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)

I respect EBYT's many achievements and I voted for it (unlike some of the other big hits), but it's never been a personal fave.

And otm about the drums — the cymbals! — on "Walking on the Moon."

copeland is the best cymbalist in rock music

the fill that opens “every little thing she does is magic” is my personal fav moment among many

"On Any Other Day" would be in my top 10 were it not for the homophobic lyric

"It's All Right for You" is still a banger imo

the fill that opens “every little thing she does is magic” is my personal fav moment among many

― comedy khadafi (voodoo chili)

and the one before the EEEYOHHHH part.

Love the coda to that song as well

A lot of Police songs, I often have trouble figuring out the drum parts. There is a lot of overdubbing, a lot of effects, stuff like that that clutter up the performance. Depending on the song really. But Copeland is so creative in how he puts it all together that it really doesn't matter if he has two arms or four or six.

copeland is the best cymbalist in rock music

Hell yeah. I voted for Peter Gabriel's "Red Rain" in category three - apparently they hired Copeland just to play the hi-hat. Like they spent the money and flew him out just for that, and it opens both the song and the whole album.

(his hi-hat that is, it opens the track all by its lonesome)

I recall reading once that one of the pitches Lanois made is that after a couple albums of no or few cymbals, what if Gabriel did an album that was *all* high-end bright, with an *emphasis* on cymbals. Manu Katche did a pretty good job capturing Copeland's splashy expressiveness, but with more discipline. Copeland if I recall correctly plays hi-hat on Red Rain and most of the drums on Big Time, but that's it.

I also voted for the “Red Rain” hi-hat. His Sonic signature. Also otm about the Every Little Thing intro.

I’m not gonna tip my hand or nothin but let’s just say that def left an impression on my ballot. just a preposterous talent, tho you can see why every now and then the songwriter might not want to compete…

I knew about Red Rain, as it was a huge influence

But must have forgotten - or that he was on Big Time! It's funky but it's played pretty straight. Frankly uncharacteristic - perhaps I just mentally blocked out the liner notes because it seems close to what Manu would have played.

Sorry about work Bee but glad I can submit a late ballot.

xpost It's honestly really hard to tell, because a lot of the tracks on So are a combination of Manu, Stewart, Jerry Marotta and drum machines/programming. Just an incredible production all around.

btw, am I the only one that always thought Jay-Z's "Can I Get a ..." sampled "Walking in Your Footsteps"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH8Ps8jeTrU

listening to Reggatta de Blanc tonight, it would appear Mr. Copeland is very nice at the hi-hats

god if I tried to play the Bring on the Night riff my head would probably explode

Using traditional grip, too.

hey is Reggatta de Blanc a play on “white reggae”? I had always wondered how the spelling mistake made it to production, it’s been staring me in the face the whole time.

yes it is

I have owned that record nearly 40 years and never twigged

I know that now, but at the time I thought it was something to do with a sailboat race

Before the “white reggae” thing clicked I used to think it was some kind of commentary on “white race.”

My earliest memory of the Police as a 6 or 7-year-old is that stark, glowering black and white image of them in their short blond hair and THE POLICE in big letters. A neighbour had a giant black sheet or towel of it hanging off his balcony. They looked like scary Nazis.

hey is Reggatta de Blanc a play on “white reggae”?

I'm gonna continue to think of it as not, I have always liked those first three album titles as conveying the feel of some made-up Esperanto-like language. I sort of wish they'd kept up with it and called the next album Fantomo Machinisto or something

My brother's review of the record for his college newspaper also said that the conventional title was evidence of a drop-off in quality.

lol. Trend of two.

30 years ago i asked a french-speaking friend what 'zenyatta mondatta' meant. without hesitation he responded 'high and mighty'

i think of this every single time i hear any song from the record

Very loosely translated, indeed

I thought it was zenyatta = zenith, mondatta = world? in like a combo of 3 different languages

Reggatta is such an obnoxious title since it's the only instance I can find of that extra "g" being in there. probably not a big deal in pre-internet times but still annoying when you gotta spell it in say, the iTunes search

I think it's just kind of made up.

I have to say I never knew that g was doubled

Outlandos d'Amour is the truly genius one IMO

"It means everything," he yelled back. "It's the same explanation that applies to the last two. It doesn’t have a specific meaning like ‘Police Brutality’ or ‘Police Arrest’, or anything predictable like that. Being vague it says a lot more. You can interpret it in a lot of different ways. It’s not an attempt to be mysterious, just syllables that sound good together, like the sound of a melody that has no words at all has a meaning."

https://web.archive.org/web/20030215094654/http://www.infinitedensity.net/music/copeland/Stingchronicity%20Interview%20Archive,%20Stewart%20Copeland%20interview,%20Musician's%20Only,%20Oct%201980.htm

I have had a very intense week at work, there was no way I could have run this thing this week. It's after hours now and thinking about what ahead a bit. Confirmation emails are next then...I'm stuck on images and can't figure out what I want this poll to look like. So instead, I'm going to throw it out there. Does anyone want to help out with images? If so email this box and we will talk. I'm terrible at these type of things anyways, so any help would be amazing!

Getting amped for this poll

Email confirmations have been sent, if you did not get a reply please resend your ballot.

Sent!

was just going through a pile of disco records and wow, there's a strong resemblance between this bohannon-produced caroline crawford tune and 'demolition man':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5FtxthqjnE

whoa youre not wrong ha (and i dig it)

Voted! Although I just realised I missed one of their best songs.

c'mon kp tell

I forgot to vote for Driven To Tears which should have been top ten.

i will re-listen thx!

Hello kitchen person, you may modify your ballot until you get the confirmation email which should be by tomorrow.

Only a few more hours to go...

Hello kitchen person, you may modify your ballot until you get the confirmation email which should be by tomorrow.

― Bee OK

Thanks Bee! Just sent it.

so Andy played all the parts on "Behind My Camel"? if so is he trying to imitate the way Stewart rides the hi-hat? kinda funny