Ah, The Police: the thinking teen’s British, bottle-blonde boy band of the early New Wave era from 1977-1984. You know the earworm hits: “Can’t Stand Losing You,” “Message In A Bottle,” and “Every Breath You Take,” among many others. Their expert musicianship and effortless cool coupled with each member’s confidence and vision made their success every bit as inevitable as their volatile breakup. Bassist and lead singer Sting went on to a long and lucrative solo career, and drummer Stewart Copeland has been prolifically composing film and classical concert music. But what about guitarist Andy Summers, whose great tone and fretboard wizardry made it easy to forget that there was actually only one guitarist in the band?

Among many post-Police accomplishments, Summers wrote a memoir, One Train Later, which came out in 2006, and was turned into the 2012 documentary, Can’t Stand Losing You: Surviving The Police. In One Train Later, Summers writes about when it became apparent that the band’s expiration date was drawing near, while they were recording 1981’s Ghost In The Machine. Summers wrote: “This time the studio feels more like a canvas for dirty fighting… There is a humiliating episode in the studio one day when as a result of all this tension and loss of perspective, Sting goes berserk on me, calling me every name under the sun with considerable vehemence, leaving everyone in the room white-faced and in shock.”

Artists gonna art-it

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