How the Police Turned Hookers Into a Hit: The Story of ‘Roxanne’

Ultimate Classic Rock ^ | April 7, 2023 | Corey Irwin

[ansel12]

You should see some of the movies from the early 30s.

87 seconds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAJKHTRDc0o

[algore]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_UXtort76gY

I always preferred ‘the metro’

[dominusobiscum]

oh dear...censors were asleep!LOL!

[TigersEye]

No, it wasn't really a hit until Jack Kates found Reggie Hammond singing it in his cell.

Eddie Murphy - Roxanne

[nickcarraway]

That was before the Hayes Code, so there were no censors. Just two and a half months after Tarzan and his Mate was released, they wouldn't have gotten away with it.

[nickcarraway]

Roth used Louis Prima’s version, who fused the two songs together.

[dfwgator]

The Police changed rock music, suddenly everybody started trying to sound like them, especially trying to copy Stewart Copeland’s drumming style.

[dfwgator]

This is a great song, one of the few written by Stewart Copeland.

Does Everyone Stare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btjIoBotLAA

[ansel12]

There were some pretty wild movies made before the code came into play.

They can be pretty surprising to people who think that era would be very strict.

[dfwgator]

Steely Dan did it before

Pearl of The Quarter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxnWBdyQ_Nc

[Retrofitted]

ROTFL! And that’s a winning post right there!

[nickcarraway]

Actually, those two songs actually have a fair degree of similarity. In Roxanne, he is addressing his paramour, although in real life, or in his head. Pearl of the Quarter is more of an appeal directed to whoever he comes across. Was he a john who didn't quite get how the relationship is supposed to work?

They are both about men (seem like sad sacks to me.) in love with professionals, but I fear neither one really has a shot, and they don't know it.

[nickcarraway]

Who drums like him?

[nickcarraway]

Sting was a fool to ever pursue music without him. Both of them, really.

[Paul R.]

Also in 1973 was Golden Earring’s “Candy’s Going Bad” leading in to the absolutely incredible “Vanilla Queen”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxIjQ8Fs3s4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL9c-wYTnKs

(Risqué artwork warning.)

[trebb]

And don’t even get you started with “Lola” by the Kinks😉

[ReaganGeneration2]

The three best Police songs by far never got high on the charts
* Bring on the Night (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YVgWQyGOTvk)
* Invisible Sun (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1VuDjJ9KIxM)
* Synchronicity II (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M5TQhV9NYYk)

[UnwashedPeasant]

Labelle’s version of “Lady Marmalade” was released in November 1974

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=51WQTGH1ixs

[Libloather]

Diddy says he was just ‘joking’ when he said he pays Sting $5k a day for sampling Every Breath You Take on his 1997 hit song Missing You

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11950749/Diddy-says-joking-claimed-Sting-makes-5k-day-1997-hit-Missing-You.html

[dfwgator]

Who drums like him? You can definitely hear Stewart's influence on Neil Peart on the 80s Rush albums.