Stewart Copeland: The Police Are Not Breaking Up (Spoiler: They Broke Up) | Letterman

[@Opus313]

I love Synchronicity... the album and the phenomenon...

[@zdrumrguy]

Stingchronicity

[@Tommyr]

It WAS in Poughkeepsie and it was 3 or 4 people. The place is called "The Chance". It's a GREAT place to see live bands! The Police talk about it all the time in interviews.

[@patcupo]

I feel connected to The Chance since my parents met there. My father was a bartender and also said it was a great place for live bands. There’s a Ramones album cover where the band is sitting on the steps of The Chance and your can kind of see my father in the back. Wish I got to see that place in its prime.

[@Tommyr]

@@patcupo I've seen MANY shows at The Chance over the decades past. Great place, sketchy city though. Too many shootings in that dump city.

[@Tommyr]

@@clintkantor I don't remember Deuce's. But I've seen plenty of bands at the Chance over the years. Great place.

[@Yamparunner]

Stewart is wise and insightful

[@williamgottlieb8723]

Having the band break up back when I was in high school was not nearly as upsetting as having "Every Breath You Take" reduced to a commercial jingle today.

[@chiefscheider]

I know two couples who used EBYT as their wedding song. No one had the heart to tell them what it was about 😄

[@3093DaNieLe3093]

@@chiefscheider as Sting said its about interpretation,"if people thinks and sees it as a love song ..good but it has a dofferent meaning"

[@3093DaNieLe3093]

@Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin slava ukraini

[@OMGWTFLOLSMH]

Yeah, so much great music, but unfortunately a few of their hits have been overplayed to death and we're all sick of them. If I never hear Every Breath, Roxanne or Message in a Bottle again, I'll be just fine.

[@Kohntarkosz]

@@chiefscheider Sting said he keeps meeting fans who say the same thing "We danced to Every Breath You Take at our wedding", and Sting says, "Really? You must have an interesting marriage". People just don't get what that song is actually about!

[@jackleonardo2167]

One of my top 3 drummers ever. Has a distinctive sound that you know that it’s Stewart and his one-of -a-kind set-up and his time signatures and tempo were never heard before and rarely since.

[@charles727727]

May I ask you who are the other 2 ... ? Phil Collins and ?

[@jackleonardo2167]

@@charles727727 Bonham & Ian Paice of Deep Purple is the other one. The late great Charlie Watts of the Stones is an honorable mention. Do you have a top 3 or top 5 list yourself? Can you let us know? Be well. Thanks.

[@gunnyhartman7979]

@@jackleonardo2167 you’re kidding I hope. Ever heard of a guy called Garibaldi??

[@JayB2]

My top 3 are - Neil Peart, Stewart Copeland, & Danny Carey (in that order).

[@rockturtleneck]

This was a huge deal when Mr. Copeland was on. The Police were by far the biggest group on earth then, I had seen them at Shea Stadium about 6 months prior, and it wasn't all that common to see your rock star idols interviewed on TV. Copeland is of course a very sharp-witted, intelligent gentleman and my favorite drummer ever.

[@dwightropp3014]

By far? Van Halen was at its peak then, too, right?

[@vanishing_girl]

@@dwightropp3014 Halen was comparable in the US (sold around as many albums as The Police but had less popular singles) but The Police was bigger pretty much everywhere else in the world at the time

[@dwightropp3014]

@@vanishing_girl- Could be, but not likely "by far."

[@carlosalvaro2964]

More than Queen?

[@dwightropp3014]

@@carlosalvaro2964 - Yes, they must be considered, too!

[@patton303]

This was February 9th, 1984. My favorite band and drummer of all time. (They had just played in Atlantic City the night before this. My first concert) Stewart has bags under his eyes here. At this point they had played well over 100 shows on this tour and were just flat out exhausted. We now know they absolutely loathed each other, were constantly fighting and couldn’t wait to scatter after the tour was over. Sting was already putting his new band together. Stewart was starting work on The Rumblefish soundtrack and Andy wanted to work on his photography. Kudos to Stew for putting on the team player face and hanging out with Dave. Legend.

[@chiefscheider]

Rumble Fish was released in the fall of '83 so it's likely he started working on the soundtrack a year before this interview.

[@jenniferoneil2554]

Feb 5, 1984. Providence Civic Center. My fave as well.

[@patton303]

@@chiefscheider Sorry, I was referring to the period when they started the Synchronicity tour, Stewart was also working on Rumble Fish.

[@RichV20]

The tour says they played in Virginia the night before and AC the day before that. The 9th was their day off. They were living in a mansion on Long Island and they would fly to their East Coast dates and then fly back after the shows. So Stewart was in town to do the interview. Sting was going to do his own album after the tour. But he had not put that band together yet. That wouldnt happen until later 1984. Maybe he put out some feelers. He did have some writers block through 1984 before that Blue Turtles band formed.

[@stprm2013]

We now know they absolutely loathed each other, were constantly fighting and couldn’t wait to scatter after the tour was over. thats a lie lol, why you spreading lies, when in every interview Sting and Copeland saying this isnt true. Every band have arguments. If they'd really hated each other, they wouldnt have helped each other later in their solo projects after the disbandment, not to mention, they wouldnt have done The Reunion Tour in 2007.

[@mano1971music]

I was fortunate to see Stewart Copeland make a guest appearance at Eddie Vedder's solo performance in Los Angeles this past February and he STILL has amazing skills on the drum kit!!

[@Nukeemall]

what a great guy

[@craig528]

I saw this when it was broadcast, and I even audio taped it. It’s surreal to see it now. I loved Stewart’s sort of Mid-Atlantic accent.

[@MarcAnthem]

What a well spoken, intelligent and thoughtful dude. A virtuoso. Letterman is a legend too.

[@dorianedwards8522]

We here in America never got a chance to see The Police in 1977 because they were playing every dive in Europe before they ever came over here. Finally got to see them at CBGB's in 1978 and it was a hell of a revelation. They were certainly no punk band, I knew that right from the first 5 minutes. I also knew that these guys had been playing for years and years, unlike the punk bands of the day who had barely been playing at all.

[@allangow4746]

Stewart is a world class drummer, I really don't think he gets the recognition he deserves. I believe Police split at the right time, it was great while it lasted.

[@Kohntarkosz]

The Police are one of the very few bands who walked away at the right time. Most bands wear out their welcome, they end up putting out dud records, and you reach a point where you wonder why they DON'T break up. BUt with The Police, they delivered five great albums, maybe another half an album of non-album tracks, and then got out. They said at the time "Oh, this is just a hiatus", and maybe that's what they were thinking in 1984, but then they never reconvened. ANd when they DID reconvene, apparently they did nothing but argue (that's what Andy said once, in 1986, they were supposed to try making a new record, but Stewart and Sting spent the entire arguing about whether they'd use Stewart's Fairlight to record the album, or Sting's Synclavier).

[@RichV20]

Their manager told them to keep the split hush and keep the illusion of the band alive. Split rumours just fuels interest in the band. Also as insurance just in case Sting's solo album was a bomb. It would've sold a million on his golden name alone in 1985. It was a commercial and critical success and a minor squabble was enough for Sting to officially call it a day in 1986.

[@MikeGervasi]

I remember Stewart announcing on MTV they were "not breaking up, we're just going on hiatus". Funny how his voice and speech have changed since this time. He's now older and wiser but still has rocket fuel for blood.

[@OMGWTFLOLSMH]

One of the best drummers/percussionists of all time. Of _all_ time!

[@eily_b]

No. 10 in Rolling Stone's 100 best drummers

[@Some-guy-you-dont-know]

I remembered Dave calling Stewart "Mr. Multi-Billionaire Rockstar", which really kind of addressed the elephant in the room considering the band’s popularity at the time. Steve Jordan tuned his drums pretty similarly to Copeland’s, and I always read waaaaay to much into that look Stewart turned around and gave Steve after the break.

[@johnts1]

Stewart said, him and the boys made more money $360,000,000 from the 2007-2008 reunion tour than they did their entire careers. Wow. They played 151 dates around the world in 15 months.

[@maxhenry9724]

I remember watching this and feeling some relief that there would be another album. None of them did anything that even come close to what they accomplished together. The content of the Blue Turtles was where they were headed as a group. I like the album but it should have been The Police. What Andy and Stewart could have done with that would have been incredible.

[@privatepenguin3137]

Ha - love the Casio Calculator Watch....nothing says 1984 like that!

[@DameTremonti]

The greatest American drummer of all time, playing in the best English rock band of all time. What a collaboration. The music they made will remain timeless.

[@harryhondo1013]

He is American, but it's strange that we refer him as being American, because Stewart didn't live in America until he went off to college and his mother was Scottish. He lived most of his childhood and teenage years in London and I always wondered how he got such a distinct American accent.

[@DameTremonti]

@@harryhondo1013 From his parents and family !!

[@williamwilson6499]

He’s not the greatest drummer of all time. The Police are not the best English rock band. Your subjective opinion is worthless.

[@colinmontgomery1956]

​@@harryhondo1013, his early childhood wasn't spent in the United States?

[@tremayne3]

Stewart talks beautifully!!!

[@sayeager5559]

Such a classy guy.

[@MJKmedia]

Read about his family. Very interesting people. Diplomat father and both brothers were huge music businessmen

[@keeloraz9452]

I hope my band never breaks up. Chances are low as I don't have band. That's why we'll never breakup as we've never formed.

[@neoroman0510]

If you are that afraid of a band breakup, just keep it like it is now. No band, no breakup. Too bad, though, if your potential band had the potential to be the next Police! :O

[@keeloraz9452]

@@neoroman0510 damn I miss the hits we would have made now. Those would’ve been so good

[@ThisSteveGuy]

Been looking around and besides a 4 minute 'making of' video of it on KZbin, it looks like Copeland's film "So What" never got a proper release. I wonder if he still has it and would want to put it online.

[@Buc_Stops_Here]

Yes, they broke up - and reunited for a world tour in 2007-2008 which at the time was the third highest grossing tour. I actually got to see them live at the Meadowlands and loved the old songs (by that point) that they played.

[@ImpartiallySpeaking]

‘A long break’ -. 40 years!

[@dorianedwards8522]

Well, actually The Police never ever officially broke up, they simply stopped working together. It became such a huge business and continued as such a huge business, that the corporation was never terminated. They actually had to close the original corporation when they reunited because it was a little to 'equal' for all members. The reunion was totally controlled by Sting and he needed that control formalized before he would do the reunion. They did not split the revenues 1/3 for each member, it was more like 1/2 for Sting and 1/4 for Stewart and Andy. Also, the cash for putting on a monster world tour was born by Sting because the other two simply didn't have the money to pull it off. So I certainly don't blame Sting for expecting the lions share of the reunion gigs. The album from the reunion were split equally between the three of them because Sting was gonna make a lot more than the others the same way he made a lot more off the other Police albums. He wrote everything so he got the writers royalties and they got squat.

[@vanishing_girl]

I think Andy said each member made over $100 million from the reunion, so they can't begrudge Sting too much for the revenue split lol

[@eily_b]

Love the Spinal Tap sandwich story 😄

[@TheKinoEye]

Forget The Dome in Japan, The Whiskey in CA and that Shea Stadium gig. The Poughkeepsie NY show is their greatest appearance ever!

[@claumeister1]

Copeland was really thin back then. He’s actually better looking, 40 years later, and in a lot better spirits.

[@billcramer4231]

Love Stewart Copeland. Far better talker than Sting.

[@chiefscheider]

True, but Sting is a better lover from what I've heard 😁

[@eballa9056]

Yeah...I was thinking the same. He is more articulated.

[@newwavepop]

he is my favorite drummer, in hindsight i am almost surprised they lasted as long as they did. i have rarely seen a relationship that seemed as combative as Stewart and Sting, it is a shame because they were an amazing group but in honestly Sting was writing just about all of their good material and if i were in a band writing all the good stuff and i fought that much with someone else in the band i would want to leave too.

[@RichV20]

It was Stewarts group to begin with. He conceived it and asked Sting to move and join his group. Later it just became Sting's band and moved away from Stewarts punk band origins into adult contemporary.

[@WaitingtoHit]

After they broke up, he sold his body to the night.

[@dandunivan6056]

It’s so revealing when someone speaks. Stewart… is a genius, just as Sting and Andy… but this particular interview… shows that there are struggles. Don’t expect to be a superstar… but play to your best, play as you feel the song goes. If you are playing for someone else… you are doing it wrong.

[@privatepenguin3137]

Aside from going all gray - Stewart Copeland looks about the same today.

[@vtchka6727]

he looks so sweet

[@OlafProt]

The world needs more Copeland.

[@kevingatebridge3656]

Monster drummer... legend

[@francispower1418]

I won’t be surprised if ‘Uncle Stewart’ ends up being asked, and agreeing to step into Taylor Hawkin’s throne in the Foo Fighters, at least for a few years to get them over their recent and devastating tragedy. Hawkins and Copeland were great friends and I believe Copeland has actually played with the band on stage before as a guest. He’s not only an astonishingly good drummer, who knows all about how to be in one of the world’s biggest rock and roll bands, but he is an immensely reassuring and calming personality. I think he would be a great emotional support to Dave Grohl, who has a very difficult job of navigating the Foo Fighters into their next chapter, which I am certain he will, whilst suffering this second professional and personal bereavement (of such an enormous magnitude). And his style would fit right in. Not to mention he would surely bring a fresh perspective to any new material. I just can’t think of anybody else with the gravitas, chops, experience and motivation to fill that role. They are already a multi generational band so his being a little older wouldn’t be an issue. More like a kindly big brother really. Plus he’s easily got the required energy levels to this day. Who knows…

[@Morganhain]

Wouldn't that be amazing!! I hadn't thought of that possibility yet!

[@RichV20]

Stewart is 70. Maybe he'd play drums on the album. Stewart has the energy, but I don't know if Stewart could drum on an extended tour anymore.

[@francispower1418]

Do you think 70 is old? I agree probably he wouldn’t do it if it meant ‘the van’ but that isn’t how the Foo Fighters roll. Stewart Copeland has incredible energy levels by any standards. He’d be fine. But would he want to? That’s another question.I suspect were he given the chance he would take it. @@RichV20

[@thetr00per30]

Apparently, Sting's idea of a "Long Break" was 25 years lol Truly though, The Police are one of the best bands of all time and their songs are still great.

[@lynnturman8157]

Looks like Dave can't wait to get to the tennis court.

[@TomKaszuba]

He was talking about the show at The Shaboo at the 1:20 mark.

[@maxhenry9724]

Stew does his best Zappa.

[@deputay]

To be fair, it was 2007, but I'd agree with Stewart that it was a LONG break

[@keithshaughnessy1645]

Oysterhead

[@RichV20]

Well the Police got back together 2 years later in 1986.

[@Gitfiddle]

The Police and Van Halen breaking up for 10 year old child was akin to your parents getting a divorce.

[@felixbaum48]

And then, in 1995... THE LIVE ALBUM! 😀

[@ImpartiallySpeaking]

The way sting said they hadn’t broken up gave false hope to millions. But it provided Sting with options if his solo career failed to succeed. They should have come out and confirmed it was all over

[@Caligulita]

He’s such a hunk

[@felixthelmocevallosmorales41]

Stewart Armstrong Copeland 16 de julio de 1952 71 años.

[@mibeatleman6767]

The Police are breaking up?, who's next?, The Beatles?!? 😄

[@brycemcneil4404]

Kudos on the video title :-)

[@felixthelmocevallosmorales41]

David Michael Letterman 12 de abril de 1947 76 años.

[@joelhageman1903]

Stewart Copeland is from the US?? What, what? What happened to my world? Who perpetrated this fact?

[@dwightropp3014]

He was born in Alexandria, Virginia. I don't know how he connected with the other two Brits to form the band either.

[@cmansfield3]

Grew up in Lebanon.

[@chia.seedss]

He was born in America, but moved to Cairo when he was very young, he then moved to Lebanon. When he was about 9(?) then moved to England. Went back to America for uni, did a tour with Curved Air in UK, met sting. The rest is history!

[@michaelpuglisi1647]

This is the first time I’ve ever heard him speak.

[@AABB-zb6dv]

They took a very looong break.

[@Frankincensedjb123]

Not gonna breakup and they breakup.

[@zindi1138]

ghost.... my future tat

[@TheGreatAtario]

That is one happ'nin calculator watch

[@jaypickett3552]

It’s the Casio Dwight Schrute model

[@MarkTurner-vs7uc]

I like him. He's the only one I can.

[@jasonmorgan9700]

nice Casio

[@PrankZabba]

Surprised that Klark Kent never came up.

[@larslan1975]

Only a 30 year break,lol

[@Caligulita]

He’s so American and British

[@markaprill6501]

It is starting to look like they are really breaking up.

[@rockit6553]

What happened to the hippies??? They grew up & became businessmen!!!!

[@tommydarko1984]

Damn, he looks really downcast. You can tell a significant event has taken place.

[@RichV20]

He'd been on tour for almost a year after recording the last album. They were playing every night that week and he came in to NBC on his one day off.

[@rasm0225]

3:20 god, he sounds like Reagan.

[@jhardycarroll]

They never actually broke up

[@samsingh3753]

How did sting and Andy make the songs, and stewart had to play the drums 🥁 in 25 mins given the song ,,nowonder they argued alot ,,stewart was right and sting just wanted to go solo 😊

[@billkinsey2690]

❤ Stuart OnPoint David Letterman Clueless such a shame

[@stephenkemp3372]

I don't think the egg thing was a joke

[@TomLongusa]

Was this the true beginning of the “Defund the Police” conspiracy theory?🤔😵

[@archie34734]

Hey hey hey Dave and Stu doing a Freemason handshake. Am I surprised? Nah, I knew they are a part of "the Club" that George Carlin talked about.

[@Kohntarkosz]

"There's more of them". Yeah, they're multiplying too quickly for us to do anything about it!

[@kpec3]

I mean, why did Stewart always have to antagonize and scrap with Sting about every miniscule thing? Seriously, Stewart will not compromise anything, he challenges Sting at every detail! It should stand as an example to the musicians out there: you have to compromise and give respect to make a band work.

[@claumeister1]

Do you really think STING ever just compromised on ANYTHING ? Sting was the alpha dog in the Police, the guy who had charisma (and tremendous talent) and KNEW it. Stewart was the irrepressible little brother who wouldn’t just go along with everything Sting wanted, because Copeland was full of his own ideas. He’s still that way.

[@kpec3]

@@claumeister1 Did Sting ever compromise? I don't know. Probably less as the Police went along, since he had written the hits. But how did it serve his solo career? It's been hot and cold. Good stuff mostly up to Ten Sumner's, then the good material got scarce.

[@brycemcneil4404]

I agree compromise in music (and life) is important but it was already the uphill battle of trying to keep The Police as transcendent of "Sting & His Backing Band." Unlike a lot of fans who always want something long past its expiration date, I think The Police stopped at a great time: Before it could devolve into, to paraphrase the great Jack Donaghy, "doing jazz covers of Police classics and being......demoralizing."

[@kpec3]

@@brycemcneil4404 Honestly I'm not a fan of compromises in art. You have to do it in a band. But it is the reason why some bands put out mediocre material. If everybody keeps dulling the edge down, the blade only gets worse.

[@m.rivers9201]

Its called insecurity. The way I read it, Stewart was so afraid of not being," good " enough it came out in these non-sensical challenges that broke the band. It is almost childish. HOw different might things have been had Stewart realized he WAS great in his own right and just let Sting be Sting and follow his lead.

[@mikeandstony]

He looks 50.

[@mikewhite4560]

How come STING isn't doing the TALKING ?

[@brixiabob]

🤣🤔😏☹️