"Demolition Man" is a song by the British band The Police, which is part of the repertoire of their fourth album, the acclaimed Ghost in the Machine, released in October 1981.
With this album, The Police made it very clear that their fusion of Rock, with touches of Jazz and New Wave was more alive than ever, and that their pleasing and striking experimentation brought them a good reward from the press and the fans.
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The story goes that at the end of 1980 Sting received a visit from one of his great friends, the Irish actor Peter O'Toole. After a long afternoon of good conversation, Sting decided to present Peter with a song he had prepared for his band's next album. It was a piece called "Demolition Man", which, according to the singer and bassist of the band, did not have him very convinced. That's where Peter, who apparently didn't find it so low quality, put his critical eye and told his friend that it wouldn't be a bad idea to give this song to some Pop artist.
And so it was. In mid 1981, this song appeared in the tracklist of the acclaimed album Nightclubbing, by the chameleonic singer Grace Jones, who in those years demonstrated a great talent in being able to renew her musical style after the fall of disco music.
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While the song was already playing on the radio, The Police were having a blast at AIR Studios, located on the beautiful Caribbean island of Montserrat, where the band would record their new album.
It was in those lands where Sting heard the version of his song, and immediately found it bad and of very low quality. Maybe he didn't think of suing those producers, but a tremendous confusion went through his head, especially if his fans credited that strange song to the singer and composer of The Police, the band that carried it in those years.
Sting got down to work, presented the song to his band partners and started working on it. The goal was more than clear: Make a decent version of this song.
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In August 1981, and in a session that didn't last more than 3 days, The Police had already recorded their version of "Demolition Man", and it would be included in the LP they were working on. In this version, they replaced the synth-Pop of the version made by the Jamaican singer, with a base full of Funk energy mixed with ample touches of hard rock, especially in the guitar of Andy Summers.
The song was not released as a single, as it did not want to crash the charts and could also damage the promotion of Grace Jones album, nor did it appear in the band's concerts and would only make its debut on the charts in 1985, in the middle of Sting solo tours.
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Until 1993, on the occasion of the soundtrack of the movie "Demolition Man", Sting decided to re-record the song. Sting decided to re-record the song. For this, the artist recorded the basic melody and then the producers did their job, with a 10-point remix.
"Demolition Man" was one of the most attractive songs, in terms of energy and musical experimentation, left by this mythical band that cannot be missing in any tracklist of those who declare themselves fans of real rock.