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

Had no idea that anyone regarded "When the World Is Running Down" as more than filler!

"Walking on the Moon", meanwhile, isn't my favourite Police song but feels like their essence distilled.

https://i.imgur.com/D5z2lo9.jpg

3. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
From: Ghost in the Machine
Single Released: November 2, 1981
753 Points, 22 Votes, 3 Number Ones

Although the song was recorded in 1981, Sting wrote it as early as late 1976 prior to the formation of the Police. An early (1976) demo of the song can be heard on the Strontium 90 album Strontium 90: Police Academy, which Sting recorded entirely by himself while the song was still fresh in his mind (according to Mike Howlett), using equipment in the loft of Howlett's home in Acton, London which included an acoustic guitar, a bass guitar, an African drum, a TEAC 4-track recorder and some cheap microphones. For Howlett, this demo is "a powerful testimony to the raw, undiluted talent that is Sting". The recording was made prior to the launch of the Portastudio in the late 70s, which Sting would later use for writing and demoing songs for The Police and so on. A second demo was recorded in January 1981 at Le Studio in Morin Heights, Canada, with Nick Blagona engineering:

This was first recorded as a demo, with the piano figure, in a studio in Montreal. I had written the song long before the Police were successful, but it seemed a bit soft for the band at first. But the demo was really great. It sounded like a No 1 song to me. I took it to the band, who were reticent, still thinking it was soft. I was saying, "But listen, it's a hit." We tried to do it from scratch as the Police, but it didn't have the same energy as the demo. After a degree of hair-pulling and torturing on my part, I got the band to play over the top of my demo.

— Sting, The Independent, September 1993

The piano part was added by session keyboardist Jean Roussel, whom Sting would fly over to help re-record the track against the wishes of his bandmates Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland while they were recording the Ghost in the Machine album at AIR Studios, Montserrat. Summers did not approve of Roussel's inclusion in the track, claiming that he was "incredibly pushy" and that "there wasn't room for him. He must have played 12 piano parts on that song alone." Copeland, however, said that Roussel "wasn't pushy ... He was just like us actually."

Feeling that the arrangement of the track was not enough like The Police style, Summers (who recalled, "as the guitar player I was saying, 'What the fuck is this? This is not the Police sound'") and the band tried to "Police-ify" the track by attempting different arrangements and styles, but none of them clicked. However, as Copeland remembers, the remaining two members of the band had to overdub onto Sting’s demo in the end:

"I remember saying, 'Okay put up Sting's original demo and I'll show you how crummy it is.' So Sting stood over me and waved me through all the changes. I did just one take, and that became the record. Then Andy did the same thing on the guitar. We just faced the music, bit the bullet, and used Sting's arrangements and demo. Damn."

— Stewart Copeland, Revolver, 2000

In the chorus, Sting, not knowing any other word which would rhyme with "magic," used the word "tragic." Copeland said of this moment, "I remember Sting for years trying to think of a rhyme for 'magic', as in 'Every Little Things She Does Is Magic.' I think the only word he could come up with, apart from 'tragic', was 'pelagic', which means 'ocean going'. There I was in my leather pants and punk hairdo, pondering the distinction between ocean-going and river-going fish." This moment was, in his estimation, implied by scholars to be fairly comical.

xp I have never thought of "When the World is Running Down" as filler.

Stewart clowning on Sting's lyric writing is always so funny

anyway I am pretty sure this was my #1. just a perfect pop song start to finish

xp I have never thought of "When the World is Running Down" as filler.

To me, it's in the same category as something like "Hungry For You", which isn't even going to place.

"When The World" was my #4, I love that guitar sound

and the groove

There was so much gold on Wikipedia that I felt it would enhance this poll. Hope you all didn't mind.

a powerful testimony to the raw, undiluted talent that is Sting deez

I was also a #1 for When the World, musically and lyrically both it's them firing on all cylinders. "Every Little Thing" was my #3 (and top-ranked of their big hits), so I approve this placement.

Still holding out hope that my #1 comes out on top.

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

2. Synchronicity II
From: Synchronicity
Single Released: October 21, 1983
802 Points, 21 Votes, 2 Number Ones

https://i.imgur.com/kRxZH4G.jpg

1. Message in a Bottle
From: Reggatta de Blanc
Single Released: February 1979
875 Points, 22 Votes, 5 Number Ones

Whoop, not quite.

1	875	22	5	Message in a Bottle
2	802	21	2	Synchronicity II
3	753	22	3	Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
4	748	21	1	Walking on the Moon
5	672	19	4	When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around
6	653	20	1	Don’t Stand So Close to Me
7	652	20	1	Bring on the Night
8	628	19	1	Driven To Tears
9	603	19		Invisible Sun
10	601	16		Can’t Stand Losing You
11	600	19		Spirits in the Material World
12	599	17		So Lonely
13	589	17	1	Synchronicity I
14	529	17		King of Pain
15	508	15	1	Roxanne
16	492	16		The Bed’s Too Big Without You
17	486	14	2	Ωmegaman
18	473	17		Wrapped Around Your Finger
19	436	13	1	Secret Journey
20	374	11		Every Breath You Take
21	366	11	1	It’s Alright for You
22	354	11		Next to You
23	322	10	1	Darkness
24	312	10		Canary in a Coal Mine
25	276	9		De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
26	271	8		Voices in My Head
27	266	8		Truth Hits Everybody
28	245	8	1	No Time This Time
29	209	6		Demolition Man
30	200	7		Man in a Suitcase
31	183	5	1	I Burn for You
32	176	6		Tea in the Sahara
33	174	6		Bombs Away
34	170	6		Does Everyone Stare
35	165	6		Contact
36	149	5		Murder by Numbers
37	148	5		Shadows in the Rain
38	143	5		Too Much Information
39	119	4		Rehumanize Yourself
40	110	4		Mother

I will post full results later.

Good poll, thanks Bee OK!

Yes, great poll. It was my first to vote in and was a lot of fun.

So thanks for running it, Bee!

"When The World..." was my #1.

i guess this is our last goodbye

The only one of my picks that didn't show up was "O My God." In hindsight, I might have swapped it out for "Miss Gradenko" (which also failed to land in the top 40, lol).

Not for the first time, my relistening for the poll made me aware of the bassline similarities between "When the World" and Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime." On checking, those two albums came out within a week of each other — Zenyatta Mondatta on Oct. 3, 1980, and Remain in Light on Oct. 8. Both were recorded the summer of 1980. Something in the air I guess.

Let me know if anyone needs their ballot, I'll post mine in a bit...

great poll, great job Bee OK! i for one am definitely not done with this week's Police deep dive, it's been a pleasure. can't believe Miss Gradenko got shut out tho.

Wow. Great exercise. Mad thanks to Bee OK for running it.

Quite illuminating - lots of overlap but strong divisions! Like, the poll's top 5 and my top 5 are very different. My #1 (It's Alright for You") placed middling-low. My #2 ("On Any Other Day") didn't place at all. The rest is a melange. The closest I got to the ilm hivemind is that I had "Don't Stand" and "Walking on the Moon" as my #4 and 5; they came out #6 and 4 in the poll(ice).

I had "Message" at #3, "Synchronicity II" at #1.

Everything on my list placed except for the b-side "Shambelle". "Synchronicity II" was also my personal #2.

Cool to see Invisible Sun place so high. Surely the single of theirs I've heard the least in the wild (maybe a US/UK thing?). And its sound is so weird and alien... The way the chorus arrives is just like sinking into this dark solarized electronic fuzz, really unlike any other pop chorus I can think of. Together with Spirits and the cover art, it always makes me want a whole album of these icy, unsettling, synth-heavy Police album (though as of today I'm really digging all the jumped-up, horn-heavy ska exercises.)

A touch unfortunate that it's saddled with the staggeringly bad line "looking like something that the cat brought in."

The video is consistent with that vibe as well.

And, as I confirmed a couple days ago, "Message in a Bottle" peaked at #74 in America.

"like something the cat dragged in" is a pretty common phrase in the uk, so it doesn't really stick out here as particularly bad or awkward, and lord knows sting has written far worse lines. is it used at all in the US?

LOL I was the only person not to vote for “Synchronicity II” and it almost won the damn thing.

Thanks, Bee OK!

Part I
1. Darkness
2. Secret Journey
3. Synchronicity I
4. Message in a Bottle
5. Walking on the Moon
6. Canary in a Coalmine
7. Spirits in the Material World
8. Bring On the Night
9. Don’t Stand So Close to Me
10. Invisible Sun
11. Omegaman
12. Miss Grandenko
13. Contact
14. Bombs Away
15. When the World Is Running Down
16. Driven to Tears
17. Man in a Suitcase
18. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
19. The Bed’s Too Big Without You
20. Can’t Stand Losing You

Part 2
1. Ghost in the Machine
2. Regatta de Blanc
3. Zenyartta Mondata
4. Synchronicity
5. Outlandos D’Amour

Part 3
1. I Advance Masked (I Advance Masked)
2. Bring On the Night/When the World Is Running Down (Bring On the Night)
3. Fortress Around Your Heart
4. We Work the Black Seam
5. Be Still My Beating Heart
6. If I Ever Lose My Faith in You
7. Hardy Country (I Advance Masked)
8. Mad About You
9. China Yellow Leader (I Advance Masked)
10. Red Rain (Peter Gabriel)

is it used at all in the US?

Mostly by Poison.

I could see that might deter other adopters

I didn't vote for Synchronicity II because of "kick in the crotch."

Honestly shocked Miss Gradenko didn’t place and Mother did.

The cat-dragged idiom absolutely exists in the US - I should have clarified that what's jarring is specifically the encounter with this bland cliche that seems not at all appropriate to the situation. Could be that's Sting's intent, for this song about everyday life in seemingly unbearable circumstances...

This poll actually happened by accident. In October I figured out that ILM was about 115 polls deep and we hadn't run the Police poll. I immediately added my name to the queue and thought I would run it within about three years. Our last poll Wilco finished in end of October, then there was the abandoned Punk poll. No-one else seemed ready to run a poll and there was plenty of time left in this year. It seemed like such a simple poll to run so I rushed it to the front of my queue and then opened it up. Makes me wonder how many big gaps we have in the queue. For instance Black Sabbath is up next, who knows if it will happen this year or next because now the EOY shift is staring to happen.

Bottom line, fun poll and I had a blast running this one. Wish it happened when I wasn't so busy at work. Glad ILM was able to share this experience.

Thanks for your work and enthusiasm! Really enjoyed revisiting a major stage of my musical development.

Great poll! A lot of my faves showed up in the middle of the list but I'm hivemindy in seeing "Every Little Thing" and "Message in a Bottle" as the best two big hits. (OK I don't rate Sync II as high.)

Message in a Bottle, like King of Pain, has the virtue that there's no way it should be able to be this corny and this good.

Yeah, thanks again for running it. I haven't joined in on one of these in a while, it was fun.

Songs

When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around
So Lonely
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Bring on the Night
Can’t Stand Losing You
I Burn for You
Message in a Bottle
Voices Inside My Head
Demolition Man
Synchronicity II
Every Breath You Take
Walking on the Moon
Driven to Tears
Rehumanize Yourself
Next to You
Synchronicity I
The Bed’s Too Big Without You
Too Much Information
It’s Alright for You
Secret Journey

Albums

Regatta de Blanc
Ghost in the Machine
Zenyatta Mondatta
Outlandos d’Amour
Synchronicity

Solo tracks

“Red Rain” — Peter Gabriel w/Stewart Copeland on hi-hat
“Only You” — Sting
“Don’t Care” — Klark Kent
“I Advance Masked” — Andy Summers and Robert Fripp
“All This Time” — Sting
“Consider Me Gone” — Sting
“Fields of Gold” — Sting
“Don’t Box Me In” — Stan Ridgway w/Stewart Copeland
“Brimstone and Treacle (Theme)” — Sting
“Mr. Oysterhead” — Oysterhead

My Ballot

I Burn For You
Omega Man
Synchronicity I
When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around
Voices Inside My Head
Secret Journey
Driven to Tears
It's Alright for You
Invisible Sun
Can't Stand Losing You
Synchronicity II
Canary in a Coalmine
Wrapped Around Your Finger
Demolition Man
Rehumanize Yourself
King of Pain
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Truth Hits Everybody
Darkness
The Bed's Too Big Without You

Sting - Fragile
Stewart Copeland & Stan Ridgway - Don't Box Me In
Sting - Fortress Around Your Heart
Andy Summers & Robert Fripp - I Advance Masked
Sting - Fields of Gold
Sting - Desert Rose
Andy Summers - How Can I Forget
Sting - The Soul Cages
Sting - Seven Days
Andy Summers & Robert Fripp - Guide

Thanks again Bee OK! I mentioned upthread that the poll was great, and it doesn't get said enough that these polls --- and keeping up the rolling poll organization/communication project! --- take time and energy. It's like you're throwing the rest of us a multi-day musical picnic, or a big band-themed bar night where we can all nerd out. The magic of ILX in general, but with one person stepping up to make it extra fun. So thank you!

Also, man, I've listened to Demolition Man like seven times today. Definitely the day I first "really heard" it. In addition to whatever else I said about it earlier, it's this really tight, loopy high-speed post-punk number, almost No Wavey,

nicely done; thanks bee!