16/07/2025
Fusing punk with reggae and a jazz sensibility made The Police one of the most iconic bands of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s… and still to this day. However, the full dynamics of the band were lost on audiences in England when they first formed in 1977. In the beginning, they mostly played with attitude and speed to appeal to the burgeoning punk rock scene in the UK.
When they recorded “Roxanne”, the band thought the song was good, but worried it didn’t have the necessary energy to get any attention. Miles Copeland, the brother of drummer Stewart Copeland, loved the song and took it to the record label A&M who decided to release it as a single. When the song flopped in England after its release in April of 1978, the band’s suspicions the song would not make a splash were correct. It also didn’t help that the BBC did not want to play a song about a pr******te, but in Sting’s defense, he was trying to tell her NOT to put on a red light.
Flash forward a year later after a breakthrough tour of the United States, “Roxanne” was re-released and it became the hit we all know and love. As soon as you hear the opening guitar notes, you know exactly what song it is and you’re just waiting for that hypnotic first mention of her name. The song that wasn’t a hit at first reminds us all that…
SOMETIMES AMAZING IDEAS TAKE TIME
*** This was all researched and written by a human ***