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The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

© Greg Camden

Every move you make Every vow you break Every smile you fake Every claim you stake I'll be watching you —"Every Breath You Take," 1983

Although The Police were not "officially" no longer a band in 1985, there was a sense that Sting's embarkation on his solo career marked the end of their brilliant but relatively short-lived run. Many held Sting solely responsible for this decision—especially those who had long seen him as pompous and egomaniacal—and so with the release of his first solo album, The Dream of the Blue Turtles, and the subsequent film which documented the supporting tour, Bring on the Night, all eyes in the pop world were on the former frontman of the biggest group in the world. And not a few of the owners of those eyes hoped Sting would fail miserably.

Sting had publicly talked about doing a solo album as early as 1980. And in 1982, when Sting was asked at a press conference what else there was to do now that The Police had reached "the top of the mountain," his reply gave an indication of his future plans: "I think your analogy is not terribly good because you're assuming there's only one mountain to climb. We're on top of one, but there are plenty of others, and we're to climb those. We're talking about individual careers and other things and different kinds of music we can play. We're at the top of one mountain, yes, but there are many others."

By 1984, with the success of Synchronicity behind him, Sting more or less announced his transition from being in a band to enjoying a solo career: "There's no point in being in a group just for the sake of being in a group—in carrying on forever just for sentimental reasons and getting to be an old man and always a member of some fucking gang. That's not my way. The only reason to be in a group is if you have a unified musical idea. The old idea that The Police had has been taken to its logical, monumentally successful conclusion. The temptation is to sit in that rut and carry on and get all the acclaim and all the money—and that's wrong. I'm not saying that we're breaking up. But this time away is very important so that we can not be in the group. If there were a fresh way of presenting The Police and creating music together, then The Police would play again. But I don't want to become like all the other aging rock groups-bonded together by panic. I'm not fearful of losing success or not being in the limelight."

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