How a sense of “guilt” inspired Sting to reunite The Police
The breakup of a band rarely marks a definitive end. More often than not, musicians crawl out of the woodwork years or decades later to announce a reunion tour or a greatest hits album. Sometimes, the choice to revive a band is born out of love, out of a genuine desire to return to performing and recording. But sometimes, it’s a cash grab, an opportunity to play on nostalgia and get committed fans to empty their wallets one last time. When The Police reunited in the 2000s, it was a blatant example of the latter.
Spawning out of London in the late 1970s, The Police were undoubtedly a product of the burgeoning new wave and post-punk scenes that surrounded them, but Sting refused to be constrained by genre. He was unafraid to pull from styles that seemed worlds away from their own, infusing their sound with reggae and jazz seamlessly.
Though it may sound like a strange amalgamation on paper, it stuck in the studio, where The Police would pen some real enduring hits. From the menacing story of ‘Every Breath You Take’ to the rocking ‘Roxanne’ to the twinkling romanticism of ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’, the band created future classics aplenty and enjoyed the monetary rewards of doing so. But even the most well-oiled hit-making machine can’t run forever.
The Police delivered their final album in 1983, Synchronicity, which went platinum in their home country, a final statement of their mammoth impact. In the years that followed, frontman Sting would devote himself to his solo career, putting out classics of his own like ‘Englishman in New York’ and ‘Fields of Gold’, but the grasp of The Police still lingered.
Sting felt indebted to his former bandmates, to guitarist Andy Summers and to drummer Stewart Copeland, so he got the band back together. After decades of occasional live outings but no official return, the makers of ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’ announced their return to the road with The Police Reunion Tour.
In a slightly patronising statement about his motivations, Sting told The Guardian, “There was a certain amount of guilt.” He went on to acknowledge that The Police had been a “vehicle” for his songs, so he felt that he needed to “look after them to an extent. Not that they were begging, they’re too proud to do that. But they were very happy to do the tour.”
Beginning in the summer of 2007, the band would take to stages across the world to play their most well-known and well-loved hits. Fans who hadn’t been able to see them the first time around were afforded a second chance, while die-hard Police fans were more than willing to splash the cash to see them again.
“We made a shitload of money,” Sting recalled, “The timing was perfect and I take full credit for that. It was an exercise in nostalgia. We were realising an asset, for probably the last time.” The tour took in hundreds of millions of dollars, proving Sting right. Despite the huge paycheque afforded by a return to touring, the band are yet to repeat this stint.
Just as Sting suggested, it seems that the band’s 2007 world tour was the last time The Police would reunite. Since then, Sting has returned to solo recording, while Copland and Summers have embarked upon their own new projects.
