The Police

From PoliceWiki
Revision as of 05:25, 28 January 2010 by Sockii (talk | contribs) (→‎Band history)
For other uses, please see The Police (disambiguation)
The Police
Live image of The Police in concert, 2007-08-05 at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Background information
Origin: London, England
Years active: 1977 - 1984
Reunions: 1986, 2003, 2007 - 2008
Label(s): Illegal Records, A&M Records, Polydor
Associated acts: Last Exit, Curved Air, Strontium 90, Animal Logic, Oysterhead, Gizmo
Website: http://www.thepolice.com
Members
Stewart Copeland
Sting
Andy Summers
Former members
Henry Padovani

Band history

Formation (1977–78)

The Police was founded by American-born drummer Stewart Copeland in early 1977. After the demise of his progressive rock band Curved Air, Copeland was eager to form a new three-piece group and join the burgeoning London punk scene. Singer-bassist Sting and guitarist Henry Padovani began rehearsing with Copeland in January 1977, and they recorded their first Police single, "Fall Out"/"Nothing Achieving," the following month. Both tracks were written and produced by Copeland (the b-side being a co-write with his brother Ian Copeland.)

Although the early style of the group has been classified as punk rock, Allmusic Guide argues that this was only true "... in the loosest sense of the term"; the Guide states that the band's "... nervous, reggae-injected pop/rock was punky" and had a "punk spirit", but it "wasn't necessarily punk".<ref> http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gifyxqr5ldhe~T1 </ref> In March and April, the threesome toured as a support act for Cherry Vanilla as well as Wayne County & the Electric Chairs.<ref>Copeland 1995.</ref><ref>Sting 2003.</ref> In May, ex-Gong musician Mike Howlett invited Sting and former Eric Burdon and the Animals guitarist Andy Summers to form Strontium 90 with him, as a project band for a Gong reunion. The drummer Howlett had in mind for this band, Chris Cutler, was unavailable to play, so Sting brought along Stewart Copeland. Strontium 90 recorded several demo tracks at Virtual Earth Studios, and then performed at a Gong reunion concert in Paris on 28 May 1977. An album with some of these studio and live tracks (with the first recorded version of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic") was released 20 years later in 1997 under the name Strontium 90: Police Academy. The foursome also performed at a London club as "The Elevators" in July 1977.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

File:The PoliceLogo.svg
The band's logo

In July 1977, Copeland, Sting, Padovani, and Summers began performing as a four-piece version of the Police. Padovani's relatively limited ability as a guitarist curtailed his tenure with the band. Soon after an aborted recording session with producer John Cale on 10 August, Padovani left the band and Summers took over sole guitar duties. This lineup of Copeland, Sting, and Summers would endure for the rest of Police history.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Sting proved a capable songwriter. He had spent time as a secondary school English teacher, and his lyrics are noted for their literary awareness and verbal agility. Material in the later album Ghost in the Machine was inspired by the writings of Arthur Koestler, and songs on Synchronicity by the writings of Carl Jung. "Tea in the Sahara" on the latter album showed interest in the work of author Paul Bowles.

The Police, along with The Clash, were among the first mainstream white bands to adopt reggae as a predominant musical form, and to score major international hits with reggae-styled material. Although ska and reggae were already popular in the United Kingdom, the style was little known in the United States or other countries. Prior to the emergence of the Police, only a handful of reggae songs—such as Eric Clapton's 1974 cover rendition of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" or Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion"—had enjoyed much chart success. The bleached-blonde hair that would become a trademark of the band was a lucky accident, originating in February 1978. The band, desperate for money, was asked to do a commercial for Wrigley's Spearmint chewing gum on the condition that they dye their hair blonde.<ref>Obrecht, Jan. "Andy Summers". Template:Harvnb</ref>Allmusic Guide notes that while the "...commercial provided exposure, it drew the scorn of genuine punkers". <reF>http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gifyxqr5ldhe~T1 </ref>

Band members


Discography

Main article: Discography (The Police)

Studio albums

Awards & Honors

Year Winner Award
1980 Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "Reggatta de Blanc" Grammy Award
1982 Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Don't Stand So Close To Me" Grammy Award
1982 Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "Behind My Camel" Grammy Award
1982 Best British Group BRIT Award
1983 Song of the Year for "Every Breath You Take" (awarded to Sting) Grammy Award
1984 Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Every Breath You Take" Grammy Award
1984 Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for Synchronicity Grammy Award
1985 Outstanding Contribution To Music BRIT Award
2003 Induction into Hall of Fame Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Quotations and Trivia

This section needs more information.

See also

http://www.policefans.org/Police_wiki/index.php?title=1983-08-27

External links

References

Retrieved from "http://thepolicewiki.org/Police_wiki/index.php?title=The_Police&oldid=41239"