How the Beatles’ ‘Get Back’ Helped the Police Rethink Their Past

Stewart Copeland said the Beatles’ movie Get Back led the Police to re-evaluate their past – and that’s why their 1983 album Synchronicity will return in a 6-disc box set on July 26.

The drummer, along with former colleagues Sting and Andy Summers, have often discussed the interpersonal issues that made some aspects of the band difficult to endure, even though they loved the music that came out of it.

In a new interview with the Guardian, Copeland was asked why Synchronicity was returning at this particular time. “The Police had an epiphany courtesy of the Beatles’ documentary, Get Back,” he replied.

“Each of us learned, in our separate ivory towers, that the final master isn’t in any way diminished by showing the sketches or demos along the way. [Previous album] Ghost in the Machine had taken us into stadiums and then Synchronicity made us even bigger, but the recording sessions were very dark. We beat the crap out of each other. We’ve laughed about it since, but going back into that black hole isn’t something we tended towards.”

He added that it had been “such fun listening to the demos and songs that didn’t make it” and so “there will be more reissues. We’re starting at the end and working backwards, like Wagner’s Ring Cycle.”

Stewart Copeland Dismisses Police ‘Myth’

Asked once again about the trio’s relationship, Copeland said: “We had a great bond, which wasn’t strong enough to make recording together very easy. We tore each other’s throats out in the studio – but those two motherfuckers came up with incredible stuff and we got on really well on stage, in the van, on the plane.

“To this day we still send each other dumb Instagram clips. It’s a myth that Sting and I fought all the time. I broke his rib once, but we were play-fighting!”

Last year Copeland released his Police-era diaries in a book. Asked about his motivation behind keeping the notes, he explained: “They were such exciting times; I really wanted to grab some of them. I’d no idea it would be of interest 40 years later.”