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The Police (A Defense)
By Michael Shilling, Special to MSN Music

The Police are easy to mock. In the nearly 25 years that have elapsed since they ruled the pop-music world, their sound has not come back in fashion, their imperial attitude has not achieved any retrospective tongue-in-cheek patina and their band leader, Sting, is one of the more universally reviled celebrities. Want to make friends at a party? Make fun of Sting. Of course, there's a reason why the Police were the biggest band in the world in the mid-'80s, and it wasn't just Sting's Adonis-like beauty (though that didn't hurt). Their music was, and remains, a fine combination of tension and fluidity that countered shades of reggae, punk and dance-hall with ferocious, polyrhythmic drumming, lush guitar work and melodies as complex as they were catchy. They're back now, on tour for the first time since 1984, which creates a perfect occasion to recount the history of a band that, despite what most would say, more than deserves icon status.

Underwriting the uniqueness of the Police is the fact that they shouldn't have ever happened. In 1977, Sting, neé Gordon Sumner, was a schoolteacher and played in a jazz-pop band called Last Exit. Andy Summers, already nearing 40, had made a career as a journeyman guitar wizard, hired to bring technical ballast to acts such as the Animals, Joan Armatrading and Neil Sedaka. Stewart Copeland had formerly played in Curved Air, an old-school prog-rock band that was the very musical opposite of the Police. Such differences often have a way of creating a distinct identity.

All well and good. But when the band formed in summer 1977, they had no label, no connections and no street cred. They were considered, by the ruling bands of the day, to be complete poseurs; it didn't help that they'd dyed their hair blond and appeared as "punk rockers" in a Wrigley's gum commercial. However, on the strength of a little song called "Roxanne," the band signed to A&M Records, which released their maiden offering, "Outlandos d'Amour," in November 1978. Initially, the album tanked, thanks to the subject matter -- prostitution and suicide -- of the two singles, "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You." Once the band hit American shores, though, and started the first of numerous exhaustive tours, their fortunes turned around. Onstage, they had a propulsive energy and some very nonpunk chops that translated into blowing just about everyone off the stage -- not to mention that in 1979, Sting was about the best-looking person on the planet, possessed unnerving onstage charisma and, most importantly, could really sing.

"Outlandos" ended up selling fairly well, but the band's second record, "Regatta de Blanc," catapulted them to stardom in England. Released in October 1979, and featuring two of their trademark tracks -- "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon" -- "Regatta" displayed confidence, versatility and some of the finest pop hooks this side of "Hey Jude." On "Regatta," the Police found their trademark sound, one that can be heard across a wide swath of the pop spectrum, from Sublime to Fishbone to John Mayer. Sting nailed a certain kind of angry-pop balladeer persona, Summers mastered the burgeoning technology of guitar pedals and Copeland played the drums with a wicked fluidity, so deft and original that no one noticed -- and nor did it matter -- what a complete overplayer he was.

The band's next record, "Zenyatta Mondatta," further refined this sound -- though the band regarded it as a retread, cobbled together in a few weeks in-between endless touring. Sting in particular thought "Zenyatta" weak, though he also said it was the last Police record made as a band, with everyone chipping in. Regardless of their misgivings, "Zenyatta" broke the band in America with the hit singles "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da." After spending most of 1980 on the road, the three took a well-deserved break, reconvening in summer 1981 to record what may be the strangest hit record ever, "Ghost in the Machine." Release in late 1981, "Ghost" is a swirling cascade of multi-multi-multi-tracked voices, ringing saxophones, heavy-wash synthesizer and, like all Police records, killer hooks. Songs concern the last person on earth ("Omegaman"), violence in Northern Ireland ("Invisible Sun") and something about spirits in the material world. It had no precedent and has no inheritors; no one ever says, "Yeah, that record sounds like 'Ghost in the Machine.'" Regardless, its success made megastars out of the Police and established Sting as the A-1 pinup pop idol of the early 80s.

Though it seemed impossible that the band could get any bigger, on their fifth and final record, "Synchronicity," they did just that. Released in June 1983 and featuring a refined version of the pop cacophony found on "Ghosts," "Synchronicity" put the Police at Beatles-level popularity, best exemplified by their sellout of Shea Stadium. In America, "Every Breath You Take" was the No. 1 single for almost three straight months; they were the Western ambassadors of cool, refinement and musical elegance, touring for close to a year to fan adulation and critical accolades. The band regrouped in 1986 to put together a greatest-hits record, with the idea that they would rerecord all their favorites, instead of just repackaging old material. But Sting, who'd become a superstar of his own with the fake-jazz-tinged "Dream of the Blue Turtles," wasn't into it. The band, with a new version of "Don't Stand So Close to Me," released "Every Breath You Take: The Singles" in late 1986 and that ... was ... it.

Until now. And of all the megabands that have reunited, somehow the Police doing so smacks the least of a cashing-in. Quite simply, no one, including Copeland and Summers, ever thought it would happen. So see them now if you can find a scalped ticket; it will probably be your only chance, and it will definitely be worth it. No band has ever so not deserved its reputation as rock-'n'-roll lightweights. No megastar act in the annals of pop history has ever been so underestimated.

Sting is one of the more universally reviled celebrities

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