The Police: Every Little Thing

by David Stafford

An American drummer, a bass player from Newcastle and a guitarist a decade older than the other two, with little in common other than their musical brilliance and towering ambition, formed one of the most successful bands in history. Covering the years 1977–1986 and the brief reincarnation in 2007–2008, acclaimed biographers Caroline and David Stafford chronicle the rise and fall of the Police. Much like Reservoir Dogs but without the light relief, it's a tale of jealousy, anger and attrition both on the road and in the studio. And yet, despite – or perhaps because of – the battles, these three musicians, Sting, Andy and Stewart, each supremely talented in his own right, together achieved a symbiosis that produced music of soaring magnificence.

320 pages, Hardcover

Published September 2, 2021

About the author

David Stafford is a writer, broadcaster and occasional musician born in Birmingham, England. David began his career in fringe and community theatre in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, he collaborated and toured with Alexei Sayle, which resulted in two series for Capital Radio, two films for TV ('Itch and Didn't You Kill My Brother?), a book, Great Bus Journeys of the World, and various songs and recordings including Doctor Marten’s Boots. At the same time he was a presenter on the Channel 4 consumer programme 4 What It’s Worth and contributed to many arts programmes and documentaries including The Media Show (Channel 4) and extensively to The Late Show (BBC2). His TV plays include Dread Poets Society (BBC2) co-written with the poet Benjamin Zephaniah, My Little Grey Home In The West and Catherine. For ten years he wrote a weekly column for the Saturday Guardian, eventually called Staffordshire Bull. During the 1990s, he presented Tracks for BBC2, Going Places for BBC Radio 4 and was a regular panellist on Radio 4’s literary parody game Booked. David frequently stood in for John Peel as the presenter of Home Truths (BBC Radio 4). After Peel’s death, he became first one of the pool of presenters and later sole presenter of the programme. For the past five years he has taught a screenwriting course at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Reviews

[Chic]

I found this book immensely irritating because the font was tiny and the actual sole purpose of reading the book was to read about the Police. However every single reference to them had about a page of background about everything but the Police so I gave up quarter of the way through because it was too hard to read the miniscule font in order to find the actual Police content. The content itself was really interesting but so hard to find every single chapter.

Also the people who would read about The Police would like myself be a fan, if not huge fan, which didnt seem to be the focus of this book to be for these fans. It was not the book I expected it to be unfortunately.

[Esteban Stipnieks · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not perfect I wanted more detail on certain songs it provides insight into volatile mixture that was part of the legend and explains the partnership....between the 3 and interesting history thereof.