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

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 And then suddenly the attention is withdrawn a half an hour later.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"