The connection between punk and reggae was one of the strongest and most unlikely links in the history of music. As both genres saw an increase in popularity in the mid-1970s, fandoms and subcultures began to blend between the harsh aggressiveness of punk and the more relaxed ethos of reggae. Soon, there were groups that played both styles, including groups that temporarily dipped their toes into the waters of reggae like Blondie and The Clash, and groups that devoted entire fringes of their setlists to form, such as Bad Brains and The Police.
The Police was just a punk band by circumstance. Andy Summers was a well-known progressive rock guitarist who had played with everyone, from Soft Machine to Mike Oldfield, while Stewart Copeland was an American expat who was also making his teeth into progressive rock playing in a band called Curved Air. All the while, Sting was still Mr. Sumner, teaching English while playing in jazz bands at night.
When the music scene began to change in the mid-1970s, members of The Police recognized that punk was the flavor of the day. “The truth is that the band only wore the British punk ornaments of the seventies: bleached short blond hair, Sting with his overalls or military jackets, Copeland and his almost manic drumming style,” says critic Christopher Gable in his book. Sting’s words and music. “In fact, they were criticized by other punk groups for not being authentic and lacking ‘street credence’. What The Police may have taken from punk was a mark of nervous and energetic disillusionment with Britain in the 1970s. “
That’s where the strong link with reggae came from. With a large influx of Jamaican families moving to England during the 1960s and 1970s, disillusionment with institutions became a driving force for both punk and reggae. Bands like The Specials and Madness began to abandon the overtly punk roots of their performance and adopted ska as their favorite genre, creating a 2-Tone renaissance in the process. The police never got that far, but they did base one of their first songs the Western world reggae giant: Bob Marley.
This would be ‘So Lonely’, the third single from the band’s debut album in 1978 Outlandos d’Amour. According to Sting, the song’s author, ‘So Lonely’ was more or less based on the progression of one of Marley’s core songs, ‘No Woman, No Cry’.
“The people who hit three chords didn’t interest us musically,” Sting said. Revolver magazine in 2000. “Reggae was accepted in punk circles and was more musically sophisticated, and we could play it, so we deviated in that direction. I mean honestly, “So Lonely” was shamelessly selected from “No Woman No Cry” by Bob Marley & The Wailers. The same heart. What we invented was that of going back and forth between thrash punk and reggae. That was the small niche we created. “
Mixing the most relaxed verses with the crunchy heartbeat of the song, ‘So Lonely’ is one of the oldest and most effective mixes of the punk and reggae band. As The Police continued to evolve, pop and world music would become more prominent than the punk or reggae music in which the group had initially established itself.
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