Sting and The Police: Walking in Their Footsteps

(Hardback)

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During the 1980s, when pop icons like Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, and U2 reigned supreme, many regarded The Police as the biggest band in the world. Yet after only five albumsand at the peak of their popularityThe Police disbanded and Sting began a solo career that made him a global pop star. Today, artists from Puff Daddy to Gwen Stefani credit The Police and Sting as major influences on their own work, reflecting that The Police were not only a popular, polished rock act, but a powerfully influential one as well. In Sting and The Police: Walking in Their Footsteps, Aaron J. West explores the cultural and musical impact of Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers, and Sting. West details the distinctive hybrid character of The Polices musical output, which would also characterize Stings post-Police career. Stings long-lived solo career embodies the power of the artful appropriation of musical styles, while capitalizing on the modern realities of pop music consumption. The Policeand Sting in particularwere pioneers in music video, modern label marketing, global activism, and the internationalization of pop music. Sting and The Police: Walking in Their Footsteps will interest more than just fans. By placing the band within its various musical, cultural, commercial, and historic contexts, Sting and The Police: Walking in Their Footsteps will appeal to anyone interested in global popular music culture.

Reviews

Historian and musician Wests book is an excellent look at how the Police accomplished success by synthesizing disparate influences into 'marketable, mainstream music, which has remained viable for generations.' The band combined Stewart Copelands reggae-influenced drumming, Andy Summers progressive rockstyle rhythm guitar, and the punk-inspired bass and literary pretensions of primary songwriter Sting. Wests musical biography consists of a series of essays that examine Sting and the Police within larger cultural and musical contexts, from early songs such as 'Bring on the Night' ('a colorful mosaic of musical styles like dub, classical guitar, ska, and even psychedelic rock') to Stings later solo work. West is especially good at examining how the band used the nascent MTV to define themselves through videos filmed at exotic locations around the world: 'The image of the Police as international travelers certainly reinforced their equally multicultural music.' He also insightfully analyses how Stings musical mission to have a global appeal dovetailed perfectly with various activist movements, observing that 'the cultural gravitas of Band Aid set the stage for his more mature persona.' * Publishers Weekly *
Aaron J. Wests Sting and The Police: Walking in Their Footsteps isnt concerned with how often Sting bickered and brawled with drummer Stewart Copeland, or what choice insults guitarist Andy Summers had for the Police bassist. Instead, West worries over the trios aesthetic impetus, stylistic genesis, and enduring cultural influence some thirty decades removed from their disintegration as a creative unit. . . .So who were The Police, and where did they get their sound Which band members wrote what songs Why did the band pack it in at the height of success rather than ride celebritys lucrative wave Was 'Roxanne' a real person What did Sting mean by being 'Caught between the Scylla and Charybdis' Who was 'the old man in that book by Nabokov' Was there a real 'Englishman in New York' A fan since procuring Every Breath You Take: The Singles on cassette in the mid 80s, West sifts his Police survey into seven easy-to-digest theses, with each musing over a different topic. * Examiner.com *
[Sting and The Police: Walking in Their Footsteps] is the perfect book for you . . . if you want to know how their music grew up, as author West thoroughly delves into how the band's songs were constructed from style mosaics. * antiMusic *
If youre looking for thoughtful analysis of the bands music and career Sting and the Police: Walking in Their Footsteps delivers. * My Big Honkin Blog *

Author Bio

Aaron J. West has written numerous articles on jazz and popular music. He is currently professor of music history at Collin College. A professional musician, he has performed with jazz and pop legends Arturo Sandoval, Brian Wilson, Norah Jones, and the Glenn Miller Orchestra.