians' so maybe not. oh, there was also 'invisible sun' of course, which got banned by the bbc for being overly political - i think that song kind of works but is about the same level as the human league's 'lebanon' when it comes to political insight

didn't vote for 'bombs away' but i never do not enjoy it

At least the guitars on "The Lebanon" sound properly peeved.

"Bombs Away" sounds to me like it would be much better with Copeland singing.

ha alfred, the guitars on 'the lebanon' are unimpeachable it's true

Three of my four Copeland picks in a row! At this point in the countdown, a novice to the band might assume he was the main creative force.

All this talk about the Clash made me wonder just how much filler the Police would have had to produce to fill their own version of Sandinista!

Sting would've loved to see his publishing income dwindle if Summers and Copeland had to each write 18 songs.

god, a triple album would've been fascinating, but my first hope would've been for a side-long five-part suite based entirely on 'behind my camel'

https://i.imgur.com/pRfAgAB.jpg

32. Tea in the Sahara
From: Synchronicity
Released: June 17, 1983
176 Points, 6 Votes

On 'Tea In The Sahara' I used what I call, tongue in cheek, my 'wobbling cloud' effect. It comes with using a highly overloaded guitar, to the point of feedback, and moving the chord off just as it's about to break. It's a sound I do a lot in concert, this sort of echo guitar, where basically I turn most of the signal off so that all you hear is echo. Then you control it with the volume pedal, so you just hear this floating, shimmering sound. And you've got to play the right chords, you can't play G major or D7 - it sounds cruddy. You've got to play space harmonies to make it more like that - triads with open strings, tended harmonies like 9ths and 11ths, 27ths. It's really all by ear.

— Andy Summers, Guitar World, 4/1987

That description made me think of Larry Carlton's volume pedal work on Joni Mitchell's "Amelia", but that's a masterpiece and this song is just an OK bit of atmosphere.

The lyric is kind of intriguing to me.

Paul Bowles. Sting is smart!

also, listening to a lot of Police in recent weeks I’m struck by how much casual misogyny I hear in the lyrics.

xpost The Police struggled to release as many albums as they did!

the dominance of the vocal and the narrative over such a sparse backing track make me feel this is the most solo sting song in the police catalogue

the dominance of the vocal and the narrative over such a sparse backing track make me feel this is the most solo sting song in the police catalogue

also, listening to a lot of Police in recent weeks I’m struck by how much casual misogyny I hear in the lyrics.

tbf Sting kind of leaned into creepy-guy narratives. Big hits include guy in love with sex worker, guy in love with underage girl, guy who can't even get up the nerve to call her, guy stalking his ex and saying "Can't you see/You belong to me." I'm not sure any of them are supposed to be exactly sympathetic, except maybe the sad sack in "Every Little Thing."

That guy has a big umbrella, though.

he's also weirdly keen on telling us just how wet he's getting

https://i.imgur.com/koeaWkP.jpg

31. I Burn for You
From: Brimstone & Treacle (soundtrack)
Released: October 1982
183 Points, 5 Votes, 1 Number One

The Police's "I Burn for You" is a song Sting originally wrote for the band Last Exit in the mid-1970s; he later offered it to The Police for Zenyatta Mondatta in 1980, but it was deemed "too sentimental" for their musical direction. The band eventually chose to record it for their fourth album Ghost In The Machine the following year, but it did not make the cut.

Never heard this one! It's now only available on the Ghost In The Machine (Alternate Sequence) released this year, which I never got around to.

Crazy it didn’t make either album, it’s one of their best songs

Btw if you wanna hear Bombs Away with Stew singing, check out the Gizmodrome version. A number of lyrical changes too.

jesus I hoped we would be able to avoid discussing that ghastly film.

Also - the misogyny isn't the creepy-guy stuff, e.g. in Synchro II, "secretaries pout and preen / like cheap tarts in a red light street" and "mother chants a litany of boredom and frustration / but we know all her suicides are fake".

fantastic song! first part has such a heavy atmosphere, makes me feel slightly delirious when the second bit kicks in

Got a number one vote too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQtIRrmhvBw

I love "I Burn for You." I also have a weird affection for the film, I saw it as a young teen (mostly because I was a big Police fan) and thought it was fascinatingly fucked-up.

Going to do 13 today, 13 tomorrow and then 14 on Friday.

I'm done with work for the day so I should be a bit faster on these last few.

Never heard this one! It's now only available on the Ghost In The Machine (Alternate Sequence) released this year, which I never got around to.

be warned, the version on that album is only 3 minutes long - they've chopped off the final two minutes(!)

thanks Bee you're doing great so far btw!

As a mad Police fan in my teens I had no idea there was an official soundtrack for B&T, and so I taped IBFY off the VHS we had rented, which is why the copy I listened to had the incoherent cries of the couple's daughter mixed in with the track.

Thanks, it just sucks that I can't be more active in this poll, but it's for the people and I'm fine with that. Still has been fun putting it all together and counting down these songs.

xpost

We're enjoying it! Thanks, Bee.

I had the B&T soundtrack album, listened to it a fair amount. (I also voted for "Only You" off it in the solo poll.)

side poll: what is sting's greatest movie role?

https://i.ibb.co/DK0VDMD/helith.jpg

Quadrophenia

Ace Face no less

A friend of mine saw Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in the theatre. Apparently Sting makes what is meant to be a big entrance, but the only reaction in the theatre was my friend groaning in exasperation.

what a list:

As actor

Quadrophenia (1979) – The Ace Face, the King of the Mods, a.k.a. the Bell Boy in the film adaptation of the Who album.
Radio On (1979) – Just Like Eddie
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1980) – Leader of the Blow Waves. The footage was cut but it later reappeared in the DVD version and in the documentary The Filth and the Fury (2000).
Artemis 81 (1981) – The angel Helith (BBC TV film)
Brimstone and Treacle (1982) – Martin Taylor, a drifter
Dune (1984) – Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen
Titus Groan (1984) – Steerpike (BBC Radio 4 broadcast based on the Mervyn Peake novel)
Gormenghast (1984) – Steerpike (BBC Radio 4 broadcast based on the Mervyn Peake novel)
Plenty (1985) – Mick, a black-marketeer
The Bride (1985) – Baron Frankenstein
Walking to New Orleans (1985) – Busker, singing Moon Over Bourbon Street.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) – a "heroic officer"
Stormy Monday (1988) – Finney, a nightclub owner
Julia and Julia (1988) – Daniel, a British gentleman
The Grotesque (1995), a/k/a Gentlemen Don't Eat Poets and Grave Indiscretion – Fledge
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) – J.D., Eddie's father and owner of a bar.
Kaamelott: The First Chapter (2021) – Horsa

As himself

Urgh! A Music War (1982)
Bring On the Night (1985)
Saturday Night Live (1991) – host, various
The Simpsons episode "Radio Bart" (1992)
The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer Episode 5 (1995)
The Larry Sanders Show episode "Where Is the Love?" (1996)
Ally McBeal season four episode "Cloudy Skies, Chance of Parade" (2001)
Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out (2006)
Studio 60 on Sunset Strip (2006)
Vicar of Dibley Comic Relief special (2007)
Bee Movie (2007)
Little Britain USA (2008) as Stomp, the lead singer of "the Cops" (playing "Fields of Gold")
Brüno (2009)
Still Bill (2009)
Do It Again (2010)
Life's Too Short (2011)
2012: Time for Change (2011)
The Michael J. Fox Show (2013) (singing "August Wind" from The Last Ship)
20 Feet from Stardom (2013)
Zoolander 2 (2016)
Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics (2020)
Only Murders in the Building (2021)

He's never sexier than in a supporting role in Stormy Monday

A friend of mine saw Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in the theatre. Apparently Sting makes what is meant to be a big entrance, but the only reaction in the theatre was my friend groaning in exasperation.

hearty lols @ this!

OMG now I need the DVD of Great R&R Swindle (not just for that but for any other extras)

I forgot abt his Only Murders cameo too, very good

interesting how the Urgh movie is framed entirely around them given some of the wild outliers that are in that film

like, the makers of the movie clearly thought they were the most popular act that would the flick

that would *sell* the flick

when in reality, in my experience, people went to see the Cramps/DKs/Gang Of Four/Numan/etc

had no idea until recently that the cramps actually were the support act for the police on one of their first national tours of the uk

What was that movie that was about CBGB scene and they end the movie with the Police being the next big thing? Never made sense to me as they were not New York

https://i.imgur.com/ibTyIX0.jpg

30. The Bed’s Too Big Without You
From: Zenyattà Mondatta
Single Released: 1979
192 Points, 16 Votes

"The Bed's Too Big Without You" was first released on Reggatta de Blanc in 1979. However, the following year, the song saw a single release as a bonus single in the Six Pack box set, which featured the band's five previous British singles (excluding "Fall Out"). Said box set peaked at No. 17 in Britain. The song was also released as the B-side to "So Lonely" in Germany.

A promo video for "The Bed's Too Big Without You" was performed by the band on The Kenny Everett Video Show. It featured the band members miming to the song in a suburban house.

it's peculiar that I find myself doing this, but some of you guys are suggesting that this band's work was not politically oriented: there is no question that Sting believed that his music had a political purpose, which is to say left-wing, human rights-advocacy. This was very very clear to me and other kids in grade school and hundreds of thousands of the band's fans. perhaps you guys think the Police's M.O. was more mushy and safe, more like U2 than the Clash, and fair enough, but in no way do I nor should anyone else doubt that Sting had sincere convictions as such. He was angered when Stewart's dad, a founder of the CIA, suggested that the Police's fans were impressionable and that they could be manipulated for purposes advantageous to U.S. interests abroad in the 1980s; since he stayed with Miles Copeland, who is very conservative, through the rest of his career, one could say he compartmentalized (and Stew has never said much about his own convictions, despite his family), and he clearly is not renouncing his wealth, but Sting believes that his work is if possessed of left wing bona fides

otm

Oh for sure, as a young Police fan I totally thought of them and Sting in particular as being political. Sting played at those Secret Policemen's Ball shows, did Amnesty International work, he was definitely high up on the '80s do-gooder rocker lists.

Love "Bed's Too Big" and voted for it, such a slinky groove.

"Bed's" an amazing production, with some of Sting's best bass playing.

I believe that *Sting* is political and the band did political stuff. I was talking specifically about the songs, which are by and large *not* political, especially compared to a band like the Clash. No judgement, just saying.

I like this from the Secret Policeman's Other Ball film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo1GRM4FhcI

for a self-avowed not-a-reggae-band, this is an incredible reggae tune

sting’s bass pushed “bed” into my top 5, it’s a groove i could listen to for hours

Do we need a Spotify for this, anyone want to start one?

"The Bed’s Too Big Without You" got 16 votes, 16! It was like a lot of people picked this song as their 19th or 20th selection (guessing as I didn't actually research this).The vote total won't get up this high until song number 17.

https://i.imgur.com/grteOC2.jpg

29. Man in a Suitcase
From: Zenyattà Mondatta
Released: October 3. 1980
200 Points, 7 Votes

This feels like a single, I'm actually shocked it wasn't one.

https://i.imgur.com/zU3SPtu.jpg

28. Demolition Man
From: Ghost in the Machine
Released: October 2, 1981
209 Points, 6 Votes

Demolition Man	209	6	
Man in a Suitcase	200	7	
The Bed’s Too Big Without You	192	16	
I Burn for You	183	5	1
Tea in the Sahara	176	6	
Bombs Away	174	6
Does Everyone Stare	170	6
Contact	165	6
Murder by Numbers	149	5
Shadows in the Rain	148	5
Too Much Information	143	5
Rehumanize Yourself	119	4
Mother	110	4

28	209	6		Demolition Man
29	200	7		Man in a Suitcase
30	192	16		The Bed’s Too Big Without You
31	183	5	1	I Burn for You
32	176	6		Tea in the Sahara
33	174	6		Bombs Away
34	170	6		Does Everyone Stare
35	165	6		Contact
36	149	5		Murder by Numbers
37	148	5		Shadows in the Rain
38	143	5		Too Much Information
39	119	4		Rehumanize Yourself
40	110	4		Mother

I didn't vote for any of these! #hivemind

during 79-80, there is shit tons of footage of this band working it out, due to shooting Police around the world, playing parts of the world that the rock touring market didn't typically fuck with, and them being extraordinarily available for all manner of promo…but when the GitM cycle got going, it was a weird fallow period in terms of live footage: MTV was in its infancy, they were the biggest band on Earth and thus were all of a sudden not so keen to do every tv show (and this band really was HUGE all over the world, in ways that many of their peers were not)…

so there's this: I never heard of this festival until stumbling onto this s while back, which they headlined towards the end of the GitM tour: but it shows the somewhat obscure M.O. midway between 79-80 and 83-84, when they were inescapable. and one matter that maybe you guys can help me out with: during "Invisible Sun," somebody else plays bass while Sting fucks with his keybs…I can't figure out who this was! (you can also watch the band at the first US festival, but there's time coding marring the image, unwatchable)…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgE6F-Aj1PY

Wow -- I've never seen Sting playing synth live.

I voted for six of these! (Including my #3.)

xxp - Danny Quatrochi?

(Wikipedia claims he played bass on Demolition Man.)

I was disappointed to see "Mother" at #40, for two reasons:
1. I voted for it.
2. If it hadn't charted at all, it would have been a frighteningly plausible joke #1.

SlimandSlam? You're wanted on the telephone.

It's your mother.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCybuUNblW0

I forgot how brilliant this version was
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlHiX8-33Jw

^^^ YES

"Demolition Man" was my #3. I love the way the drums, bassline, saxes and vocals chase each other around the beat, with the guitar soloing nonstop throughout. It's as if everyone in the band is suddenly unleashed.

such a sick bassline too. when I was growing up for some reason I assumed it was a cover. like "nah the Police don't write songs like this"

xp Sting's greatest movie roll
https://64.media.tumblr.com/b1b3f7ad191b6d4805c37115d6e0d4e9/bfde977741689307-fb/s400x600/176b60f9b9266f11700d9c0d7ba05ecac3a3144d.gif

Actually just that one scene

idk if it'll place but Omegaman has like the gnarliest riff. even Fripp didn't bend his notes that far.

I hope so. It's my #1.

one thing I've noticed about Ghost is it really does nerf Stewart's impact on the sound. he still has a lot of cool drum parts but he's not driving the songs anymore. there's a lot of straightforward bashing and when he twiddles the hi-hats it's almost like he's doing it out of boredom. but I think it kinda pays off anyway, they don't sound like a 3 piece band on this record

I think my biggest take away from today is not knowing that "The Bed’s Too Big Without You" was a single. It's a good song but never associated that song as a Police single. I didn't vote for it for total transparency.

I have no explanation for the way everybody voted "Bed's Too Big" but placed it low.

does a lot well but it doesn't do anything TOO well

I kinda think it's a great song? I expected it to place higher.

I was the #1 vote for "I Burn For You." Floating mystery dream menace is maybe my favorite genre of music.

This, plus "Voices Inside My Head" and "Tea in the Sahara" all held prominent places of my Dream Music mixtapes in the '80s, with short, abstract Andy Summers solo tracks like "How Can I Forget" and "Guide" as transitions.

like, the makers of the movie clearly thought they were the most popular act that would the flick

― sleeve, Wednesday, December 7, 2022 6:48 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

that would *sell* the flick

when in reality, in my experience, people went to see the Cramps/DKs/Gang Of Four/Numan/etc

― sleeve, Wednesday, December 7, 2022 6:49 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

The film was partially financed by the Copeland's, hence the heavy Police involvement and early IRS acts on the bill.

“Bombs Away” is delightful. That and “Contact” (a total jam with some great Andy textures) remind me how Sting sings Stew songs with a playfulness and lightness he rarely brings to his own material – given the odd way the vocals on those songs are mixed I wonder if it’s because he’s singing over Stew’s guide vocal (he almost certainly is on “Does Everyone Stare”).

“Tea in the Sahara” feels like Sting had gotten a head-start on Dream of the Blue Turtles.

I finally figured out the flaw, I was wondering how did "The Bed’s Too Big Without You" getting 16 votes but only ended up at number 30. It turns out some people named this song "Beds too Big" so instead of modifying the spreadsheet I manually add those points and votes to the total. So it did not only get 192 points it actually got 392, 492, 592, 692 points, something like that. It was only the first number that I mistyped. I will recalculate the results and it will now show up again in this rollout. I do believe this will be a one-time correction.

Sorry!

no worries, good catch! really enjoying this although I am not able to keep up with the relistening

It turns out some people named this song "Beds too Big"

this was me; meant to fill it out before i submitted -- sorry

at the risk of being Captain Obvious, but since Grace Jones's cover of "Demolition Man" was posted: "The Bed's Too Big Without You" also charted in the UK (in 1981) in a cover version by Sheila Hylton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USeqDNeovNs

the extended version

Theres also a super loose and dubby version of it by Julie Roberts that came out in 1980 that I really like but can't link to on this dumb phone

le voilà:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj1hHZ-Mz-M

Ah thanks, that's the one! tail-end of that goes super deep, love it

also these instrumental versions by Sly & Robbie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlTjAq8hOvM

Underwater Dub! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBTzJsez_VA

Ooh, i like those a lot! I think sly & Robbie are playing on that Sheila hylton version too? Or they're involved with it somehow anyway. And they play on the Grace Jones 'demolition man' as well obviously

yup, it's Sly & Robbie. i'm an uber fan of the Sheila Hylton version and used to forget it's a cover. If i had voted in this the OG would have been in my top 5 Police songs.

The Julie Roberts version is so similar to the Hylton; i've never been sure which came first.

Would be logical if the UK production came first I suppose, just due to geographical proximity

Time to reset those numbers

https://i.imgur.com/HROLYpd.jpg

28. No Time This Time
From: Reggatta de Blanc
Released: October 2, 1979
245 Points, 8 Votes, 1 Number One

banger

Good one! Lyrically it's the exact same sort of commuter hellscape as 'Synchronicity II' but without the paranormal stuff. Music-wise it's almost... surf rock? If Andy's guitar tone was a bit twangier, it would sound like he was playing 'Batman'

the fade out is really neat too

https://i.imgur.com/AnhCsLP.jpg

27. Truth Hits Everybody
From: Outlandos d'Amour
Released: November 2, 1978
266 Points, 8 Votes

Frist track from Outlandos to place.

Whoa-oa-oa

28. No Time This Time
From: Reggatta de Blanc
Released: October 2, 1979
245 Points, 8 Votes, 1 Number One

I somehow don't know this song at all.

I went for a different punky Outlandos track, but this one's a good rocker.

Don't think I've ever figured out what the lyrics are for this one, Sting's mumbliest performance perhaps? Also the crescendo at the end makes me incredibly anxious (because I know 'Born in the 50s' is just about to start)

the cool thing about the punk tunes from Outlandos is that they kinda sound like they could be Beatles songs.

I love "No time" cuz its Stew at his hot doggin-est": I doubt that they played it live…

"No Time This Time" is '78 -- originally the b-side of "So Lonely."

The drum performance was pretty inspirational for me when I was 15. Its energy still holds up.

Thanks for that. I did not know that and didn't come across that info with my little bit of research I do before posting a new song.

https://i.imgur.com/l8fQ1zX.jpg

26. Voices in My Head
From: Zenyattà Mondatta
Released: October 3. 1980
271 Points, 8 Votes

oof too low!

another one i love that i came to via a cover version -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-VeNMdMTjw

this too -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j6bxexpjkM

I feel its one of their few songs that successfully crossed-over into dance music, like their 'theme for great cities'? Lol xxp :))

Throughout this poll, I had forgotten about Sting & Puff Daddy's "Roxanne 97" until just now. I think I bought the CD single from FYE for $1 and "Voices In My Head" was the randomly selected b-side.

sampled in this r&b monster, one of Missy Elliott’s first hits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ojOERy-mf8

I never noticed that! That's a pretty inspired, subtle use of the sample.

superb

https://i.imgur.com/cKY4wTC.jpg

25. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
From: Zenyattà Mondatta
Single Released: November 20, 1980
276 Points, 9 Votes

I was trying to make an intellectual point about how the simple can be so powerful. Why are our favourite songs 'Da Doo Ron Ron' and 'Do Wah Diddy Diddy'? In the song, I tried to address that issue. But everyone said, 'This is bullshit, child's play.' No one listened to the lyrics. Listen to the lyrics. I'm going to remake it again and put more emphasis on what I was talking about.

— Sting, Rolling Stone, 2/1988

Sting also said that "I was trying to say something which was really quite difficult – that people like politicians, like myself even, use words to manipulate people, and that you should be very careful.”

The phrase "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" supposedly was made up by Sting's son. Sting said of this, "In fact, my son came up with it. I've never paid him – so that's another possible lawsuit. He writes songs himself these days. He's got a lot of self-confidence – I don't know where from."

from the sublime to the re-do-do-do-diculous

See, Zenyatta was doing fine until the singles presented themselves.

There were no notated votes for the 1986 version.

I hated that song when it was first released. It's grown on me since. Like a fungus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Fk_mDem4o

I hated that song when it was first released. It's grown on me since. Like a fungus.

first one from their infamous singles collection to place. I am guessing the other 11 are coming.

https://i.imgur.com/MVm6OXF.jpg

24. Canary in a Coal Mine
From: Zenyattà Mondatta
Released: October 3. 1980
312 Points, 10 Votes

xps "De Doo Doo Doo..." was one of the few Police singles to make it into Dave Marsh's 1001 Greatest Singles book, and xgau called it their "only true masterpiece" when it was released. Were they in the minority or was this a critic's favorite back in the day?

(I'm sorry, DO not Doo)

love "Canary", so peppy

xp I think doo doo is quite correct

lmao

Growing up and listening to KROQ I always thought "Canary in a Coal Mine" was a single. Great little 2:26 long song.

Same. My AOR station played it well into the mid '90s.

In my mind there's this subgenre of police songs that are just short, snappy, funtime zip-a-long pop songs, too condensed to be singles, but catchy as hell: coalmine, suitcase, gradenko, no time... not my favourite aspect of the band tbf, but definitely one of their strong points

"Canary" was one that as soon as I submitted my ballot I felt bad about not including. Great song, one of their few actual ska tunes. (There must be ska band versions of it, right?)

I always thought "De Doo Doo Doo" was borderline insufferable — not because I didn't get it, Sting. I love that he was threatening to remake it so that we would GET HIS POINT, ugh. It is also a catchy tune and nice contrast between the spacey verses and catchy chorus. I didn't vote for it but I get why it was a hit.

Fall Out too? Always thought of this as their take on a standard punk song but the vocal melody is way too complicated

I'm surprised "De Doo Doo Doo" did so well on the AT40 considering what the rest of the chart looked like...or perhaps that's why it did so well.

I know there's already been talk itt about their relationship to reggae, but I think it is pretty remarkable — that there was a band of white British/American guys who incorporated reggae into their music at a level that I don't think anyone ever called appropriation. They weren't "trying to play reggae," they were playing rock with musical foundations drawn from reggae among other places. They just feel like they inhabit the space. I also agree that Remain in Light-era Heads is the other band I can think of with similar absorption of a range of influences. Something about that postpunk era, a lot of connections were possible.

https://i.imgur.com/5gLemVX.jpg

23. Darkness
From: Ghost in the Machine
Released: October 2, 1981
322 Points, 10 Votes, 1 Number One

Good point, I don't think they ever got called 'cod reggae' either and that was truly the golden era for that as a thing (I do love a nice bit of cod reggae though tbh) xp

tremendous song

Agreed, too low

kind of a niche POV perhaps but this is one of their songs that make me think of of what ar kane were trying to do on their first album

Their best closer.

love the lyrics to this one too. one of the few "it kinda sucks to be a star" songs that actually hits emotionally. love the line "Instead of worrying about my clothes/I could be someone that nobody knows"

"Life is easy when it was boring"

do we agree it's Stew's best song?

god just relistening now and i swear, last 3 tracks on GITM are absolutely the burning core of my abiding love for the police

xp yes for sure

Last three songs on GITM are andy's best song, sting's best song and stewart's best song fyi ;)

otm

yeah Darkness rules, top 3 from Ghost for me

I spent some time believing the lyric to the previous was “Canary in a Coma” which is pleasingly surreal. And I also love that Sting is so annoyed about DDDD,DDDD, it’s one of his most DO U SEE lyrics and deserves to be mocked a bit.

https://i.imgur.com/1DzMqud.jpg

22. Next to You
From: Outlandos d'Amour
Single Released: November 2, 1978
354 Points, 11 Votes

When Sting originally presented the song to his bandmates, they felt it was neither aggressive nor political enough for the early punk sensibility of The Police. Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland suggested replacing the lyrics, with Summers offering "I'm going to take a gun to you". Sting vetoed this and kept his original love song lyrics instead. The song also includes a slide guitar solo which Copeland dismissed as "old wave," yet Summers shared that as of 2000, he was still getting letters "about that brilliant slide guitar solo".

absolutely love "darkness" and "canary," pretty fun back-to-back juxtaposition

I love "Next to You," pop-punk classic.

LOL I misread your post as "blaxploitation" xpost

Also Summers otm re that slide solo, it's excellent.

Their best closer.

One reason I never listened to the new sequence of Ghost in the Machine was that I couldn't imagine any other song ending the record.

Also Summers otm re that slide solo, it's excellent.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra),

Precisely because it so off-brand: it's like Paul's solo in "Taxman."

write him a letter!

https://i.imgur.com/g1OnF0u.jpg

21. It’s Alright for You
From: Reggatta de Blanc
Released: October 2, 1979
366 Points, 11 Votes, 1 Number One

The song that pops into my head when I think of “new wave”

Great song, one of their few actual ska tunes. (There must be ska band versions of it, right?)

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, December 8, 2022

exactly why it never got anywhere near my ballot

https://i.imgur.com/oQhTwuo.jpg

20. Every Breath You Take
From: Synchronicity
Released: May 20, 1983
374 Points, 11 Votes

"Every Breath You Take" is the Police's and Sting's signature song, and in 2010 was estimated to generate between a quarter and a third of Sting's music publishing income.[5] In May 2019, it was recognized by BMI as being the most played song in radio history.[6][7] With nearly 15 million radio plays, Sting received a BMI Award at a ceremony held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills to mark it being the Most Performed Song in BMI's catalogue, a distinction previously held since 1999 by Spector, Mann and Weill's "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". BMI President and CEO Mike O'Neill stated: "For the first time in 22 years, BMI has a new top song in our repertoire with Sting's timeless hit 'Every Breath You Take,' a remarkable achievement that solidifies its place in songwriting history."

Written by Sting, the single was the biggest US and Canadian hit of 1983, the song also reached the Top 10 in numerous other countries. In the 1983 Rolling Stone critics' and readers' poll, it was voted "Song of the Year". In the US, it was the best-selling single of 1983 and fifth-best-selling single of the decade. Billboard ranked it as the No. 1 song for 1983.[8] The song ranked No. 84 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It also ranked number 25 on Billboard's Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs. In 2008, Q magazine named it among the top 10 British Songs of the 1980s. In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as The Nation's Favourite 1980s number one in a UK-wide poll for ITV.

Shocked that this placed so low, great job ILM. I do wonder if it's burn out issue, lyric content or other. I'm just sick of hearing it and didn't make my ballot even tho the song is sort of great.

too low????????????????

pay andy you fucks

but yeah it might be burnout. like when I listen to Reggatta I just can't stand to hear "Message in a Bottle" anymore. I know it's a great song but growing up it was both on the RdB CD and the Greatest Hits that was always playing around the house, AND it was on the radio all the fucking time. it's like listening to the Simpsons theme song for fun. "Every Breath You Take" is probably even worse because I also lived through Puff Daddy mania

Also someone sent in a ballot and had number 11 missing. I wrote back and said you missed a song, they said go ahead and add Every Breath to their ballot. So it slid on in to track number 20 on their ballot. What I'm trying to say is, if that wasn't added then it wouldn't have even made our Top 20.

still remember coming home with the single as a kid and playing it for the first time and thinking, what the hell is this garbage? not sure i ever really warmed to it much after that, something about the tune always made me think of 'sailing' by rod stewart, which was a real torture to listen to, thankfully that never persisted in culture like this thing did

it’s a fans’ poll not a casuals’ poll innit

(sorry for negativity, will try and KIP going forwards) xp

It didn't make my ballot, and I don't think burnout was the reason. It's just a creepy song. I realize it's far from the only creepy song Sting has written, it's just not a highlight for me.

It's one of the many, many famous songs that I enjoy briefly and then get bored with after listening to about 90 seconds.

It really hasn't gone away: I hear it in the wild at least three times a week, maybe more if I count the times I've tuned it out.

I wonder if the streaming age has affected Sting's publishing income for this baby.

There's still a lot of money in radio airplay, it's album sales that have suffered the most from streaming. Not to mention that I'm sure the song itself is getting streamed a lot, to the point where the fractions of pennies add up.

1,354 million plays on spotify

That's a crazy amount of plays especially for an 80s song.

"Spotify pays artists between $0.003 - $0.005 per stream on average"

1,354,000,000 x 0.003 = 4,062,000 (!!)

Sting could probably find more than that in his sofa cushions.

Not to mention the additional millions Sting would've earned in my friend Allison's Cadillac junior year when she played Every Breath You Take -- The Singles over and over and over, sometimes on the same drive.

Growing up and listening to KROQ I always thought "Canary in a Coal Mine" was a single. Great little 2:26 long song.

do we agree it's Stew's best song?

Shocked that this placed so low, great job ILM. I do wonder if it's burn out issue, lyric content or other. I'm just sick of hearing it and didn't make my ballot even tho the song is sort of great.

the Gizmodrome version of "Darkness" with Mark King on vocals. better than the original IMO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcNWlA11Llk

https://i.imgur.com/6KWmGws.jpg

19. Secret Journey
From: Ghost in the Machine
Single Released: April 1982
436 Points, 13 Votes, 1 Number One

lmao this is peak ILX corny indie fuckery. endearing as hell and absolutely bonkers for a track that ranks up there with "in the air tonight" for establishing an entire sonic template for the 80s. absolutely towering achievement. PAY ANDY.

whoops xpost but secret journey also too low. god bless whoever had it #1 I SWIPE RIGHT ON YOU

#2 on my ballot.

see that's what the EBYT riff would sound like on a good song

Side 2 of Ghost > Side 1 of Ghost

I dig this album track unreasonably and had it top 5. sounds great. catchy as hell. and ~mYsTiCaL~

Where are we stopping today? No rush -- just need to know as I head out.

not gonna lie, my #1

Last three songs on GITM are andy's best song, sting's best song and stewart's best song fyi ;)

#2 on my ballot.

the Gizmodrome version of "Darkness" with Mark King on vocals. better than the original IMO

📹

it sort of marks the beginning of “Serious, Boring Sting.”

100% agree

Where are we stopping today? No rush -- just need to know as I head out.

Going to post up to number 16, will do the Top 15 tomorrow.

getting a little worried “Omegaman” won’t place higher than these two.

Have trouble believing even we would rank "Mother" above "Omegaman".

i think there's about 15 dead certs still to come but there's definitely a few spots left for other things

Awesome I love "Secret Journey" but didn't know if it was beloved or not. Lyric is kinda New Age corny but the production and melody are great and the chorus is a big hook.

https://i.imgur.com/BFNu9Sn.jpg

18. Wrapped Around Your Finger
From: Synchronicity
Single Released: July 8, 1983
473 Points, 17 Votes

This song is vaguely alchemical and probably about a friend of mine, a professional psychic and my tutor in tarot, with bits of Doctor Faustus and The Sorcerer's Apprentice thrown into the pot for good measure.

— Sting, Lyrics by Sting

Sting praised the video, saying:

It's incredibly atmospheric, and I think the set design is brilliant – there's nothing but all those candles, yet it conjures up so many different feelings and possibilities about the song. When Kevin (Godley) and Lol (Creme) came to me with the idea, I got very excited because I realised that they really understood the imagistic approach I wanted. The whole concept is fairly esoteric – it's really a "Sorcerer's Apprentice" type of idea. The song is cunningly being shot at high speed in order to achieve a special effect when it's eventually played back at normal speed. At least, that's the theory...

— Sting, Playgirl, 10/1983

Andy Summers, however, was critical of Sting's overacting in the video.

I never much liked the idea for "Wrapped Around Your Finger." No, I was kind of pissed off about that one. I've never been much of a fan of that song, actually. Sting got to shoot his part last in that video and made a meal of knocking all the candles out. Fuck him.

— Andy Summers, I Want My MTV

haha, andy <3

That is classic.

Omegaman was on my (ten-song) ballot too. I'd be amazed if it didn't make it - more likely to be an odd sleeper top ten placing than miss out entirely.

It was supposed to be the lead single for Ghost until Sting objected.

didn't know that!

I'm picking up food at this Argentine restaurant and of course EBYT is on.

lol, of course

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT60P9SKYV8

^^Tiny Tunes parody of EBYT. I wish the actual scene from the show was uploaded, as it was a fine, loving sendup of the original video.

https://i.imgur.com/CRq4oSo.jpg

17. Ωmegaman
From: Ghost in the Machine
Released: October 2, 1981
486 Points, 14 Votes, 2 Number Ones

Phew!

I wanted to say something but obviously couldn't.

never in doubt! appreciate the accurate spelling, bee ok!

that guitar break after the first chorus, fucking glorious

Now to fix my mistake and get this whole countdown back on track...

https://i.imgur.com/ibTyIX0.jpg

30. The Bed’s Too Big Without You
From: Reggatta de Blanc
Single Released: 1979
491 Points, 16 Votes

The themes of the song are loneliness and the pain of the end of a relationship. The lyrics were inspired by an incident in which Sting's first girlfriend, after being heartbroken upon their break-up, committed suicide.

"The Bed's Too Big Without You" was first released on Reggatta de Blanc in 1979. However, the following year, the song saw a single release as a bonus single in the Six Pack box set, which featured the band's five previous British singles (excluding "Fall Out"). Said box set peaked at No. 17 in Britain. The song was also released as the B-side to "So Lonely" in Germany.

A promo video for "The Bed's Too Big Without You" was performed by the band on The Kenny Everett Video Show. It featured the band members miming to the song in a suburban house.

lol

16. The Bed’s Too Big Without You

So Far:

16	492	16		The Bed’s Too Big Without You
17	486	14	2	Ωmegaman
18	473	17		Wrapped Around Your Finger
19	436	13	1	Secret Journey
20	374	11		Every Breath You Take
21	366	11	1	It’s Alright for You
22	354	11		Next to You
23	322	10	1	Darkness
24	312	10		Canary in a Coal Mine
25	276	9		De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
26	271	8		Voices in My Head
27	266	8		Truth Hits Everybody
28	245	8	1	No Time This Time
29	209	6		Demolition Man
30	200	7		Man in a Suitcase
31	183	5	1	I Burn for You
32	176	6		Tea in the Sahara
33	174	6		Bombs Away
34	170	6		Does Everyone Stare
35	165	6		Contact
36	149	5		Murder by Numbers
37	148	5		Shadows in the Rain
38	143	5		Too Much Information
39	119	4		Rehumanize Yourself
40	110	4		Mother

"EBYT" is correctly placed.

As annoying as the chorus is, there's a case for "De Do Do" because at least the guitar work is cool.

woah, sting's girlfriend killed herself because they broke up?? had never heard that before. and straightaway I'm thinking about 'can't stand losing' and the record cover for that is literally a drawing of someone hanging themselves. wtaf?!

I mean I always thought the 'can't stand losing you' sleeve was in poor taste but if sting had actually known someone that took her life after splitting up with him then it seems like a hugely cunty thing to do

:O

"EBYT" is correctly placed.

agreed, and i don't even think it's a case of 'ilm contrariness'. it's a good song, but they really do have ~20 that are better

xxp I thought the person on the sleeve was Sting, but it was in fact Stew.

Going to try and get a bit earlier start tomorrow morning.

Bummed this is a busy week at work and I haven't had a minute to check in on the rollout while it's happening! Lots of my high placements showing up today, including my #1, "No Time This Time" -- had no idea this was a '78 track but makes sense. Can't deny I favor the punkier side of this band, but this poll/rollout is really making me realize there's a whole side of this band (e.g., the part where they are in fact exceptionally good at playing their instruments) that I'm mostly listening right past.

"First to fall over when the atmosphere is less than perfect
Your sensibilities are shaken by the slightest defect
You live your life like a canary in a coalmine
You get so dizzy even walking in a straight line"

Sting often likes to indulge himself in is lyrics and get sloppy but this is one of the tightest quatrains I've ever seen, those syllables are just like rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat, it's like something tightened by a wrench, love everything about "Canary" but these lyrics most of all -- agree it's not really a ska song but rather a song which could only exist in a world where ska exists

those syllables are just like rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat, it's like something tightened by a wrench

Yes. See also:

Wake up, make up, bring it up, shake up
Stand by, don't cry, watching while the world dies
Big car, movie star, hot tip, go far
Blind date, too late, take a bus, don't wait

Yup

I really should have voted for more Zenyatta

I thought I had seen every Police video but have never seen this one before:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxI2rUJOp_Y

But are you safe[ly in the top 15], Miss Gradenko?

xp that wasn't an official promo video for it, that's just the way that particular programme presented music as far as I remember, it was a teeny bit saucy I think you could safely say

I wonder what the highest-placing non-single will be? Bring on the night? Synchronicity 1?

I voted Gradenko pretty high. And the highest non single, well the voting thread answers that question …

Oh I don't remember that. Was it 'Oh My God'? :/

Going back a bit to "Does Everyone Stare," voodoo speaks wisdom:

yes! love the odd timing on the piano, so far behind the beat that it winds up being on beat again

Yeah in Stewart's autobiography he says that he wrote it for a composition class in I guess college.

The professor criticized it for including parallel fifths (a no-no for some theory heads), but encouragingly said that it had "a voice." That was all the encouragement Stewart needed, and he regarded it as basically the go-ahead he needed to start considering himself a songwriter and not just a drummer.

I don't pretend to know or love these guys *as people*, but I found that anecdote oddly charming.

omegaman was definitely my number one non-voting regret

Omegaman has such a gnarly riff. even Fripp doesn't bend his notes that much.

omegaman and darkness are the ones that’ve popped into my head most often since i voted

would’ve placed them both high if we voted today (i did put darkness near the bottom)

Talking of fripp, I wonder how conscious they were that crimson had a song called 'the sheltering sky' when they made 'tea in the sahara'

I wonder how conscious Paul Bowles was about having a written a novel called The Sheltering Sky.

he probably had some inkling? I know that's what they're both inspired by, but I could imagine them trying to avoid sounding like the other song while still striving for basically the same sort of atmosphere. Prefer the KC personally, though I do like wide open space that the police conjure on their's (even though I find it kind of a boring song)

anyway, just blabbering for the sake of blabbering here, don't mind me

Never forget

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGoC66IcW9A

Master class in stiff upper lip, Gordie!

https://i.imgur.com/DCEwhbE.jpg

15. Roxanne
From: Outlandos d'Amour
Single Released: April 7, 1978
508 Points, 15 Votes, 1 Number One

We went into Surrey Sound Studios and it was working pretty well. We recorded a few tracks, one of which I wrote more or less as a throwaway. That was 'Roxanne', I didn't think much more about it until we played the album to Miles Copeland who is, of course, Stewart's brother and a bit of an entrepreneur, though he'd never been particularly interested in The Police. In fact, he'd kept away from it to say the least. He did come along to the sessions while we were putting the first album together but more or less just to offer brotherly advice to Stewart. He heard the album and quite liked it. When we got to Roxanne, we were a bit embarrassed because the song was a bit of an anachronism, because compared with our usual material it was slow, quiet and melodic. Far from saying he thought it was a piece of shit, he said it was amazing. I thought, 'He likes this song. This is fantastic!

— Sting, A Visual Documentary, 1978

According to Andy Summers:

Sting played it for me in my living room early on. He was very shy at first bringing in his songs. But it was brilliant, and later on we all worked it out in a damp basement in North London. I remember Stewart telling Sting where to place the bass notes, which was a bit tricky. Miles Copeland came down to hear us and we were kind of embarrassed to play it for him, because Miles had blinders on and was into fast and furious punk. But much to his credit, he said, 'This is great, a knockout!' I was really surprised. And he took it to A&M and got a contract for one single. I don't think it ever broke the Top 40 in America, but eventually it became the Police signature tune.

— Andy Summers, Guitar World, 1/94

every breath at 20, that makes sense to me. roxanne out of the top ten? come on now

the most undanceable record I've ever had the misfortune of walking onto a dance floor for

still love the moment where he sits on the piano, and that brash, brogue-y “rrrrrrrooooxanne” that comes in after “it’s a bad way”

feel like the basic misogyny that Matthew was talking about is p. strong in this one. 'I won't share you with another boy'? She's not yours to share in the first place mate, she's sharing her body with you

I didn't vote for "Roxanne," it's on the one hand undeniable and on the other just not something I have desire or need to hear. All-time classic rhythm, obv.

"Roxanne" is one I kinda can't hear with fresh ears anymore. I know I thought it was great when I first heard it, and the stop-start is definitely a solid hook. Agreed that the sex-worker shaming is a groaner. Maybe it's actually the first in the long line of Sting's "the narrator is supposed to be a creep" songs. Perhaps we're meant to look at the futile demands of this dopey client (who clearly thinks he's "special") and roll our eyes..?

I think my favorite stuff in the poll is really all the deep cuts we've been hitting recently. The comments here focusing on the instrumental contributions are helping me get past my aversion to a lot of the songs that I've always heard as underwritten due to their "repeat the title several times" choruses.

Always dug "Canary" for the speedy jumpy energy that's been noted already - for me, the better version of "Man in a Suitcase."

"Truth Hits Everybody" is a monster. Outlandos's impact as their brash punky debut falls apart completely without it imho. Great "woah-oh-ohs." Don't know most of the words, but "Sleep lay behind me like a broken ocean" is an evocative opener and already showing Sting's tendency towards more poetic-type lyrics than I expect from a 'punk' band.

https://i.imgur.com/gkXCwEJ.jpg

King of Pain
From: Synchronicity
Single Released: August 1983 (US)/January 1984 (UK)
529 Points, 17 Votes

"King of Pain" was released as the second single in the US and the fourth single in the UK, taken from their fifth and final album, Synchronicity (1983). The song was released after "Every Breath You Take"'s eight-week appearance on top of the charts. Sting's fascination with Carl Jung and, to a greater extent, Arthur Koestler inspired him to write the track. As a Hungarian-born novelist who resided in England, Koestler was enthralled with parapsychology and the unexplained workings of the mind (he wrote the book titled The Ghost in the Machine in the late '60s, after which the Police named their fourth album). A music video was made but only released in Australia.

Engineer/co-producer Hugh Padgham remembers this song as being one of several songs that had been heavily reformed and edited during the mixing stage. He explains:

"I remember this one song on Synchronicity, called "King of Pain", which had basically everything going all the way through it. If you listen to it now, it's very stripped down, bits and pieces coming in here and there. Literally everything was recorded all the way through and I really remember that one well — sitting down with Sting coming in one day, when we were mixing and (Sting) going, "This is shit" and I went, "I think you're probably right." The thing at the back of my mind always is trying to keep things simple so you can then hear what's there, as opposed to the kitchen sink style, which is cool, sometimes. Some people do it incredibly well."

14. King of Pain

would be a great name for a french bakery

Creepazoid narrators in Sting songs are common, yes, but so is ventriloquism. I am reasonably certain he has not worked as a coal miner (despite "We Work the Black Seam") and he is almost certainly not a vampire (despite "Moon Over Bourbon Street").

The early-era Police lyrics that might give one pause are readily identifiable:

"Their logic ties me up and rapes me," not a very good image; disproportionate to the lyrical setting.

"Limp wrist, tight fist, contact, no twist
Black dress, no mess, I want no less." Limp-wrist a homophobic slur at the time.

"On Any Other Day" throws "my fine young sun has turned out gay" into a list of other perceived calamities.

I am not sure there's a way to ferret out the exact state of mind of a prolific lyricist at the moment of lyric writing, to have some kind of final verdict about which lines were heartfelt and which were portraying a character.

So fun to sing in the car!

"King of Pain" is histrionic twaddle that works like hell.

Also hilarious imagining Sting enduring any sort of pain.

"King of Pain" would be a great name for a french bakery

...until the skeleton chokes on the crust!

"Their logic ties me up and rapes me," not a very good image; disproportionate to the lyrical setting.

This is why Tom Monroe's version changes the line to "ties me up and takes me".

it takes a special knack to be able to stand INSIDE the pouring rain

the bits where sting isn't saying a word are brilliant. love that guitar solo, but that chilly little interlude that comes right after it is magical to me - sounds just like something off tinderbox by siouxsie & the banshees

Too low! Of all the really mopey hits, this is the one that somehow works the best -- carried by the music, somehow. It's absolutely amazing that a chorus that goes "I'll always be king of pain" could be non-embarrassing, but it is, it's totally satisfying.

That said I voted the mopey "Every Little Thing" higher than this, but what can I do, I imprinted on that song in the mopiest period of my life, there are some things about ourselves we cannot remove or revise

^ perfect encapsulation of how I feel about a lot of this, I was obsessed with the Police and then Sting from ages 11-15 before The Cure took all my attention. I’ve loved revisiting it.

https://i.imgur.com/2o1PRHt.jpg

13. Synchronicity I
From: Synchronicity
Released: June 17, 1983
589 Points, 17 Votes, 1 Number One

"Synchronicity I", as well as its more famous counterpart "Synchronicity II", features lyrics that are inspired by Carl Jung's theory of synchronicity. Also included in the lyrics is a term from "The Second Coming," "Spiritus Mundi" (translating to "spirit of the world"), which William Butler Yeats used to refer to the collective unconscious, another of Jung's theories. Like other songs on Synchronicity, "Synchronicity I" is driven by a synthesizer riff.

When asked how "Synchronicity I" is connected to "Synchronicity II," Stewart Copeland said, "I've had Sting up against the wall on this issue before, and he point blank refuses to explain the connection. None of us in the band can even remember which one's which. The only way I can keep them straight is that 'Synch I' has Sting's cool sequencer part, that 'dunga dunga dung' thing that I, to this day, get all the credit for. People think it's me playing some percussive instrument, and I have to put them right. It was real 'rama-lama' way of starting our set on tour, though it almost killed me to start with that kind of onslaught every night."

According to Summers, there was originally going to be a link between this song and counterpart "Synchronicity II":

"We had this section for 'Synchronicity' which we referred to as The Loch. I went in and detuned my guitar synth to C sharp and it produced a great wash of sound, lovely. And there was an acoustic on top, a few cymbals and an oboe, really serene. We were going to have it at the end of 'Synchronicity I' — it was supposed to be the Loch Ness Monster — and then it would go into 'Synchronicity II'. But we couldn't really get it to work. Miles (Copeland) didn't like it... it was too psychedelic for him.

Oh.

Incredible opener. But never has there been a harsher drop off between track 1 and 2

I think I thought the two Synchronicities were different planes happening simultaneously, like I was the cosmic perspective and II was mired in the mess of modern life.

It's an irritating kick in the crotch iirc

the vocals on the chorus sound so good, absolutely soaring stuff

love king of pain, the verse chord progression is surprisingly complex

I wonder if anyone has ever thought about covering this song in the style of Husker Du? Kicks off the album with the same energy as New Day Rising

well not really but

"King of Pain" is permanently overshadowed, for me, by Weird Al's "King of Suede," which I heard first, many many many times. The original is good, but imho Al's lyrics are better, or at least avoid the corny business about skeletons. In both versions, it's the composition and arrangement that make such an incredible earworms, not the words... Though the entire "two-for one sale on our three-piece suits" section is pretty amazing.

Along the same lines, whenever I mentally reach for Every Breath You Take, there's a two-second adjustment where I first dip into Al's rendition in "Polkas on 45." Here I do think The Police have him beat, but then again, "Velvet Elvis" might be a better Police song than all of the above.

https://i.imgur.com/9zxiGBD.jpg

12. So Lonely
From: Outlandos d'Amour
Single Released: November 3, 1978
599 Points, 17 Votes

"People thrashing out three chords didn't really interest us musically. Reggae was accepted in punk circles and musically more sophisticated, and we could play it, so we veered off in that direction. I mean let's be honest here, 'So Lonely' was unabashedly culled from 'No Woman No Cry' by Bob Marley & The Wailers. Same chorus. What we invented was this thing of going back and forth between thrash punk and reggae. That was the little niche we created for ourselves."

— Sting, Revolver 4/2000

Sting recycled the lyrics in the song's verses from his earlier Last Exit song "Fool in Love". The lyrics themselves, about someone who is lonely after getting his heart broken, were thought to be "ironic" to large audiences.[4] Sting denied this claim, however, saying, "No, there's no irony whatsoever. From the outside it might look a bit strange, being surrounded by all this attention and yet experiencing the worst lonely feeling...but I do. And then suddenly the attention is withdrawn a half an hour later. You're so isolated...

Doubling back in the list as I give Ghost probably my third or fourth ever listen: man, Demolition Man is a lot of fun. Their answer to Fishbone or Oingo Boingo maybe? Makes me wish the Stallone/Snipes film had been an conceived as more of a retro 80s teen party comedy.

oh mannnn So Lonely RULES

disappointed to learn Sting is not proclaiming "I'm a fuckin' nightmare, I'm Mister Magoo" on DM. Wonder if this was an influence on "Firestarter," nonetheless.

This has been a very fun poll.

Here's another song with dubious sex-themed lyrics: "Salami! Salami! Salami!"

xxp I wish he was singing that! "I'm a three-line whip, I'm the sort of thing they ban" is just complete cobblers, a shit metaphor followed by hand-wavy waffle

yes Bee OK, thank you for running it

i saw the group in msg for their final show in 2008, and sting sang "welcome to the andy summers show" instead of "one-man show" lol

he wasn't wrong

Going into a long meeting so this one will be the last one for a minute.

https://i.imgur.com/dKCmlcY.jpg

11. Spirits in the Material World
From: Ghost in the Machine
Single Released: December 11, 1981 UK. 1982 US
600 Points, 19 Votes

'Spirits in the Material World' was written on one of those Casio keyboards while I was riding in the back of a truck somewhere. I just tap, tap, tap and there it was, just by accident. That was the first time I'd ever touched a synthesizer, that album.

— Sting, Synchronicity Tour Program, 1983

Andy Summers' presence on the studio track is considerably less pronounced than on the vast majority of Police songs, and in fact, Sting wanted to record it without him entirely. Having written the song on a synthesizer, he wanted for it to use synthesizer instead of guitar, and to play the synthesizer part himself. Summers thought the synthesizer part should be replaced by guitar, and after considerable argument, they compromised by recording the part on both instruments, with a mix such that the synthesizer drowned out much of Summers's guitar. In live performances this part was played on guitar only, with synthesizer used only for background chords. The bass part for the song is distinctively complex, with music producer and cognitive psychologist Daniel Levitin writing that it "takes this rhythmic play to such an extreme that it can be hard to tell where the downbeat even is." The track was recorded at Air Studios Montserrat.

The lyrics comment on the nature of man's existence and the failure of his earthly institutions.

god i love this song!

there's a lot tricky about the downbeat here, but i think the trickiest thing is that copeland rests on the "1-e" and plays on the "and-a"

“So Lonely” is SO GODDAMN ANNOYING.

that one drum hit going into the chorus is secretly the key to the whole song.

(re: Spirits)

kind of another one of their ska songs tbh (i do love it though)

Dr. C.: Yeah it sounds so wrong and feels so right. That Stewart was able to play it so precisely, so often, indicates that it was completely deliberate and intentionally placed exactly there.

what instrument is that plucky thing that arrives halfway through?

xp yeah the snare hits directly on the 4 of the previous measure before the chorus

NickB, I used to think it was a nylon-string classical guitar, very processed. Nowadays I suspect it was a sample of classical guitar played on an emU or similar keyboard.

ah okay! always made me think of a balalaika or something. or that one that's made out of half an armadillo or whatever it is

Just recently stumbled on Andy Summer's recent string of solo guitar albums and they are really beautiful.

I often lose the “one” in this song if I’m not paying attention

xp wait what? tell me more!

Top 10

https://i.imgur.com/MI02gJ7.jpg

10. Can’t Stand Losing You
From: Outlandos d'Amour
Single Released: August 14, 1978
601 Points, 16 Votes

"Can't Stand Losing You" features lyrics which, according to Sting, is "about a teenage suicide, which is always a bit of a joke." Sting also claimed that the lyrics took him only five minutes to write.

The original single was banned by the BBC because of the controversial cover (an alternative cover was released in some places). As Sting described: "The reason they (the BBC) had a problem with "Can't Stand Losing You" was because the photo on the cover of the single had Stewart standing on a block of ice with a noose around his neck, waiting for the ice to melt." Despite this, or perhaps because of the extra attention from the controversy, it became the group's first single to break the charts, and has held a spot in their live sets ever since it was written. The photography on the controversial cover was by Peter Gravelle.

too low, tbh

"teenage suicide, which is always a bit of a joke." - what is wrong with this man's brain?

i'd guess you'd call it cowardice

highest placer from Outlandos or am I forgetting something?

Sorry about the delay...

https://i.imgur.com/b24ue1O.jpg

9. Invisible Sun
From: Ghost in the Machine
Single Released: September 25, 1981
603 Points, 19 Votes

I actually wrote the song in Ireland, where I was living at the time. It was during the hunger strikes in Belfast. I wanted to write about that but I wanted to show some light at the end of the tunnel. I do think there has to be an "invisible sun". You can't always see it, but there has to be something radiating light into our lives.

— Sting, Revolver, 2000

The song's lyrics stem from songwriter Sting's pondering how people living in war-torn and/or impoverished countries find the will to go on living, and despite the dark music and often morbid lyrical statements, the song carries an intensely uplifting and optimistic message. The song was deeply personal for drummer Stewart Copeland, whose hometown of Beirut was being heavily bombed at the time of the song's recording:

For me, the song was about Beirut, where I'd grown up, which at that point was going up in flames. My hometown was being vilified by the media as a terrorist stronghold, and it was being blasted by bombs and napalm. Twenty thousand Lebanese were killed that year. And the Lebanese must have been feeling some heat from the invisible sun, because they were keeping their peckers up.

— Stewart Copeland, Revolver, 2000

The song is a departure from Police songs before it; "Invisible Sun" contains a dark, looping synthesizer beat, and powerful, haunting lyrics. Among other things, the lyrics refer to the ArmaLite rifle used by paramilitary organisations, but mainly by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The music video for "Invisible Sun" features a collection of video clips taken from the conflict in Northern Ireland. Owing to its subject matter, it was banned by the BBC.

Some of my misheard lyrics from childhood:

"Pot says in a material world"

"That book might never come" (that book by nabokov)

"[something something] Christopher" (every line in the synchronicity chorus)

"This girl is half diseased"

God I love this song, the atmospheric sounds really works for me.

remember this great moment?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkWPNd2tpuE

"xp wait what? tell me more!

― sleeve"

assuming this was directed at me re: Andy Summers, this in particular is really gorgeous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3lNShy7zGY

great song. the line "but I don't even wanna die just yet" bothers me though. just couldn't make the line scan I guess.

And the Lebanese must have been feeling some heat from the invisible sun, because they were keeping their peckers up.

Salami! Salami! Salami!

xp "King of Pain," one of the all time best music worst lyrics contenders. Perhaps #1.

"washed a pullover when the atmosphere is less than perfect"

otm

"deathwish in the fading light, hitler running through the night"

https://i.imgur.com/d9w7KHX.jpg

8. Driven To Tears
From: Zenyattà Mondatta
Released: October 3. 1980
live in Fréjus 1980, from "Urgh! A Music War" - 1 Vote
628 Points, 19 Votes, 1 Number One

The theme of the song is the divide between rich and poor. It was one of the first politically themed songs the Police released, and the first that Sting wrote. Sting was inspired to write the song while on tour in the United States in 1979 after seeing the plight of starving children in Biafra on television. Sting has stated that the title and song came to him because he was literally driven to tears by the show.[4] The song asks questions but finds no answers. One line of the song refers to the fact that people can afford the technology to watch television, but not food for the starving children.

The song is in the key of A minor. It incorporates a powerful eight bar guitar solo by Police guitarist Andy Summers, one of his few solos on Zenyatta Mondatta. Author Erica Starr has described Stewart Copeland's drum playing on the song as "jerky" and "syncopated" but that the beats "float around with great ease," noting that the song has "tremendous energy and forward momentum." Rolling Stone critic David Fricke points to "Driven to Tears" as an example of The Police indulging "their love for reggae," describing the song as "brooding." Allmusic critic Chris True describes the song as a "midtempo reggae workout.

Some of Andy's best textures on this one.

Other thoughts:

every breath at 20, that makes sense to me. roxanne out of the top ten? come on now

The destructive power of overexposure is real. Like how on the ILM Zeppelin poll "Stairway" was, like, #20 or something, after having been feted as THE GREATEST ROCK SONG OF ALL TIME by all the classic rock stations in the 80s (which it obviously never was).

According to Summers, there was originally going to be a link between this song and counterpart "Synchronicity II":

"We had this section for 'Synchronicity' which we referred to as The Loch. I went in and detuned my guitar synth to C sharp and it produced a great wash of sound, lovely. And there was an acoustic on top, a few cymbals and an oboe, really serene. We were going to have it at the end of 'Synchronicity I' — it was supposed to be the Loch Ness Monster — and then it would go into 'Synchronicity II'. But we couldn't really get it to work. Miles (Copeland) didn't like it... it was too psychedelic for him.

Ok, so now I really want to hear that. The first part is one of my absolute favorite things they did for all the reasons described upthread, what a rush.

One of the things about "Spirits" that I realized the other night is that, despite the synth-heavy arrangement, it's actually one of the most reggae things they did. The string synth on the verse is substituting for the skank guitar while Sting plays an absolutely unbelievable bass part (that I find it hard to believe he wouldn't have simplified to play live).

"Invisible Sun" is a moody motherfucker. Not better than "Spirits" but completely awesome.

“driven to tears” was my number one, that incredible solo was a big reason why

6-7 years ago "Driven To Tears" would have been my #1. It spent more time as my favorite than "Omegaman."

One of the best fake endings.

it's actually one of the most reggae things they did.

and to think how a synth string section would defang most of the decade's subsequent white reggae attempts

https://i.imgur.com/fsr2hlz.jpg

7. Bring on the Night
From: Reggatta de Blanc
Single Released: November 22, 1979
652 Points, 20 Votes, 1 Number One

Some of the lyrics of "Bring on the Night" were recycled from the song "Carrion Prince (O Ye of Little Hope)", which was written by Sting for the band Last Exit. The title "Carrion Prince (O Ye of Little Hope)" was taken from Ted Hughes's poem "King of Carrion," which is about Pontius Pilate. However, after reading The Executioner's Song, Sting felt that the words fitted Gary Gilmore's death wish, and says that since then, "I sing it with him in mind."

Another line from "Bring on the Night", "when the evening spreads itself against the sky," is taken from T. S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," written in 1910-15. In Lyrics By Sting, Sting said of this, "What is it Eliot said? 'Bad poets borrow, good poets steal'?"

The song was only released as an album track in Britain, but was released as a single in the United States, Germany and France in November 1979. It was backed with "Visions of the Night" (the British B-side to "Walking on the Moon") in the United States, with "Reggatta de Blanc" in Germany, and with "Roxanne" in France. The single managed to hit No. 6 in France; however the song did not make it into the charts in the US and Germany.

The unexpected source for "Edge of Seventeen."

My wife can't stand Sting and doesn't really care for the Police either. But she was really taken by "Bring on the Night" when I played it the other day and was asking me if it was one of the tracks they recorded at George Martin's studio in the Caribbean (we watched the doc).

The verse with the guitar arpeggios is absolutely stunning -- poss. the song that grew on me the most that I already knew for this poll. I'd have put it top 5 if I had more time to debate it.

Yes that beautiful guitar playing during the verses, so lilting and lovely

Also: it's worth noting that the live version of this on the Sting album of the same name is fucking great -- I actually think the chorus is maybe a little better. Kenny Kirkland's piano on the "When the World Is Running Down" part blew me away as a kid and is actually just as amazing today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXviYxufvOg

https://i.imgur.com/koR5Pu5.jpg

6. Don’t Stand So Close to Me
From: Zenyattà Mondatta
Released: October 3. 1980
1986 Version - 2 Votes
653 Points, 20 Votes, 1 Number One

The song deals with the mixed feelings of lust, fear and guilt that a school teacher has for a student and the fallout when the inappropriate relationship is discovered by other adults. The line "Just like the old man in that book by Nabokov" alludes to Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita, which covers somewhat similar issues.[5] The line was criticised for rhyming "shake and cough" with Nabokov. Sting replied, "I've used that terrible, terrible rhyme technique a few times."

Before joining The Police, Sting had previously worked as an English teacher. He referred to the song's story progression as "the teacher, the open page, the virgin, the rape in the car, getting the sack."

In 1993, however, he said of the song's inspiration, "You have to remember we were blond bombshells at the time and most of our fans were young girls so I started roleplaying a bit. Let's exploit that." He also stated that the song does not have a basis in fact, stating that "To be frank, it was right in our market. A lot of teenage girls were buying our records. So the idea was, let's write a Lolita story." Ultimate Classic Rock critic Mike Duquette describes the theme as "a man going insane in a post-apocalyptic world." In a 2001 interview for the concert DVD ...All This Time, Sting denied that the song is autobiographical.

That is all so gross.

eww

stunning promotion for miss gradenko if she's made the top 5 though

“a man going insane” yeahhhh, right, it’s what you’d do when the pressure really got to you, is it?

when I was a kid I played some PC game for which the BGM was just like a MIDI version of "Bring on the Night". wish I remembered what it was!

Surprised that the 1986 version only got two proclaimed votes.

have grown to really dislike this one

yeah me too and sting songsplaining it is not helping

https://i.imgur.com/Et1X2Az.jpg

5. When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around
From: Zenyattà Mondatta
Released: October 2. 1980

"When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around" was one of Sting's earliest attempts at a song whose lyrics deal with concerns of the outside world rather than just his own issues. Ellie O'Day of Vancouver Free Press describes the lyrics as being mostly a "repetitive chant". Ultimate Classic Rock critic Mike Duquette describes the theme as "a man going insane in a post-apocalyptic world." Sting regards the song as having a post-apocalyptic vision, something it shares with an earlier Police song, "Bring on the Night", from the 1979 album Reggatta de Blanc. Sting has said of the two songs "such vanity as to imagine one's self as the sole survivor of a holocaust with all one's favorite things still intact".

My number one, after naming the voting thread after this song it just seemed right.

5. When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around
From: Zenyattà Mondatta
Released: October 2. 1980
672 Points, 19 Votes, 4 Number Ones

Oh I'd forgotten about this one, stand down miss gradenko

Huh, it was my #5

lol Mike Duquette weighing in again

My #1, was hoping it’d top the poll. MONSTER jam.

when the poll is running down

https://i.imgur.com/tSJXuYC.jpg

4. Walking on the Moon
From: Reggatta de Blanc
Released: November 4, 1979
748 Points, 21 Votes, 1 Number One

I was drunk in a hotel room in Munich, slumped on the bed with the whirling pit when this riff came into my head. I got up and started walking round the room, singing 'Walking round the room, ya, ya, walking round the room'. That was all. In the cool light of morning I remembered what had happened and I wrote the riff down. But 'Walking Round the Room' was a stupid title so I thought of something even more stupid which was 'Walking on the Moon'.

— Sting, L'Historia Bandido, 1981

In his autobiography, Sting implies that the song was partially inspired by an early girlfriend:

Deborah Anderson was my first real girlfriend...walking back from Deborah's house in those early days would eventually become a song, for being in love is to be relieved of gravity.

— Sting, 2003

According to Sting, the song was originally recorded "as a rocker" in early versions, but it was reworked. The riff, which is played on the bass, was described as "weird" and "jazzy" by Sting. Guitarist Andy Summers came up with the chord "which hits after the bass notes" throughout the song.

Ellie O'Day of Vancouver Free Press describes the lyrics as being mostly a "repetitive chant"

Hello, every Police song ever.

Cha!

One of his best basslines

“James Brown on the T.A.M.I. Show / same tape I’ve had for years”

xp