#12: "Synchronicity" by The Police

#12—Hate Makes Art

Favorite song: Synchronicity II
Notable tracks: Synchronicity I, Walking in Your Footsteps, O My God, Every Breath You Take, King of Pain, Wrapped Around Your Finger
Released: 1983
Chart Peak: #1 (U.S. and U.K.)
Popularity: 8x Platinum in U.S.; Grammy for Best Rock Group Performance
Chosen over: Ghost In The Machine

I hinted strongly when I picked Sting's Dream of the Blue Turtles at #18 that Synchronicity was my favorite Police album, so here it is at #12. This is another one of those albums that just completed dominated at its height—the songs from the album were in heavy rotation daily on MTV and on both rock and pop radio; it even toppled Michael Jackson's Thriller from the top spot on the U.S. albums chart.

It was also, alas, their last studio album. Record producer Hugh Padgham reportedly had to keep Sting and drummer Stewart Copeland in separate rooms during recording "for social reasons." What he meant was that by 1983, they hated each other so much that they couldn't play in the same room together. This does nothing else but prove that great musicians don't have to like each other to make great music.

To be perfectly honest, I was never impressed—and still am not to this very day—with the album's biggest hit and perhaps The Police's best-known song, "Every Breath You Take." Frankly, I've just never been that interested in the song. Many people took it as a love song; Sting continues to insist to this day that it's about a stalker's obsession with a love he cannot possess, which leads inevitably to this little bit of wonderfulness:

See? Stalker.

Another bit of nerdy wonderfulness in regard to this album: I was heavily involved in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign in high school in which the quest was based on the lyrics to the single "King of Pain": There's a little black spot on the sun today (it started with an eclipse); It's the same old thing as yesterday (the event is tied to an event in the past); there's a black hat caught in a high treetop (okay, we're looking for a witch); there's a flag pole rag and the wind won't stop (what does the sigil on the flag represent?).

Okay, so maybe my lack of dates in high school isn't such a mystery after all.

My favorite song on the album, far and away, is "Synchronicity II." I used it as my "let's get amped up" song before a match when I was on the wrestling team. There's still something about that song that just makes me want to...well, what I did in 1983 when the video came on MTV was pounce on my sister and just beat the holy hell out of her. (Not really—we were play-fighting, but she still runs out of the room whenever the song comes on the radio!)

 RUN, JULES!

YouTube doesn't have the original video, so click HERE to watch it!