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Having a guilty pleasure isn’t always as embarrassing as it sounds. It’s all good music at the end of the day, and even if something isn’t necessarily cool for someone to like, it’s hard to really judge anyone’s taste based on the one song that they consider to be a bit catchier than what they normally listen to. And for someone like Stewart Copeland, he couldn’t hide the fact that he had his fair share of guilty pleasures in the days of The Police.
When the power trio first started hitting the clubs, though, the mission was to make something that no one had ever considered. There had been pieces of punk and reggae in their delivery, but their goal was to create a smorgasbord of sound whenever Sting wrote a song, whether that meant putting something different into ‘Walking on the Moon’ or bringing that nervous energy to ‘Message in a Bottle’.
In the case of Copeland, it was more about finding a way to balance the tasteful playing with the more ambitious pieces that he put together. No one could spend their lives trying to beat the life out of the drumheads, but if he spent years trying to refine his craft behind the kit, he wasn’t going to sacrifice it for the bare minimum whenever Sting came up with a laid-back groove and needed a simple 4/4 rhythm.
And it wasn’t like the rest of the world wanted that kind of music, either. A lot of the crowds that Copeland ran with were interested in making songs that were deliberately sterile, and the sudden influx of new wave and synthesiser bands helped push the boundaries of where things would be going once the 1980s really kicked into high gear.
Things were certainly progressing, but that didn’t mean that Fleetwood Mac got off everyone’s speakers. As much as bands wanted to go outside the norm, Rumours ruled the airwaves for a damn good reason, and listening back to almost any song from the record, it’s no wonder why many people considered them one of the greatest rock and roll bands for production.
And despite doing jazzy experiments on records like Reggatta de Blanc and Zenyatta Mondatta, Copeland had to admit that he was singing right along with everyone else when ‘Dreams’ or ‘Go Your Own Way’ came on the radio, saying, “We were listening to Human League, Talking Heads and Blondie… in mono. Also, a guilty pleasure which I can confess after all these years, I was listening to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, even though we were supposedly the revolutionaries trying to burn down their ship.”
It’s not like the band didn’t take a few cues from them as well. As much as their later records like Synchronicity catered towards the pop crowd, the immaculate production behind everything had to come from studying how Rumours was created, only this time with Copeland’s snare drum front and centre in the mix compared to the more rounded sound that Fleetwood Mac got on their final mix.
The Police stood for everything that Fleetwood Mac was the opposite of, but going back to Rumours is the perfect example of the phrase ‘know your enemy’. Because if you’re not careful, you might pick up on some of the tricks that the opposing side had up their sleeves for all those years.
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Stewart Copeland, the legendary drummer of The Police, may be known for his contributions to iconic albums like “Synchronicity” and “Ghost in the Machine,” but there’s one album that he considers his guilty pleasure.
That album is none other than ABBA’s “Arrival.” Despite being a rock and new wave icon, Copeland has admitted that he has a soft spot for the Swedish pop group’s music. In an interview, he confessed that he can’t help but sing along to hits like “Dancing Queen” and “Take a Chance on Me” whenever they come on the radio.
Copeland’s love for ABBA’s music may come as a surprise to some fans, but it just goes to show that even the most revered musicians have their guilty pleasures. And who can blame him for enjoying the infectious melodies and catchy hooks of ABBA’s songs?
So next time you’re jamming out to The Police, don’t be afraid to throw in a little ABBA too – after all, if it’s good enough for Stewart Copeland, it’s good enough for anyone.
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Stewart Copeland, The Police, guilty pleasure, music, album, drummer, rock, 80s music, music industry, hidden gem, underrated artist, iconic drummer
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