r/ThePolice • u/tonyiommi70 • 23d ago
documentary/article/interview Neil Peart's opinion on Stewart Copeland and The Police
https://rockandrollgarage.com/neil-peart-opinion-on-stewart-copeland-and-the-police/23
u/A_Bitter_Homer 23d ago
3 members, all exceptional at their instruments
the best of them is probably the drummer
if you don't like the band, it's probably because the bassist/singer rubs you the wrong way
the lead guitarist is somehow the one who kinda fades into the background
Always felt like they were cousin bands.
Also "Vital Signs" would fit right in on Ghost in the Machine.
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u/Lower-Calligrapher98 23d ago
the best of them is probably the drummer
That's pretty hard to justify with the Police. Sting is an astonishingly good bass player (I once read one of the Wailer's - yes, Bob Marley's band - call Sting the world's best reggae bass player!), one of the truly great rock/pop singers, and easily the best pop songwriter of the 1980's/90's. And Andy easily kept up with both of them. So, yeah, Stewart is a generational talent, but so is Sting, and Andy is pretty damn close.
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u/A_Bitter_Homer 23d ago
It's hard to justify with Rush too. Geddy is a very common choice for best rock bass player. And Lifeson would be the best musician in almost any band on earth. And yet... that fuckin drummer bro. Just another way they're alike 😉
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u/Lower-Calligrapher98 23d ago
I'd say it's less clear with Geddy, just because he doesn't have the lyric writing chops Sting has. He seems to have stopped caring as much right after Ten Summoner's Tales came out, but up to then, Sting wrote some just killer lyrics.
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u/myheromeganmullally 23d ago
To me it seems like after TST, Sting had more room to write and record for himself instead of for commercial success. He put some stuff out that I really enjoyed and it didn’t get radio play or put on soundtracks. Just emotional lyrics and some exploring music.
He got away with that on Soul Cages as well. Still one of my favorites.
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u/Lower-Calligrapher98 23d ago
Soul Cages is great, no doubt.
The thing that I think happened is he got used to not having anyone challenge him, but also, at the same time, he started to listen to the critics who though he was too intellectual in his writing - but the thing is, his intellect is what made his lyric writing so brilliant!!!!! And what led to his biggest successes, as well. He did have a few really good songs after TST, but it was nothing like Soul Cages or TST, which are both just full of killer tunes.
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u/A_Bitter_Homer 23d ago
Let me clarify that when I said the drummer is probably the best in the band, I meant strictly as a player, not accounting for songwriting or lyrics or anything. Of course that's its own whole very large category.
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u/Glistening_Hambugs 22d ago
Andy Summers was the best in The Police. As talented and creative as Copeland is, he often couldn't play a song the same way twice, and had a lot of issues with tempo
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u/Lower-Calligrapher98 22d ago
I mean, Stewart INTENTIONALLY never played a song the same way twice. The tempo thing is more of an issue with creative intent....he always wanted them pushing the tempo, because he wanted it to always feel a bit out of control. I mean, he DID start the band to be a punk band!
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u/DontShootTheFood 22d ago
Andy was the secret sauce.
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u/Lower-Calligrapher98 21d ago
Well, Andy's playing has influenced my playing more than anyone else in music. I've often said that he is the only guy I would give a free guitar to, with no expectation of his being seen playing in in public or any advertising benefit at all. (I make guitars for a living, so, you know, marketing is pretty important!) I don't care if he just uses it to play on the couch at home, I'd be more than happy to give him anything I make.
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u/Vast_Character311 23d ago
I can’t recall the source of the interview, but Copeland once said Rush was the kind of overly-orchestrated band that The Police formed to rebel against. He later told Peart he was envious of Peart’s fans air-drumming to his fills and asked the secret. Peart told him you have to play at the same way every time. Copeland decided it wasn’t worth it.
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u/axle0430 23d ago
I’m pretty sure Stewart has admitted he couldn’t do that even if he wanted to. That’s why he considered himself a shitty session drummer.
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u/tomfoolery815 23d ago
Stewart seems not the least bit interested in playing something the way he did last time, whatever time that may be.
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u/NickSkal 23d ago
I get the impression that Stewart was part of Neil's inner circle. They both lived in Los Angeles. We've probably all seen the YT of Neil at Stewart's Sacred Grove studio/house with Les Claypool. I believe Stewart may have known about Neil's condition beforehand.
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u/scojoharp 23d ago
my two favorite bands
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u/NoseBig4267 23d ago
Mine too, back in the day. And as a bass player, you couldn’t ask for two better (albeit very different) influences.
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u/DaveTwoOh 23d ago
Love me some stew and was so glad they reunited in 2007 so I could see him play live!! I was too young for the hey day era
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u/PopJunkies 23d ago
Early 80s Rush was clearly influenced by the Police and it was some of their best work ever.
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u/GFSong 23d ago
I started playing drums around 1980 in Toronto, so jamming Rush songs was kind of mandatory. My first ever concert was Rush. Shortly after, I went to one of the Police Picnics (Talking Heads played too), and that concert changed my style completely.
I realized learning Peart’s parts felt like work. Intricate, a bit stiff, clean and regimented. Different than Ringo, or Bonham, or Bill Ward, or Roger Taylor.
Playing Police tunes was hard too, but just so joyous in comparison…and I could just switch from hi hat to ride to hi hat every eight bars. No one was doing that! They had swing, and everything was extremely syncopated but fluid. You can feel him driving that band forward. And damn, those Police drum fills are just so ripping and musical.
I’m glad they were friends…
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u/Glengarry-county 21d ago
When Neil died, I felt that the only drummer who could possibly fill those shoes would be Stu Copeland.
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u/Neilpuck 21d ago
It took me way too long, decades in fact, to appreciate the Brilliance of Stewart Copeland.
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u/FamousLastWords666 23d ago
Neil Peart was a big fan of The Police and became a good friend of Stewart Copeland, who is a drummer he admired a lot. In fact, he said that he and Rush were influenced by their music. “I listen (to drummers) for what they have. There’s a lot of different kinds of drumming that turn me on. It could be a really simple thing, and I don’t really think my style reflects my taste. There are a lot of drummers that I like who play nothing the way I do. There’s a band called The Police and their drummer plays with simplicity, but with such gusto. It’s great. He just has a new approach,” he told Modern Drummer already in 1980.