If drummer is playing in front of the beat.... I am confused

[Langueta]

If a drummer is playing in front of the beat for example Coppeland of police and Sting plays on top of the click, is Sting playing behind the beat?????
As this happens when the different members play together and the drummer is the foundation of the rhythm, are some parts of the drums on top of the beat so I can understand how the rest interact???
Can you give examples??

[Langueta]

Take fool to cry ( rolling stones ), the bass drum is on top of the beat and the snare behind the beat?????
The bass dum is almost in all styles on top of the beat???

[Langueta]

On rock and a hard place all the drum parts are on top of the beat?????

[Russell foulkes]

well i dont know if this will help or not, but i asked a drummer friend once what it was to play behind the beat,and he said think of early black sabbath,pushing the song along.
so then i asked what would in front mean,and he said that would be like punk music,sorta like "keep up"
how legit this is,i dont know.

[EstrealLua]

The way I was taught, is that if you're playing infront of the beat you're anticipateing the beat, and playing the note just a hair ahead of it. It gives the song a really upbeat feel, kinda hurried, or full of energy. (Usualy how you play if you know a piece well.)
Playing behind the beat leads to a more dragging feeling. Not offbeat, almost as if you feel the need to hear the 'click' of the metronome before being assured you can play.(Usualy how you play sightreading.)

As for the song in question... nota clue. Just play on beat and go with the flow I guess.

(That, was probubly explained poorly. I am by no means a music teacher. Just my 2cents. C: )