In a less culturally significant echo of The Beatles’ chart triumph a decade or two earlier, Sting guided The Police to popularity. The band entered the transatlantic new wave scene with Talking Heads and Blondie, adding a bright creative flourish to the recent punk explosion. The Police specialized in a unique type of reggae-infused punk that benefited greatly from Stewart Copeland’s virtuoso drumming.
Copeland was heavily influenced by the drumming abilities of psychedelic-era drummers like Ginger Baker and Mitch Mitchell. Sting was a huge fan of the Beatles, particularly Paul McCartney. During a 2021 interview with YouTube star Rick Beato, Sting revealed that he felt a connection to the Fab Four.
“I’m glad you mentioned the Beatles because the reason I’m a musician is because of the Beatles,” he remarked. “They were from Liverpool, and I was from Newcastle, both northern port towns with working-class populations. They also received the same education as me: I attended grammar school, and they were scholarship lads. “Smart working-class children.”
Sting emphasized the group’s immense global influence, which spans generational divisions to this day. “They conquered the world with their songs, and therefore gave permission to a younger generation, a decade younger, to try the same thing [and think] ‘Oh, we’ll try that, I know those four chords – I could do that, probably,'” he said. “We all tried. We owe a lot to the Beatles; they had an incredible impact on all of our lives.”
Much to Sting’s chagrin, Paul McCartney has stated his love for the Police on multiple occasions and once chose a Sting solo hit from a list of songs he wishes he could have written.
“There’s always a couple that I hear that I think I’d have liked [to have written],” McCartney told host Jarvis Cocker at the Liverpool Institute in 2018. “I like Sting’s ‘Fields of Gold‘ and thought, ‘Y’know what, I should have written that. How dare he? I told him, ‘You took my tune.’ I also thought that was a good one, y’know?”
After learning of the accolades, Sting took to Twitter, writing: “Paul McCartney says he wishes he had written ‘Fields of Gold‘. There are plenty of Paul’s that I wish I had written. To hear this from someone to whom I owe my life is quite amazing. “Thanks, Paul.”
Listen to Sting’s ‘Fields of Gold’ below.
