Walking on the moon
Subtitle: the untold story of the Police and the rise of new wave rock
By: Chris Campion.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Hoboken
Language: eng
Number of pages: 312
ISBN-13: 9780470282403
Subjects: Police (Musical group); Rock musicians -- England -- Biography; New wave musicians -- England -- Biography; New wave music -- History and criticism
Genres: Biography
Description: "Ambition brought the Police together. It also tore them apart-but not before they became the biggest band in the world and the first supergroup of the 1980s. In Walking on the Moon, British writer Chris Campion tells the full, uncensored story of the spectacular rise of the Police." "Written with a fan's eye for detail, this noholdsbarred account follows the trio-Sting, Stewart Copeland, and Andy Summers-from their early struggles to make their mark in the volatile late 1970s UK punk scene through their emergence, masterminded with the help of manager Miles Copeland, as a worldwide phenomenon. Walking on the Moon details the arduous touring and recording schedule that saw them establish themselves first in the United States, then in Britain, then the world; the unorthodox business strategies that accelerated their rise to the top; and the bouts of infighting that caused the early demise of the group.^

It follows the band members' attempts to establish individual artistic identities outside the Police, the controversy surrounding Sting's environmental activism, and the band's shock reformation in 2007, a return to the music world after a twenty-year hiatus that saw them reemerge as a top-ranking touring spectacle." "Walking on the Moon is not just an irreverent and entertaining romp through the story of one of the world's best-known music brands-it also offers an insightful critical analysis of the broader factors that enabled the rise of the Police. It reveals the ways in which the personalities of the three men in the band-particularly shown in the chaotic personal life of chief songwriter, lead singer, and bassist Sting-influenced the writing of their hit songs. The story of the Police is the story of a band struggling to balance commercial ambitions with the desire for artistic credibility.^

Campion uses this framework as a filter to examine the broader cultural shifts that occurred during the late 1970s and early 1980s, a period in which the music business went from bust to boom and struggled to reassert itself against the nihilistic threat of punk rock, the most significant artist-driven music movement since the baby boomer pop music explosion of the mid- to late 1960s. The book provides a new view of the emergence and importance of new wave, the music that emerged from the punk era, examining its avant-garde roots and how it became an unwitting player in the collapse of communism. Walking on the Moon tells an epic tale of 1980s rock and the role played within it by one of the biggest names in the music world."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references  (p. 293-304) and index.
Table of contents: title: Orphans; title: Carpetbaggers; title: Queens of New York; title: Vive le punk; title: Paging doctor rock; title: Welcome to America; title: Ladies and gentlemen, the sensational new blow waves; title: The organization; title: Police the world; title: Gimme shelter; title: The new wave crusade; title: Dystopia in utopia; title: Destabilize, desynchronize; title: Rock of charity; title: Classical gas; title: Recede, retire, retread.