How The Beatles allowed Sting to pursue music: “It changed my life”
Nepotism is a funny thing in the entertainment industry. It’s almost the world’s worst-kept secret that the simple act of “networking” is what keeps the show business wheels turning. In recent years, it’s arguably gotten a lot worse with Instagram followers and social media influence being used as somewhat of a hiring metric, which makes the possibility of another four working-class kids from Liverpool ever breaking the mould and changing the world in the same way as The Beatles a little dicey, to say the least.
Because, let’s face it, the cultural impact they had in the 1960s with the door of introduction firmly closed on them at the time of their genesis is truly unheard of. But they bulldozed all walls and created a vacuum into which a generation of future musicians could follow and thrive, inspiring a movement rooted in original songwriting and genre-bending experimentation.
While many tried, no band could quite break out of the eternal shadow cast by The Beatles’ influence. But what many achieved in their slipstream was the oh so treasured breaking into America. A dangling carrot of a feat that, if achieved, seemingly promised bands and artists a long and lucrative future in music.
One such band was The Police. Led by Sting, they blended a brand of reggae-rock and new-wave to conquer an audience in America, with breakout hits like ‘Englishman in New York’. But it was, in fact, a solo hit of Sting’s that earned the respect of his hero Paul McCartney who, when asked if there were any songs he had wished he had written, said, “There’s always a couple that I hear that I think I’d have liked [to have written]. I liked Sting’s ‘Fields of Gold’, and I thought, ‘Y’know what, I should have written that.’”
It was a moment that must have undoubtedly sent Sting’s heart rate through the roof, for he was one of many musicians whose career was deeply influenced by the Fab Four. He recalled an early, formative memory that began the artistic chain of events of his life.
He said: “The first time I heard The Beatles would have been late 1962. I was 11 years old. On the radio, this sound came through, which was like two and the four on the bass, sad harmonica and then this, fantastic two-part harmony, this beautiful chorus and this like two and a half minute duet. And I realised that everything after that would be completely different. I don’t know why I don’t know articulate at the time, but I thought it was incredibly important, and it changed my life.”
Not only did the band lay out a sonic blueprint for everyone, all over the world, to follow, but they also proved to working-class kids, from the North of England in particular, that a career path awaited them if they pursued their artistic talents correctly. How do you do that? Well, write your own music, it seems.
Sting explained, “I then found out it was The Beatles who were from Liverpool and that they wrote their own songs, and then in the year that followed, they conquered the world with their own songs. Liverpool is not that far removed from where I come from, so if they could do it, then so could we. So a lot of people of my generation were given permission to at least try to do what The Beatles did, and I’m eternally grateful.”
Sting is perhaps one of the few artists who got to pay back that privilege. The mere fact that McCartney wishes he had written one of his songs is as good a musical repayment as any to an artist who gave him a catalogue of influence.
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