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Classic Tuesdays – The Police

I don’t think there has been a band more marmite than The Police. Well. Maybe One direction, but the last time I checked, this was an Indie Music Website, not a w**kfest.

The trio’s nervous, reggae-injected pop/rock was punky, but it wasn’t necessarily punk. But, while they weren’t punk, The Police certainly demonstrated that the punk spirit could have a future in pop music. As time went by the band became more adventurous, experimenting with jazz and various world music. C’mon’ guys. I think one genius musical fusion is more than enough.

I don’t know a human being on this planet that hasn’t got wasted to the classic song ‘Roxanne’, an iconic track about a prostitute. If you haven’t screamed the name Roxanne or the phrase ‘Turn on the red light’, then we have nothing in common. Roxanne isn’t the only song that The Police are famous for. ‘Message in a Bottle’ for me has to be one of their greatest hits, racking up a number one spot in the UK charts and becoming the 65th greatest guitar song of all time. 65th!

The song, featuring in the album ‘Reggatta de Blanc’, in 1979 has to be the only song that doesn’t have a strange fusion. It’s just rock and roll, and it is fantastic. If you haven’t heard of the weirdly perverted ‘Every Breath you take’, then I suggest having a listen. I mean it’s creepy and all, but it did sit in the Billboards charts at number one for eight weeks and four in the UK, while selling 10 million copies.

Sting’s one of those musical gurus that just so happens to lay a golden egg wherever they might go. In 1983, The Police became the most celebrated rock and roll band in the world. But the good times didn’t last long as a year later the band split due to tensions with the frontman, Sting, who then pretty much robbed the group of its following. As well as having talents in music, Sting is one of the many few artists that could actually do a bit of acting on the side that wasn’t a cameo in some terrible 80’s soap. He starred in the Mod inspired film ‘Quadrophenia’ based on The Who album of the same title.

All in all, The Police brought in the new wave of Rock and Roll that was certainly…different. It paved the way for fascinating Indie Music that I am 100% sure bands across the globe have taken inspiration from!

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