Synchronicity II

Zoo Freaks, get ready to vibe with some wild trivia about Synchronicity II by The Police, spinning now on THE ZOO! This track, the third single from their 1983 album Synchronicity, was penned by Sting and dives deep into Carl Jung’s concept of synchronicity, where seemingly unrelated events connect through meaning. The song juxtaposes a man’s crumbling domestic and work life—think “Grandmother screaming at the wall” and a boss delivering “a humiliating kick in the crotch”—with a monster rising from a Scottish lake, symbolizing his growing anxiety. Sting himself explained to Time magazine that it’s about two parallel events linked symbolically, not causally, stretching Jung’s theory to a rocking breaking point. Fun fact: the band used a roadie’s snoring to mimic the Loch Ness Monster’s sound in the track. Andy Summers’ roadie, Tam Fairgrieve, was napping during a session, and the band cranked up his snores with reverb and effects, capturing that eerie monster vibe. How’s that for studio shenanigans?

The music video for Synchronicity II, directed by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, is a chaotic masterpiece. Filmed on a London soundstage, it features the band on towering scaffolds surrounded by a dystopian garbage dump, with papers and debris flying everywhere. Each tower was built from elements of their instruments—guitars for Summers, drums for Stewart Copeland. Things got wild when Copeland’s tower caught fire during filming, but the directors kept rolling to capture the drama. Sting wrote this song at Ian Fleming’s Goldeneye estate in Jamaica, where he was grappling with global tensions like the Falklands War. As he noted in Lyrics By Sting, he was reading Jung and pondering synchronicity while gazing at Caribbean sunspots, a far cry from the song’s dark narrative. On X, @ThePoliceBand celebrated the song’s 40th anniversary in 2023, calling it iconic, and fans on Reddit’s ThePolice community have debated its meaning, with some linking the monster to primal, Darwinian rage.

Now, let’s rewind to how The Police kicked off their journey. Formed in London in 1977, the trio—Sting (vocals/bass), Stewart Copeland (drums), and Andy Summers (guitar)—blended punk’s raw energy with reggae’s groove and jazz’s sophistication. Sting, born Gordon Sumner, was a teacher and part-time musician in Newcastle, playing in jazz bands like Last Exit. Copeland, an American raised in the Middle East, came from a musical family (his father was a jazz trumpeter) and had drummed for prog-rock outfit Curved Air. Summers, the elder statesman, had a storied career, gigging with Soft Machine and Eric Burdon’s Animals. The three met when Copeland, itching to form a punk-inspired band, recruited Sting and original guitarist Henry Padovani. Summers replaced Padovani, and their chemistry clicked. Their early days were scrappy, dyeing their hair blonde for a chewing gum ad to fund their first tour. By 1978, their debut album Outlandos d’Amour, with hits like Roxanne, put them on the map, launching a meteoric rise to global stardom.

Connect with The Police and their legacy online! Their official website, thepolice.com, is packed with news, tour archives, and details on the 2024 Synchronicity 40th Anniversary Editions. Follow them on Facebook for updates and throwback posts, like their celebration of Synchronicity II’s release. On Instagram, check out vintage photos and fan art, and on X, join discussions with @ThePoliceBand. Fans gather on Facebook groups like Synchronicity, a page for Atlanta-based fans quoting the band’s funky ethos, and Reddit’s r/ThePolice, with over 4,000 members swapping stories and hot takes. Dive into these communities to keep the Zoo Freak spirit alive!