← Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
If You Love Sting, Set Him Free Edition Part 1
01:07:23
From the schoolroom to sophisti-pop, Sting’s genre-bending career is packed with hits.
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- [00:02]
Chris Melanfi
This podcast is brought to you by Progressive Insurance Fiscally Responsible Financial Geniuses, Monetary Magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations on the evening of March 31, 1943, legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart confronts his shattered self confidence in Sardi's Bar as his former collaborator Richard Rogers celebrates the opening night of his groundbreaking hit musical Oklahoma. From Richard Linklater. Blue Moon, starring Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale and Andrew Scott. Playing in New York and Los Angeles nationwide October 24th hey there hit Parade listeners. What you're about to hear is Part one of this episode. Part two will arrive in your podcast feed at the end of the month. Would you like to hear this episode all at once the day it drops? Sign up for Slate Plus. It supports not only this show, but all of Slate's acclaimed journalism and podcasts. Just go to slate.com/hit parade plus you'll get to hear every Hit Parade episode in full the Day it Arrives plus Hit Parade the Bridge Our bonus episodes with guest interviews, deeper dives on our episode topics, and pop chart trivia. Once again, to join, that's slate.com hitparadeplus thanks and now please enjoy part one of this hit Parade episode. Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfi, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number One? Series on today's show. Forty years ago this month, in October of 1985, singer songwriter Gordon Sumner, better known to the pop world as Sting, cracked the top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 with the second single from his first solo album, an achingly romantic, strenuously poetic ballad called Fortress. Around you'd heart. Fortress was Sting's career in a nutshell. Sophisticated, verbose, sexy, and as angular as the man's cheekbones. But that wasn't the only place in the top 10 where Sting's voice could be heard just a few spots higher. A blockbuster hit by the British band Dire Straits that had just fallen out of the number one spot included harmony vocals from none other than Sting on Money for Nothing. Not only did Sting pitch in on the song's chorus later in the song, he also sneaked in this counter melody that he borrowed from a previous hit by the Police, the multi platinum trio. Sting had just departed Good Chart fortune just seemed to follow Sting. He'd grown accustomed to being ubiquitous ever since that former trio of his had broken out at the height of the UK punk scene in the late 70s with a blend of new wave reggae and pop hooks.
- [04:55]
Various Music Clips / Singers
You don't have to put on the Red Knight.
- [05:01]
Chris Melanfi
In just half a decade, the Police became the biggest rock band in the world. Each LP bigger than the last, racking up not only massive sales, but piles of sleek hits powered by glossy MTV videos. Then when they were on top of the world, the Police quietly went their separate ways and Sting pivoted to a solo career marked by even more eclectic hits and more grandiose influences. But for all his high art affectations, Sting's real gift was delivering mass appeal. Pop that kept him on the charts well into the 90s.
- [06:09]
Various Music Clips / Singers
All this time the river flow endlessly.
- [06:20]
Chris Melanfi
The ultimate evidence of Sting's ongoing relevance was how many Gen X, Millennial and Gen Z artists copped Sting's style, whether borrowing his melodies directly.
- [06:35]
Various Music Clips / Singers
I still see your shadows in my room can't take back the love that I gave you. It's to the point why love and I hate.
- [06:43]
Chris Melanfi
Or emulating the Sting sound, which has proved surprisingly enduring. Today on Hit Parade, we will orbit that little black spot on the invisible sun. The tantric rock God, the king of pain. Sting wanted to deliver complex canticles to the musical masses. But actually most of the time what he served up was high toned bops, melodies as indelible as a certain chart topping smash that's been following us around for more than four decades. In the car, the drugstore, the gym, the supermarket. Every single day, every word we say, it's been watching us.
- [07:54]
Various Music Clips / Singers
Breath you take and every move you make, every bond you break.
- [08:04]
Chris Melanfi
And that's where your hit parade marches today, the week ending July 9, 1983, when the Police's Every Breath youh Take reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100. A song that its writer Sting called Evil and Sinister spent eight weeks on top, making it 1983's top hit. I'll tell you what's Every Breath youh Take is the most played song in radio history. But a 2025 controversy has put this 42 year old diddy back in the news. How did Sting do it? We are sending out an SOS to try to explain why we remain rap wrapped around Sting's finger. Stick around.
- [09:08]
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- [10:10]
Chris Melanfi
As the weather cools, it's time to swap in transitional layers that actually get the job done. If you're looking for wardrobe essentials that are warm, durable and built to last, Quince Delivers Their high quality pieces will carry you through the season. My latest favorite thing from Quince is a pair of terrycloth sleep shorts that I've been wearing to bed constantly. They're so comfy and the quality is top notch. They're already a regular part of my nightly rotation. Quince has the kind of fall staples you'll want to wear on repeat, like 100% Mongolian cashmere from just $60 and classic fit Denim. Their real leather and wool outerwear looks sharp and holds up. The suede trucker jacket is perfect for layering when you want to look casual. Yet put together by partnering directly with ethical factories and top artisans, Quince cuts out the middlemen to deliver premium quality at half the cost of similar brands. Layer up this fall with pieces that feel as good as they look. Go to quints.com hitparade for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com hitparade free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com hitparade this is obviously not a song by Sting or the Police, but I'm playing this Beyonce chart top Break My Soul to offer a short primer on copyright and how it favors songwriters over musical performers and arrangers. You may recall Break My Soul from the summer of 2022 when it went to number one on the Hot 100 pay particular attention to that bubbly keyboard sound.
- [12:30]
Various Music Clips / Singers
You won't break my soul, you won't break my soul.
- [12:40]
Chris Melanfi
Do those keyboards sound familiar? They might if you were alive and listening to pop radio in 1993. That's when soul vocalist and dance diva Robin S reached the top five on the Hot 100 with Show Me Love, a club classic from that era of 90s house music crossover. Now that's the definitive hit version of Show Me Love. But you may not be aware that that that Show Me Love, with its signature bubbly keyboard sound, was actually a remix by Swedish DJ and house music producer Sten Hallstrom, who calls himself Stonebridge. The original version of Show Me Love came out in 1990 and was not a hit. Co written and produced by veteran R and B producers Alan George and Fred MacFarlane, the 1990 Show Me Love sounded like this. Sounds very different, doesn't it? It's a fine house diva record, but those bubbly keyboards that Stonebridge added and the core cool atmosphere they bring are nowhere to be heard. Those keyboards on the remix are the reason Show Me Love finally became a hit three years later. And those keyboards are the reason Team Beyonce wanted Break My Soul to evoke Show Me Love. Beyonce doesn't actually even sample or interpolate the melody of Show Me Love on Break My Soul. She just alludes to the remix by using the same Korg keyboard preset that Stonebridge used. Now here's why Copyright law sucks. If anyone should benefit financially from the Beyonce hits allusion to Show Me love, it's surely DJ Stonebridge. But that's not what happened in 2022 as Beyonce's Renaissance album came out. Her team awarded songwriting co credit to Alan George and Fred McFarlane, the two men who wrote the the original Show Me Love, which sounds nothing like Break My Soul. Long story short, copyright law does not compel Beyonce to credit the musician who actually made the hit Show Me Love sound the way it does. I share this arcane tale of how the music business works to explain why the police's 1983 smash every breath youh Take is back in The News in 2025. Sting's two Police bandmates, guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stuart Copeland, have sued Sting for what they say they are owed for arrangers fees on Every Breath youh Take. In effect, Copeland and Summers are trying to get the kind of recognition and compensation DJ Stonebridge never got for Show Me Love. Copeland and Summers argue that they are vital to why Every Breath youh Take sounds like it does. And artistically, if not Necessarily, legally, they have a point. To be fair, singer and primary songwriter Sting did write Every Breath youh Take by himself. The demo he put together on a keyboard before taking it to the band sounded like this.
- [17:31]
Various Music Clips / Singers
Every move you make, every vow you.
- [17:36]
Jad Abumrad
Break.
- [17:38]
Various Music Clips / Singers
Every smile you fake, Every claim.
- [17:42]
Chris Melanfi
Now, Sting's version is a pretty complete song. The main melody, the broodingly romantic lyrics, that's all there. But none of the atmosphere of Every breath you take is there.
- [17:57]
Various Music Clips / Singers
Every breath you take.
- [18:06]
Chris Melanfi
The guitar arpeggio, that famous smoldering riff which Andy Summers came up with himself, and the cracking snare drum rhythm that Stuart Copeland devised. Those elements are arguably as important to the endurance of Every Breath youh Take as Sting's melody is. They helped make Every Breath youh Take, according to performance rights organization BMI, as of 2019, the most played song in radio history. Seriously. And that guitar riff and beat are what Sean Combs, AKA Puff Daddy, wanted to invoke on his melancholy reboot of the song in 1997. A eulogy for his slain rapper friend, the Notorious B.I.G called I'll Be missing.
- [19:03]
Various Music Clips / Singers
You Seems like yesterday we used to rock the show I laced the track. You lock the flow. So far from hanging on the block, the dope Notorious they got to know.
- [19:12]
Chris Melanfi
That I'll Be Missing you was a very lucrative hit. Like Every Breath youh Take, it went to number one on the Hot 100 and sold millions. But only Sting receives songwriting credit and royalties from the Puff Daddy smash. Mind you, Sting does deserve that credit. He wrote the song. But Summers and Copeland are arguing, shouldn't they get credit too? This will be a fascinating court case to watch. I am sort of rooting for Summers and Copeland, but skeptical they will succeed given their novel legal argument. But I also gotta give it up for Sting's innate skill and melodic gifts. The every breath court case got me thinking about the charmed life of Sting, a legitimately talented songwriter and bassist, by the way, he routinely makes polls of the best bass players of all time, who surrounds himself with other talented musicians and just keeps coming out on top, if you will pardon the pun. It seems like every little thing Sting does is magic. I've met my share of Sting haters. Maybe you're one of them. Some listeners can't stand his highfalutin Newton lyrics or his keening vocals. In his savage takedown of Sting's solo career in the alternative rock bible, the Trouser Press Record Guide, critic Ira Robbins, Trouser Press's founder, calls Sting, quote, smug and pretentious and his like it or not, voice is still his voice, unquote.
- [21:40]
Various Music Clips / Singers
I don't know exactly where I am.
- [21:44]
Chris Melanfi
And about that word, pretentious. It's probably the most common adjective used to describe Sting. But pretension comes and goes in pop. As I record this episode in mid October 2025, the number one song in America is this Taylor Swift song, the Fate of Ophelia, which reimagines the plot of Shakespeare's Hamlet and invokes its tragic madwoman character, Ophelia, invoking the bard in a pop song. Sting got there first four decades ago. He's a particular fan of Shakespeare's sonnets, which have cropped up in several of his tunes. He even named his second multi platinum solo album after a line in one of the sonnets. And that's hardly the end of Sting's NPR tote bag lyrical catnip. The name's Nabokov. Khrushchev and Oppenheimer all make appearances in Sting hits. He even got the mythological Greek sea monsters from Homer's Odyssey, Scylla and Charybdis into the lyrics of a top 10 hit by the Police. I remember having to look that one up in junior high and we didn't have the Internet back. An avowed practitioner of tantric yoga and marathon lovemaking, Google Sting, Tantric Sex, if you want to read his thoughts on hours long coital encounters. More recently, Sting even became an accomplished lute player. Yep, the medieval Renaissance instrument, the lute.
- [23:59]
Various Music Clips / Singers
I'll be the sun that lends me shine.
- [24:04]
Chris Melanfi
It's a beautiful instrument. Sting or the lute. Sting somehow gets away with all of this, even as critics and comedians poke fun at his affectations, including his name. A year ago, we did a Hit parade episode on Sting's brothers in pretension, U2, two of whose perform under the stage names Bono and the Edge. Sting's mononym is even more dunkable. Here's Saturday Night Live veteran Dana Carvey doing stand up on Sting. In the early 90s.
- [24:45]
Various Music Clips / Singers
The guy named himself a verb, present tense, because he's not Stung and he's not stinging. He's Sting, you know? So cool. I admire that. His real name, as you might know, is Gordon, and he changes it to Sting. Who's got the balls to tell their friends to call them Sting? At one point in his life, he had to remind people, excuse me, excuse me. From now on, would you mind calling me Sting?
- [25:22]
Chris Melanfi
You. So, yeah, Sting is the king of pretension. Not really the king of pain. I don't imagine his life is all that painful. For all his high art aspirations, Sting has always possessed an uncanny knack for accessible, catchy, even schlocky pop melodies. No matter what he tries to, that skill is always intact. And to those who accuse Sting of dabbling, the truth is Sting was eclectic from the start. He was fired up by rock and roll, but really did make his bones, musically speaking. In jazz. This is the Newcastle Big Band, a jazz combo young Gordon Sumner played with in the early 70s. If you listen closely, that's him on the bass. The band was named after Newcastle on Tyne, the nearest city to Sting's birthplace. Born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner in Wallsend, Northumberland in 1918 51, he was the son of a milkman and a hairdresser. Although the area was better known for its shipyards, a profession that later appeared in Sting's songwriting, shipbuilding was the profession young Gordon wanted to avoid. Like many baby boomers who came of age in the 60s, he was fired up by rock and roll. Sting later told stories of speeding up his records playing 33 RPM records at 45 RPM or 45s at 78, so he could better hear and learn the bass lines, whether it was by Paul McCartney playing virtuosic bass with the Beatles, James Jamerson, the legendary bassist behind dozens of classic Motown hits.
- [27:52]
Various Music Clips / Singers
I Need Love, Love To Ease My Mind, I Need.
- [27:58]
Chris Melanfi
To Find Find, or Jack Bruce, whom Stink calls a legend in his memoir playing behind Eric Clapton in Cream. But dissecting rock records was mostly a hobby for teenage Gordon Sumner as he took jobs in building, construction, as a bus conductor and as a tax officer before finally earning a university degree in education and becoming a primary school teacher. Hold that thought because that profession will come in handy as a song subject later.
- [28:48]
Various Music Clips / Singers
Young teacher the subject of school girl fantasy.
- [28:55]
Chris Melanfi
While teaching, Gordon moonlighted as a jazz musician, playing bass with not only the aforementioned Newcastle Big Band, but also a troupe called the Phoenix Jazzmen, which specialized in traditional or trad, pre war New Orleans style jazz. Here's the jazz men's cover of the Dixieland era standard Beale street Blues, featuring 21 year old Gordon Sumner on bass. While playing with the Jazz men, young Sumner was known to wear a striped yellow and black jumper. The jazz men's bandleader Gordon Solomon said the sweater made Sumner look like a bee or a wasp and he began teasing him by calling him Sting. The name stuck. Sting went from thinking the name was stupid to actually preferring it. He later told a journalist that no one, not even his own mother, called him anything but Sting. That name would Come in handy by 1974, when Sting joined a band where he would finally be both the bassist and the singer.
- [30:26]
Various Music Clips / Singers
Whisper voices, you get inside your head.
- [30:38]
Chris Melanfi
This is Whispering Voices, the first single by Last Exit, a band Sting formed with keyboardist Jerry Richardson from the Newcastle Big Band. Richardson and Sting had been frustrated by the big band's conservative repertoire and they wanted to play more modern rock era jazz like Weather Report or Return to Forever. So Last Exit played a kind of jazzy fusion Funky. Though their 1975 debut single was written by Richardson, soon enough Sting was not only singing, but writing for Last Exit, including songs that were later adapted into Police and Sting. Solo songs.
- [31:35]
Various Music Clips / Singers
Act as if you just don't care.
- [31:41]
Chris Melanfi
Last Exit's debut attracted attention in London, but not long after relocating from Newcastle to London in early 77, the group fell apart. So Sting stayed in London and sought out a drummer he'd met when that drummer's own group passed through Newcastle just a few months earlier. Sting recognized that this drummer, an American playing with a British band, was an ace behind the kit. And coincidentally, his band was just about to break up too.
- [32:20]
Various Music Clips / Singers
I love to be in love in summertime Touch a tucky left side.
- [32:27]
Chris Melanfi
Even before he joined Curved Air, the London based progressive rock group, Stuart Copeland led a unique life. Born in Virginia just outside of Washington D.C. and raised in Cairo, Stewart had traveled the world thanks to his father Miles Copeland Jr. A part time jazz musician who was also by the way, a founding member of the US Central Intelligence Agency or CIA. The whole Copeland family were movers and shakers. Stewart's brother Miles Copeland III was a budding music manager who would go on to launch the indie label IRS Records which signed the Go Go's and R.E.M. as for Stewart, by 1977 he had been playing with Curved Air for two albums and earned a reputation as a gregarious drummer of both power and detail. Sting was impressed with him right away.
- [33:35]
Various Music Clips / Singers
You see there's nothing worth achieving all your dreams are just deceiving.
- [33:44]
Chris Melanfi
By 1977, punk was exploding across England and Stewart Copeland had a notion to start a harder rocking power trio. He wanted to call the Police. Sting thought it was a dumb name, but he went along with the plan. Especially after Copeland wrote a couple of punk like songs. This one is called Nothing Achieving and recruited a cool looking primitive guitarist, Henry Pot of Giovanni to play with them. Sting, Stewart and Henry recorded a two track single and Stewart's brother Miles released it on his first indie label, Illegal Records. The singles a side was called Fallout. While they were trying to get the police version 1.0 off the ground with novice Henry Padovani, Sting and Stuart Copeland were invited to play in a side project band called Strontium 90. That band only lasted through the summer of 77 and recorded a few demos, not a full album. But while they were in the short lived Strontium 90, Sting and Stewart met and played with a journeyman guitarist with more experience than either of them and a very accomplished resume.
- [35:34]
Various Music Clips / Singers
Bring It on down baby.
- [35:43]
Chris Melanfi
This is a 1968 track by famed British Invasion band Eric Burdon and the Animals, and the blazing guitar solo you're hearing is by Andy Summers, who was only with the Animals for one one album. The Animals were just one of many bands Summers had played with in the 60s and early 70s zoot money, Dantalian's chariot, the soft Machine, and backing band gigs for everyone from Neil Sedaka to David Essex. Sting even realized after meeting Summers that as a teenager in Newcastle he'd seen Andy performed with Zoot Money's psychedelic band. Summers was a confident player, about a decade older than Sting and Stuart Copeland. When they asked him to join the Police, he agreed, agreed on the condition that he would be the only guitarist. So after just a few weeks of the Police playing as a foursome, Henry Padovani was fired and the Police settled on their permanent three man lineup, Stuart Copeland, Andy Summers and Sting, who finally began fulfilling his own songwriting ambitions. In fact, it was a song from Sting that would get the Police signed to a label. And it all came about because Sting, while touring Paris for a gig in late 77, was inspired by some prostitutes in a seedy back alley, plying their trade near a hotel with a Cyrano de Bergerac poster. More In a moment when the world is on Fire, what can music actually do? For the answer, check out the new podcast from Audible. Fela Kuti Fear no man. Be sure to stick around to the end of this episode for a preview of the series. In his first project post Radiolab, Jad Abumrad recounts the the true story of Fela Kuti, the classically trained Nigerian musician who pioneered the Afrobeat sound and inspired one of the great political awakenings in music. Featuring interviews with Fela Kuti's family, historians and luminaries like Ayo Adeburi, David Byrne, Brian Eno, Santi Gold and Barack Obama, this compelling mix of oral history, musicology, deep dive journalism and cutting edge sound design explores the transformative power of art and the role artists can play in this current moment of global unrest. Hang around till the end of this episode to get a sneak peek of this new series and then listen to Fella Kuti Fear no Man on Audible or wherever you get Podcasts. This episode is brought to you by Saks Fifth Avenue. Saks makes it easy to find the perfect gifts and holiday looks that suit your personal style. The holidays can be a lot of things exciting, relaxing, heartwarming and yes, sometimes even a little stressful. That's why you need Saks.com Saks makes holiday shopping easy, stress free and most importantly, fun. 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The SIM card was shipped to his home, they let him use his existing phone and he didn't even have to change his phone number. So ditch overpriced wireless and their jaw dropping monthly bills, unexpected overages and hidden fees. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. Use your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan and bring your phone number along along with all your existing contacts. Ready to say yes to saying no? Make the switch@mintmobile.com parade that's mintmobile.com parade upfront payment of $45 required, equivalent to $15 per month limited time new customer offer for first 3 months only. Speeds may slow above 35gb on unlimited plan tap. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. Roxanne was the name of the object of of affection in Edmond Ralston's classic play Cyrano de Bergerac. So when Sting saw that poster in his Paris hotel right after seeing those prostitutes in the alleyway, he wrote a song about falling in love with a lady of the night named Roxanne. Sting later called the song the creation that would change my life. When Sting brought the song to the band, it was, in his words, a jazz tinged bossa nova. Stuart Copeland proposed changing the rhythm, getting Sting to stress the second beat of each bar on his bass, turning it into a cross between a tango and and reggae. This again highlights how vital Sting's bandmates were to how his compositions turned out even after they recorded it. Sting was sheepish about the song for its lurid subject matter as well as its lurching rhythm. But when they played Roxanne for Stewart's brother Miles Copeland, who was thinking of becoming the band's manager, he jumped out of his seat and called it, quote, a goddamn classic. On the strength of Roxanne alone, Miles got the band signed to American label and A and M Records. Roxanne would be the lead single of the Police's 1978 debut album. Outlandos D'. Amour. Comically bastardized French for outlaws of love, it was the closest the Police came to a straight up punk album. Aggressive three piece rock topped by Sting's keening falsetto voice.
- [44:24]
Various Music Clips / Singers
Look at my new toy Blow your head into a boy she's in.
- [44:41]
Chris Melanfi
England. Outlandos d' Amour did not break right away, in part because the BBC banned Roxanne for its sexual content. So instead A and M released Can't Stand Losing youg which had a similar reggae adjacent rhythm. Ironically, the lyrics of Can't Stand Losing youg include a tongue in cheek record reference to teenage suicide, but that didn't raise hackles with the BBC. In the fall of 78, Can't Stand Losing youg managed to crawl to number 42 on the UK chart. Not a terribly auspicious launch for the Police. It looked as if the album was going to be a stiff. That is until they traveled across the Atlantic. Miles Copeland had the clever idea to self fund a tour of America for the Police starting in New York City. When they arrived In October of 78, their first stop was punk mecca CBGB. At the notoriously grungy but reliably hip hop club, the Police played an acclaimed punk worthy set. Then within a few weeks of their arrival In America, several DJs in cities from Boston to Austin got a hold of the Roxanne single. Its minimal angular instrumentation fit right in on the airwaves as punk was giving way to the more popular friendly new wave from bands like the Cars and Blondie and Elvis Costello, who like the Police, was also experimenting with reggae rhythms. Roxanne sounded congruent with these new wave bangers on both album oriented rock and pop stations. So in April 1979, nearly a year after the single was first released, Roxanne for finally cracked the American top 40. Casey Kasem counted it down. Number 32.
- [47:44]
Casey Kasem
Here's the first chart single by a British group who say they don't know if they're punk rockers, but they've always played punk rock club so they figure the label must fit at number 32 for the second week. Here's Police and Roxanne.
- [47:59]
Chris Melanfi
By May of 79 the same week Roxanne peaked at number three, 32 on the Hot 100, the Police's album Outlandos d' Amore reached its high on the Billboard LP's chart of number 23. The US breakthrough led a and M Records to re release roxanne in the UK, where it finally cracked the UK top 40 reaching number 12. Later on, after another re release, the LP's third single so Lonely, which Sting wrote from a chord progression he borrowed from Bob Marley's no Woman no Cry, reached number six. UK this breakthrough kicked off the Police's half decade march to become the world's biggest rock band. Over five LPs each album would sell better, chart higher and generate more hits than the last one. Their sophomore LP, which arrived in October 79, was titled Regatta de Blanc, another faux French title that roughly translated to white reggae. Rather like the Beatles Rubber Soul lp, the title was a self conscious rift on white people attempting black music. Indeed, once again the Police were turning reggae into new wave rock in the uk. The album's first two singles were both number one hits. The dub reggae style Walking on the Moon and the ska meets post punk Message in a Bottle, whose romantic lyric found Sting brooding about how loneliness was like being marooned on a desert island.
- [50:12]
Various Music Clips / Singers
I'll send an SOS to the world I'll send an SOS to the world.
- [50:18]
Chris Melanfi
I hope that so many on the American charts, only Message in a Bottle made a dent, peaking at a lowly number 74 on the Hot 100 in late 1979. But album rock radio airplay made the Regatta de Blanc LP into a solid US hit anyway. It nearly matched the debut album's chart peak, reaching number 25, and it would go on to spend 100 weeks on the chart, about twice as long as its predecessor. But what Regatta DeBlanc also affirmed was that Sting was now the driving force behind the Police's material. Though Stuart Copeland had writing credits on about half the album, more than on any Police lp, such as for example The Copeland penned new wave rave up it's alright for you.
- [51:21]
Various Music Clips / Singers
It'S all right for you it's alright for you it's alright for you for you, you and you and you and you.
- [51:32]
Chris Melanfi
Overwhelmingly, the singles pulled from the LP were all Sting songs penned by him alone, including both Message in a Bottle and Walking on the Moon, as well as the international hits Bring on the Night and the Bed's Too Big without you. Regatta set up the Police's third album, Zenyatta Mondatta, their major US Breakthrough. This time, by the way, the album title meant literally nothing. Stewart Copeland said the words Zenyatta Monda just rhymed and rolled off the tongue. Released in the fall of 1980, the LP ratified the Police as New Waves top band and Sting as its premier hit. Making Songwriter Here's a trivia question I've never seen any 80s rock fan get right what was the Police's first US top 10 hit? No, it wasn't Roxanne or Message in a Bottle or the song about a schoolteacher we're about to play in a moment. It was Zenyatta Mondatta's first US Single, Ddu du du da da da da, which cracked the top 40 on the Hot 100 in November 1980 and peaked at number 10 in January 1981. Da doo doo doo da da da da da was a quintessential Sting song. The verses were nerdy and naughty, with witty lines about the inadequacy of language, how poets, priests and politicians have words to thank for their positions. But then the main chorus line was literal gibberish. This juxtaposition of the erudite and eloquent with the hacky and silly would be a running trope in a lot of Sting's 80s hits. Within weeks of the single's success, the Zenyatta Mondatta album reached number five on the Billboard album chart and went platinum. All firsts for the Police. And then the follow up Single, another top 10 hit, became an even more defining Police song. It drew upon Sting's former profession and a certain novel by Vladimir Nabokov. Now, just to be clear, Don't Stand so Close to Me, sting's tale of a young lecherous teacher's lustful feelings toward his prettiest high school pupil, is not a directly autobiographical song. When young Gordon Sumner became a schoolteacher a decade earlier, he did not have any an affair with a secondary school girl. Nonetheless, Sting admitted he'd been on the receiving end of crushes from teenage girls, both as a teacher and in his new profession as a rock star, he wanted to mix those observations in a song with the plot of Lolita. And because Sting can't resist flaunting his literary erudition, Nabokov gets a shout out right in the lyrics like dedu du du before it, Don't Stand so Close to me reached number 10 on the Hot 100. To promote the song, the group shot a fairly high concept music video with the three policemen dancing in a classroom in caps and gowns and Sting reenacting his tale of schoolteacher lust, albeit in PG rated fashion. The video turned out to be remarkably well timed. Just as Don't Stand so Close to Me began tumbling down the Hot 100 in the summer of 1981, America got a new way to watch music videos.
- [56:40]
Various Music Clips / Singers
America, demand your MTV. I want my MTV. I want my MTV.
- [56:47]
Chris Melanfi
I want my MTV.
- [56:49]
Various Music Clips / Singers
MTV Music Television. Video music 24 hours a day and.
- [56:54]
Chris Melanfi
It'S stereo right away. When MTV launched In August of 81, the police were a flagship act on the video channel. By the way, that's the Police shouting I want my mtv at the start of that TV commercial just before Pat Benatar and Pete Townsend. The Don't Stand so Close To Me video got plenty of play on the channel in its early days. And within weeks, the Police would have a new video for the lead single from their fourth album, Ghost in the Machine, a song that would turn out to be their first true pop smash. Every Little Thing She Does Does Is Magic was a deeply romantic song, but it was not a new song. Sting wrote an early version in 1977, when he was covertly falling in love with his future wife, Trudi Styler, while married to his first wife, Frances Tumulty. The lyrics captured a man helplessly falling for a woman he was too scared to pursue. Back in 77, Sting demoed the song while he and Stuart Copeland were gigging with the short lived Project Strontium 90.
- [58:30]
Various Music Clips / Singers
Every little thing she does is magic Everything she do Just turn me on.
- [58:37]
Chris Melanfi
Four years later, in collaboration with Copeland, Andy Summers and the Police's new producer, Hugh Padam, who'd previously worked with Phil Collins and brought to the band a more pop sensibility, the song took on a lush, uptempo sound, mixing Caribbean and New Wave elements into a heady swirl of romance. With a video shot in the Caribbean island of Montserrat. This, by the Way, was about a year before Duran Duran started shooting their videos in exotic locations. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic enjoyed round the clock MTV play and immediate radio rotation by the fall of 81, it had risen to number three on the Hot 100, the Police's highest charting hit to date. Andy Summers and Stuart Copeland's considerable instrumental chops had transformed Sting's song, but Sting was now the obvious focus of the band in videos, on magazine covers, and most of all, in the songwriting. Sting continued to dominate the composition on the Ghost in the Machine album. The LP featured the first Police songs built around synthesizer melodies. That included Spirits in the Material world, the album's second single, which climbed to number 11 in the US and into the top five on album rock Stations, and Invisible Sun, Sting's first protest song to become a hit. Themed around the Irish Troubles and written during hunger strikes in Belfast, it was released as a single in the UK and Ireland and reached the top five in both territories. Ghost in the Machine was the Police's third straight number. Number one album in the UK and in America, it climbed to number two and eventually became the first of their LPs to go double platinum. By 1982, the Police had been on a tear, issuing an album a year for four straight years. Given the band's meteoric trajectory, by 1983, the Police's first fifth album was primed to blow up no matter what was on it. As it turned out, that fifth LP would feature Sting's most monstrous single, Every Breath, you Take A Step Song, Sting wrote about a stalker, which many listeners received as an impassioned love song, arrived in May 1983. It came packaged with an acclaimed artsy black and white music video that depicted the Police as jazz men bathed in shadow on the Hot 100. The song took just six weeks to hit the the top, the Police's first and only US number one song. A month after the single, the Police dropped Synchronicity, which would turn out to be their only number one album in America. On American Top 40. As the single and the album settled in for long runs on top of the charts, Casey Kasem counted them down.
- [63:20]
Casey Kasem
Number one on the album chart for the sixth week in a row is the smash LP Synchronicity. That's the album that features a song that's now been at number one on the pop singles chart for eight consecutive weeks. That's longer than any other song since Olivia Newton John's physical, which spent 10 weeks at number one more than a year and a half ago. The most popular popular song in the land for the eighth straight week is Every Breath youh Take by the Police.
- [63:54]
Chris Melanfi
Synchronicity wound up spending a staggering 17 weeks on top of the album chart. What was remarkable was what the Police were beating on the charts. 1983 was the peak year for Michael Jackson's Thriller, which spent most of the year at number one on the album chart and spun off a record seven top ten singles on the Hot 100, including the seven week number one, Billie Jean. The Police were the only act in 1983 who gave Michael Jackson a run for his money with eight weeks on top of the Hot 100. Every Breath youh Take wound up the number one song of the whole year. According to Billboard. Over Billie Jean and Synchronicity interrupted Thriller's run on top for more than four months. Moreover, Synchronicity was no slouch in generating follow up hits. In the fall of 83, Sting's super emo, almost goth king of pain reached number three on the Hot 100. The even more elliptical track Synchronicity 2 was Sting's take on famed psychologist Carl Jung's concept of synchronicity, which Sting depicted through a weird tale of an oppressed middle class man enduring his stultifying life while the Loch Ness Monster emerges from a dark Scottish lake. It reached number 16 on the Hot 100 just before Christmas. 83. It was the Police's hardest rocking single with a blazing Andy Summers guitar solo, and in 1984 the police returned to the top 10 with wrapped around you'd Finger. The hypnotic song was best remembered for its music video featuring Sting dancing in slow motion through a maze of hundreds of lit candles. The clip pioneered the now common video special effect of lip syncing a song on while moving in slow mo. It reached number eight on the Hot 100 in the late winter of 84. The police had reached the top of the mountain in just over five years of recording, but they were also spent. The three headstrong personalities, coupled with Andy Summers and Stuart Copeland's envy of Sting's prolific hit packed songwriting, led to constant bickering that even the band's producers found exhausting. After finishing their Synchronicity tour in the summer of 85 with no fanfare, the Police went on a hiatus that turned out to be essentially permanent. They never announced a breakup, but would never record a full length album again. Their last recording, which would come out in the fall of 1986 after all three police members had launched solo projects, was a melancholy re recording of their 1980 hit Don't Stand so Close to Me. The moody re recording featured a drum machine because Stewart Copeland had broken his collarbone in a horse riding accident and couldn't man the kit. The RE recording of Don't Stand was just a bonus track on their platinum selling 1986 greatest hits compilation Every Breath youh Take. The singles the song missed the top 40 peaking at number 46. The bandmates later revealed that if Copeland had not been injured, they might have recorded more tracks or even a whole lp. But by then, both career wise and emotionally, the three men of the Police had moved on. Most especially sting, who by 1986 was already a multi platinum solo artist. And as bookish, quirky and genre crossing as his Police songs had been, his solo work would range even farther afield. Sting was about to test just how far he could push his fan base and still top the charts. When we come back, Sting returns to his jazz roots, tries classical and calypso, even brings the funk. Fans endorse his experiments, his social conscience and his high toned Sophista pop. But they really want Sting to bring the swoon so he gives them what they want. All for love. Non Slate plus listeners will hear the rest of this episode in two weeks. For now, I hope you've been enjoying this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Melanfi. That's me. My producer is Kevin Bendis, our supervising producer is Joel Meyer, and the Executive producer of Slate Podcasts is Mia lobel. Check out Slate's roster of shows@slate.com podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening and I look forward to leading the Hit Parade back your way day. We'll see you for part two in a couple of weeks. Until then, keep on marching on the one. I'm Chris Melanvi.
- [71:36]
Various Music Clips / Singers
Foreign.
- [71:40]
Chris Melanfi
This episode is brought to you by Saks Fifth Avenue. Saks makes it easy to find the perfect gifts and holiday looks that suit your personal style. The holidays can be a lot of things exciting, relaxing, heartwarming, and yes, sometimes even a little stressful. That's why you need Saks.com Saks makes holiday shopping easy, stress free, and most importantly, fun. Whether it's for yourself, your family and friends, or even the pickiest person on your list, you can feel confident going into this holiday season knowing that Saks is there to help you find inspiration. Curate a holiday wish list, pick out gifts for your loved ones and have a look ready for Whatever might come your way, whether it's an office holiday party, a cozy night in, or a vacation getaway, Saks has everything you need. If you're looking for shopping to be personalized and easy this holiday season, then head to Saks Fifth Avenue for inspiring ways to shop for everyone on your list. Earlier in this episode, you heard about a new podcast from Audible called Fela Kuti. Fear no Man. It's a deep dive into the soul of Afrobeat that explores the transformative power of art and the role of artists can play in this current moment of global unrest. Here's a sneak peek of host Jad Abumrad setting the stage for who Fela was and how he came to lead one of the great political awakenings in music.
- [73:35]
Jad Abumrad
How do you describe Fela to someone who doesn't know?
- [73:38]
Chris Melanfi
No, I've played around.
- [73:39]
Various Music Clips / Singers
I've done it a million times. I don't know if any time has worked. Like, I'll go. Fela is like Bob Marley and Mandela combined.
- [73:50]
Chris Melanfi
Well, he was kind of like Mick.
- [73:51]
Various Music Clips / Singers
Jagger and James Brown, definitely with some Ahmed Ali thrown in and then with.
- [73:56]
Chris Melanfi
A protest element of Dylan.
- [73:58]
Various Music Clips / Singers
Forget Malcolm X.
- [73:59]
Chris Melanfi
You wanted to be Malcolm X.
- [74:01]
Various Music Clips / Singers
Brothers and sisters, the secret of life is to have no fear. We all have to understand that.
- [74:14]
Flea
He was the hardest you've ever heard in your life.
- [74:18]
Jad Abumrad
This is Fela Cootie. Fear no Man. Chapter two, Becoming Fila. Here's a question. How do you become that person.
- [74:37]
Chris Melanfi
That.
- [74:38]
Jad Abumrad
Flea was just describing?
- [74:39]
Flea
You know, it's as hard as the hardest hip hop track, the hardest jazz track, the hardest deepest punk rock or metal or death metal, whatever it is that you're into as a kid, whatever music you love and you think captures the, like, spirit of rebellion and of caring about, you know, a scary world that you can get lost in and hurt in.
- [75:05]
Chris Melanfi
It's all there for Flea.
- [75:07]
Jad Abumrad
Is Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
- [75:09]
Flea
It's magical music.
- [75:11]
Jad Abumrad
Fela is the epitome of a musician whose music matters. In fact, his music was so dangerous to the people in power in Nigeria that they threw him in jail. Not once, not twice, but a hundred times.
- [75:27]
Various Music Clips / Singers
I want to see the police beating. It's terrible. I'll show you. You must see it. Look at it.
- [75:32]
Jad Abumrad
In this famous clip, Fela is dressed only in his bikini briefs. He turns and shows the camera his back, which is covered in wounds and gashes, almost a hash pattern, over and over. The Nigerian police and army broke his arms, his legs, his face.
- [75:48]
Flea
You know, they threw his mother from the roof of her house and she died.
- [75:52]
Various Music Clips / Singers
Threw my mother out of window.
- [75:55]
Flea
He went and took his mother's coffin and put it on the doorstep of the government building, the capitol building.
- [76:01]
Jad Abumrad
No matter what they did, he never backed down.
- [76:04]
Various Music Clips / Singers
If you think I'm going to change or compromise, they're making me stronger.
- [76:08]
Flea
I mean, he was wild.
- [76:09]
Chris Melanfi
What a rebel.
- [76:11]
Jad Abumrad
So that's the question. How did he become that guy?
- [76:14]
Chris Melanfi
You can listen to more Fela Kuti Fear no man on audible or wherever you get your podcasts.