Sting Influences

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When I worked in broadcast television, I had the honor of producing a feature story on The Police. This involved conducting an interview with the band, shooting b-roll footage of the guys going through a pre-show sound check, and standing onstage to shoot the entire concert. While Andy Summers and Stuart Copeland wove magic from their instruments, it was impossible to not stare at Sting as he commanded the stage, jumping and dancing, even while singing song after song, seemingly effortlessly. It was like watching a world-class magician at work.

I didn’t know at the time that Sting’s artistry and performance style sprang from some specific sources who influenced everything he would do as a musician. But now it’s clear. This video sheds light in the subject of who shaped his creative evolution as a bassist, singer and composer.

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thanks for posting this I’m a big sting fan. I feel like its not only the notes he plays ( that make him great) but the notes he doesn’t play as well.

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I think this particular Larry was an Andy.

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My apologies to Andy. My Freudian typo. I had watched a video about Larry Coryell shortly before writing this post.

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Thanks for posting the video. Bunch of crazily talented musicians for sure!

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But would Sing have been Sting without the tension and battles over creative control with Stuart. That relationship fueled the Police

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IMHO, Sting’s creativity as songwriter and singer fueled The Police.

But the tension between Sting and Stuart sure ended the band, though.

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Not to mention getting shivved by Muad’dib

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That didn’t help things for sure

Don’t disagree, but with the Police on stage Sting was very animated and jumped around a lot, where as a solo, he was very laid back.

Stuart would bust skins on his drums Sting would work him up so much. The raw energy of the band was very much dependent on the group dynamics, but the stage was too small for those two egos in the end.

Oddly, they get along very well off stage and away from music.

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You notice no one talks about Andy, who from all reports was very chill in all this.

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I’ve watched docs on The Police where the band’s career was laid out in detail.

In contrast to those relatively comprehensive stories, I have only one up-close-and-personal interaction data point concerning the guys in The Police.

On the day I showed up to produce the TV feature documenting the band’s return to Austin, to play their homecoming show, the guys had played the night before somewhere (Dallas or Houston) and had ridden to Austin in the middle of the night, on their tour bus.

Andy and Stuart showed up on time for the interview. They looked like they’d just rolled out of bed, hair messed up, yawning, but sporting friendly smiles and handshakes. After we got them mic’ed up and situated at a table, we waited. And waited. And waited…for Sting to show up. Almost 30 minutes later, he finally did, scowling, with radical bed hair, saying not a thing to anyone. Still, I got him mic’ed and we started the interview.

The first questions touched on their early days: how they met, formed the band, other contextual stuff for viewers who might see the piece but would have no idea who these guys were.

With the preliminaries out of the way, when my questions transitioned to the band’s music – particularly the question about their style, “Why the West Indies beat?” – Sting perked up with a jolt.

He hadn’t responded to other questions, while Andy and Stuart were totally chatty and happy to talk. But when the questions turned to the why of their music, Sting never shut up again, and the other dudes never said another word.

Sting was intense, expansive, and animated in his explanations of the musical influences of Police songs, which, of course, he wrote. His demeanor and engagement in the interview changed completely, giving me far more tape than I needed for the piece, but I wasn’t about to stop him. Tape is cheap. What he was saying sure as hell wasn’t.

At the end of the interview, we took the lav mics off of the guys, and Andy and Stuart were again smiling and handshaking as they left the room. Sting brought up the rear, not having said another word since we stopped rolling. As he was walking past my camera and tripod, he stopped suddenly and pivoted 90º to face me. He looked me in the eye and extended his hand. Surprised, I took it, and he said, “Thank you.” Then he turned and walked out.

Granted, this is but a tiny blip in time of an experience, but it was clear to me that Sting takes music extremely seriously, and he apparently appreciated it when others did as well.

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Here’s the best Sting video to watch even if you don’t like his music :slight_smile:

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Yeah, and that point, Sting got somehow… boring. The Police were great but I could never get a grip onto him as a solo artist.

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I think I liked him best in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

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Yeah. One of my favorite movies. I’m a big Guy Ritchie fan.

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I almost confused Guy Ritchie with Guy Pearce, who I’m also a big fan of. Here he is, on top of Priscilla, in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

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Also (left):

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Who is:

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Yep, Hugo Weaving. Agent Smith aka Mitzi Del Bra :joy: in “Priscilla”. And he also played in “Lord of The Rings.

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Great movie.

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Sting was a Jazz musician before he joined The Police. While he enjoyed rocking out and gaining fame/money with the band, all the subsequent commercialism and internal squabbling wore on him. He hated the artifice and strife.

So he went back to his first love when he left the band, and set out to make the music he’d always wanted, without bandmate interference or second-guessing.

He’s a musician of depth and poetry. His music doesn’t appeal to all, but he stays true to himself, which is far more important.

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