Walking on the Moon: The Untold Story of the Police and the Rise of New Wave Rock - Paperback

by Chris Campion (Author)

An unflinching look at the rise of one of the most recognizable names in pop music -The Police

The Police have sold more than 50 million albums, made Rolling Stone's Greatest Artists of All Time list, and finished a triumphant world reunion tour in 2008.

Now British journalist Chris Campion draws on extensive research and new interviews to trace the inside saga of this iconic group, including the unorthodox business strategies employed by manager Miles Copeland that took them to the top and the intense rivalry that drove Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland to split at the height of their success in the 1980s.

• The first comprehensive biography on the band and its music
• Based on extensive research and new interviews with people close to the band
• Traces the group and its members from their earliest days to the present
• Includes 26 black-and-white photographs

Whether you've been a fan of The Police for decades or are discovering their music for the first time, Walking on the Moon will give you new insights into the personalities behind this unique band and their role in the rise of 80s New Wave rock.

Front Jacket

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 the 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 no-holds-barred account follows the trio- Sting, Stewart Copeland, and Andy Summers- from the 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 and 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 the 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.

Back Jacket

Chris Campion strips away the myth and treats the Police not as superheroes but as beat cops- cracking their cases gig by gig, hit by hit, van ride by van ride as they worked their way into legend.
--Ian Christe, author of "Sound of the Beast" and "Everybody Wants Some"

"Chris Campion's recounting of the Police saga is well researched and often very funny. It's a great book about a great band."
--Stephen Davis, author of "Hammer of the Gods"

An unflinching look at the rise, fall, and comeback of one of the most famous bands in rock history and the emergence of the 1980s new wave rock scene.

The Police came seemingly from nowhere and took the world by storm. Then, at the height of their fame, they were suddenly gone. "Walking on the Moon" tells the unvarnished tale of their meteoric rise and the intense conflicts that led the group to disband and provides a look at the larger-than-life personalities that surrounded them in the strange and fascinating world of new wave rock.

Author Biography

Chris Campion has reported on the world of popular culture- from its center to the extreme edges- for over fifteen years for British publications such as the "Observer," the "Daily Telegraph," and "Bizarre" magazine. A former contributing editor to the "Dazed & Confused" and "Vice" magazines, he has interviewed superstars, cultural nomads, vagabonds, and outcasts and has reported on subjects as varied as the Norwegian black metal scene, Japanese girl groups, a long-disputed death penalty case in Arkansas, the complicated public life of a celebrity British glamour model, and the cult of personality surrounding a controversial German anatomist.