THE POLICE!!!

The Police 1979

The Police backstage

The Police - Sting

Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland

The Police. Amsterdam, 22 June 1979. Photo by Gijsbert Hanekroot.

icONS FOR TH POLICE SQUAD

On this day in music history: November 2, 1978 - “Outlandos d'Amour” the debut album by The Police is released. Produced by The Police, it is recorded at Surrey Sound Studios in Leatherhead, Surrey, UK from January - June 1978. Recorded at engineer Nigel Gray’s studio (a converted village hall), the finished album will cost just £2,000 ($3,189 US dollars). It will initially fail to make any impact in the UK due to the BBC banning the singles “Roxanne” and “Can’t Stand Losing You” (being about prostitution and suicide respectively). Both are re-promoted and hit #12 and #2 on the UK singles chart respectively. The band promote the record in the US with the now legendary “low budget tour”, flying over on Laker Airways (now defunct), with The Police crisscrossing the country in a van, playing small venues and college campuses. The relentless tour schedule helps push the album and “Roxanne” on to the US charts, the latter becoming the bands’ first US top 40 single (#32 Pop) in April of 1979. “Outlandos d'Amour” will peak at number six on the UK album chart, number twenty three on the Billboard Top 200, and is certified Platinum in the US by the RIAA.

Andy

The Police 1978

The Police + Watermelon