Bring On the POLL - ILM Artist Poll #116 - THE POLICE - (Results Thread)

See, Zenyatta was doing fine until the singles presented themselves.

There were no notated votes for the 1986 version.

I hated that song when it was first released. It's grown on me since. Like a fungus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Fk_mDem4o

I hated that song when it was first released. It's grown on me since. Like a fungus.

first one from their infamous singles collection to place. I am guessing the other 11 are coming.

https://i.imgur.com/MVm6OXF.jpg

24. Canary in a Coal Mine
From: Zenyattà Mondatta
Released: October 3. 1980
312 Points, 10 Votes

xps "De Doo Doo Doo..." was one of the few Police singles to make it into Dave Marsh's 1001 Greatest Singles book, and xgau called it their "only true masterpiece" when it was released. Were they in the minority or was this a critic's favorite back in the day?

(I'm sorry, DO not Doo)

love "Canary", so peppy

xp I think doo doo is quite correct

lmao

Growing up and listening to KROQ I always thought "Canary in a Coal Mine" was a single. Great little 2:26 long song.

Same. My AOR station played it well into the mid '90s.

In my mind there's this subgenre of police songs that are just short, snappy, funtime zip-a-long pop songs, too condensed to be singles, but catchy as hell: coalmine, suitcase, gradenko, no time... not my favourite aspect of the band tbf, but definitely one of their strong points

"Canary" was one that as soon as I submitted my ballot I felt bad about not including. Great song, one of their few actual ska tunes. (There must be ska band versions of it, right?)

I always thought "De Doo Doo Doo" was borderline insufferable — not because I didn't get it, Sting. I love that he was threatening to remake it so that we would GET HIS POINT, ugh. It is also a catchy tune and nice contrast between the spacey verses and catchy chorus. I didn't vote for it but I get why it was a hit.

Fall Out too? Always thought of this as their take on a standard punk song but the vocal melody is way too complicated

I'm surprised "De Doo Doo Doo" did so well on the AT40 considering what the rest of the chart looked like...or perhaps that's why it did so well.

I know there's already been talk itt about their relationship to reggae, but I think it is pretty remarkable — that there was a band of white British/American guys who incorporated reggae into their music at a level that I don't think anyone ever called appropriation. They weren't "trying to play reggae," they were playing rock with musical foundations drawn from reggae among other places. They just feel like they inhabit the space. I also agree that Remain in Light-era Heads is the other band I can think of with similar absorption of a range of influences. Something about that postpunk era, a lot of connections were possible.

https://i.imgur.com/5gLemVX.jpg

23. Darkness
From: Ghost in the Machine
Released: October 2, 1981
322 Points, 10 Votes, 1 Number One

Good point, I don't think they ever got called 'cod reggae' either and that was truly the golden era for that as a thing (I do love a nice bit of cod reggae though tbh) xp

tremendous song

Agreed, too low

kind of a niche POV perhaps but this is one of their songs that make me think of of what ar kane were trying to do on their first album

Their best closer.

love the lyrics to this one too. one of the few "it kinda sucks to be a star" songs that actually hits emotionally. love the line "Instead of worrying about my clothes/I could be someone that nobody knows"

"Life is easy when it was boring"

do we agree it's Stew's best song?

god just relistening now and i swear, last 3 tracks on GITM are absolutely the burning core of my abiding love for the police

xp yes for sure

Last three songs on GITM are andy's best song, sting's best song and stewart's best song fyi ;)

otm

yeah Darkness rules, top 3 from Ghost for me

I spent some time believing the lyric to the previous was “Canary in a Coma” which is pleasingly surreal. And I also love that Sting is so annoyed about DDDD,DDDD, it’s one of his most DO U SEE lyrics and deserves to be mocked a bit.

https://i.imgur.com/1DzMqud.jpg

22. Next to You
From: Outlandos d'Amour
Single Released: November 2, 1978
354 Points, 11 Votes

When Sting originally presented the song to his bandmates, they felt it was neither aggressive nor political enough for the early punk sensibility of The Police. Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland suggested replacing the lyrics, with Summers offering "I'm going to take a gun to you". Sting vetoed this and kept his original love song lyrics instead. The song also includes a slide guitar solo which Copeland dismissed as "old wave," yet Summers shared that as of 2000, he was still getting letters "about that brilliant slide guitar solo".

absolutely love "darkness" and "canary," pretty fun back-to-back juxtaposition

I love "Next to You," pop-punk classic.

LOL I misread your post as "blaxploitation" xpost

Also Summers otm re that slide solo, it's excellent.

Their best closer.

One reason I never listened to the new sequence of Ghost in the Machine was that I couldn't imagine any other song ending the record.

Also Summers otm re that slide solo, it's excellent.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra),

Precisely because it so off-brand: it's like Paul's solo in "Taxman."

write him a letter!

https://i.imgur.com/g1OnF0u.jpg

21. It’s Alright for You
From: Reggatta de Blanc
Released: October 2, 1979
366 Points, 11 Votes, 1 Number One

The song that pops into my head when I think of “new wave”

Great song, one of their few actual ska tunes. (There must be ska band versions of it, right?)

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, December 8, 2022

exactly why it never got anywhere near my ballot

https://i.imgur.com/oQhTwuo.jpg

20. Every Breath You Take
From: Synchronicity
Released: May 20, 1983
374 Points, 11 Votes

"Every Breath You Take" is the Police's and Sting's signature song, and in 2010 was estimated to generate between a quarter and a third of Sting's music publishing income.[5] In May 2019, it was recognized by BMI as being the most played song in radio history.[6][7] With nearly 15 million radio plays, Sting received a BMI Award at a ceremony held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills to mark it being the Most Performed Song in BMI's catalogue, a distinction previously held since 1999 by Spector, Mann and Weill's "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". BMI President and CEO Mike O'Neill stated: "For the first time in 22 years, BMI has a new top song in our repertoire with Sting's timeless hit 'Every Breath You Take,' a remarkable achievement that solidifies its place in songwriting history."

Written by Sting, the single was the biggest US and Canadian hit of 1983, the song also reached the Top 10 in numerous other countries. In the 1983 Rolling Stone critics' and readers' poll, it was voted "Song of the Year". In the US, it was the best-selling single of 1983 and fifth-best-selling single of the decade. Billboard ranked it as the No. 1 song for 1983.[8] The song ranked No. 84 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It also ranked number 25 on Billboard's Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs. In 2008, Q magazine named it among the top 10 British Songs of the 1980s. In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as The Nation's Favourite 1980s number one in a UK-wide poll for ITV.

Shocked that this placed so low, great job ILM. I do wonder if it's burn out issue, lyric content or other. I'm just sick of hearing it and didn't make my ballot even tho the song is sort of great.

too low????????????????

pay andy you fucks

but yeah it might be burnout. like when I listen to Reggatta I just can't stand to hear "Message in a Bottle" anymore. I know it's a great song but growing up it was both on the RdB CD and the Greatest Hits that was always playing around the house, AND it was on the radio all the fucking time. it's like listening to the Simpsons theme song for fun. "Every Breath You Take" is probably even worse because I also lived through Puff Daddy mania