Sometimes, a person will come along and describe a band in the most succinct and accurate way possible, including when the Killers’ Brandon Flowers came up with his short-and-sweet way of describing the Police. While these kinds of one-liner descriptions have to be somewhat reductive by definition, the Killers’ frontman managed to capture what made the Police so incredibly unique during their tenure as one of the most ubiquitous bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s in five words or less.
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Flowers credits the Police and all its members—Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland—as being driving inspirational forces behind his band, the Killers, which he formed in Las Vegas in 2001.
The Killers’ Brandon Flowers Genius Way Of Describing The Police
In 2004, Rolling Stone embarked on a massive mission to identify the 100 most influential artists of the last 50 years. Six years later, they followed up on this gargantuan project by asking these artists’ colleagues and fans to pen essays describing each artist’s specific impact on the music industry. The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers was elected to write an essay honoring the Police, and it’s easy to see why. Both bands built their career on a unique blend of glam rock, pop, and electronic music. They both strongly emphasize storytelling, particularly narratives juxtaposing dark and light elements.
“Oscar Wilde said that an artist has succeeded if people don’t understand his work but they still like it,” Flowers began. “By that standard, the Police were a huge success. Their songs are universal. They’re part of all of our lives. You hear them on both pop and classic rock stations, and they’ll be played on the radio in Germany 100 years from now. At the same time, everything they did was really smart and worked on a few levels. You could love a particular song, then realize a year later that you had totally missed the meaning.”
“They were professionals who came up during the punk era and found their messages later on,” Flowers continued. I’m a big fan of how they used reggae. Bands like the Clash had already mixed it with punk, but the Police did it flat-out. It was like reggae for music geeks. Sting played bass and sang. He commanded both the rhythm section and melodies in the band. Stewart Copeland is a great drummer. You have to be to give songs like “Roxanne” and “So Lonely” their drive and also throw that reggae in there.”
The Frontman Had Examples To Back Up His Claim
Calling the Police “reggae for music geeks” is probably the most to-the-point and precise description of the British rock band I’ve ever heard. Because frankly, what else would one call them? The Police weren’t quite as heavy as other British rock bands of their time. They certainly were too heavy for folk, and there was something simultaneously grittier and more lighthearted to the Police than a description like “pop rock” can cover. The band behind hits like “Message in a Bottle” and “Reggatta de Blanc” (which loosely translates to “White Reggae” in French, by the way) incorporated multiple elements of popular musical styles while also creating something heady and substantial.
Flowers used examples to back up his praise. “Take “Every Breath You Take.” It’s a great trick. It’s impossibly catchy. People play it at their weddings. But it’s a stalker song. “Roxanne” is blatantly about a hooker. It’s not about how Sting loves her and broke her heart. It’s just about how she is a hooker. People don’t realize how unique that is. My favorite is “Don’t Stand So Close To Me.” The one about the teacher and the young girl. That kind of storytelling has fallen out of pop music. The story makes it spooky and powerful. My favorite line is, Wet bus stop, she’s waiting, his car is warm and dry. He communicates the entire song with those eleven words.”
“The Police matured really quickly,” Flowers argued. “All bands should pay attention to that. You should always try to keep moving forward.”
Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns/Getty Images
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