The 1970s genre Sting slammed as too “predictable”
Whether you’re a fan of Sting, there’s no getting around the fact that the man has done a lot.
Regardless of whether we’re talking about the music he put out with The Police or as a solo artist, the man has a way with music that has managed to capture the hearts of fans around the globe. The way that he can merge genres, expertly craft melodies, and own a mic with complex and emotive lyrics, sets him apart as one of the greatest musicians of all time.
With such a talent also comes a pretty expansive knowledge of music, which has allowed him to both praise and criticise that which he encounters in the creative industry. There are plenty of artists that the Police frontman has previously heaped piles of respect on, and there are a lot of other musicians he is a bit more sceptical about, but there is only one genre that he’s ever picked a fight with, and that was punk.
When bands like the Sex Pistols first burst onto the scene with their angst and anger, there were a lot of musicians and music lovers who absolutely fawned over them. People became obsessed with the way that different bands could project their frustration with the world around them, and saw the music as a much-needed release from the mundane everyday life.
John Lydon has previously admitted that it was very much the state of politics and the world in general that led to the kind of music the Sex Pistols went on to make; from the ashes of a crumbling Britain came a phoenix in the form of distorted guitars and poignant lyrics.
“Early 1970s Britain was a very depressing place. It was completely run-down, there was trash on the streets, total unemployment; just about everybody was on strike. Everybody was brought up with an education system that told you point-blank that if you came from the wrong side of the tracks… Then you had no hope in hell and no career prospects at all,” he explained.
“Out of all that came pretentious moi, and the Sex Pistols, and then a whole bunch of copycat wankers after us.”
That rationale might have been good enough for a lot of music lovers, but not Sting, who turned his nose up at punk, resenting how predictable he felt it was. Once that initial wave of acts had made a name for themselves, he didn’t feel like the genre had anywhere else to go.
“Punk was not about music,” he said in an interview with The Independent, “It was about energy and anger and being shut out. Musically, it was predictable. The Sex Pistols never went on to make Sgt Pepper.”
He’s right, the Sex Pistols never would make Sgt Pepper’s, but they were never really supposed to. The complaints that punk music was predictable may well be valid, but it was the stripped-back nature that a lot of people found so compelling. For these punk musicians, it wasn’t just that society was shit, but that music was no longer a reflection of the people who built it, and they resented albums like Sgt Pepper’s because they were too flamboyant, too out of touch to really get a hold on.
Sting’s critique could certainly be considered valid, but it also kind of misses the point, because punk music was a release; it acted as a pillow that the frustrated public could scream into. Predictable or not, the genre was necessary.
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