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Why I lost a bit of respect for Sting (Rick Beato Interview)

#141
DrewD said:
I have listened to a couple of his live bass lines isolated. The playing was not impressive.
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I might suggest that there's a difference between the playing and the overall musicality of a bass line. I don't doubt that you may have heard some live recordings where the bass line may have been executed not as well as someone not singing lead at the same time, but he created some super memorable bass lines that propel those songs. In the context of a rock band playing to a sold out stadium of screaming fans, he might have chosen to pogo up and down rather than really worry about impressing the bass players in the crowd.
 
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#145
Bob Coldwell said:
I agree. I was wondering if I saw the same interview as everyone else here.

Sting acknowledged several times that Andy's and Stuart's contributions helped complete the Police's sound.

Sting downplayed his theory knowledge and jazz background, choosing rather to focus on surprise and adventure in songwriting. But when pressed by Rick, he conceded that he has had some jazz training.

Sting clearly stated that The Police had achieved all that they could, and that it was time to go in a new direction. As Beato pointed out, they were one of only a few bands to retire on top.

I've seen a bit of his egotism and arrogance in older interviews, but none here. I sense that most posters here are reacting to the Sting they think they know - not the one in this interview.
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OP here. It's interesting (and not surprising) to see the direction this thread took. I am 100% a Sting fan. I've seen him a few times in concert and will be seeing him next summer at his residency in Las Vegas. The dude's an icon. He's written some of the world's most beloved music. He's had successes and even some failures. I have nothing but respect for the guy. And if I met him today, I'd probably gush and completely embarrass myself.

I was just disappointed by his answer to that one question. I guess I was caught off guard. Then again, he and his bandmates were never known to get along well. So, maybe I just had wrong expectations.

I'm sure he's a nice enough guy. But he also lives in a castle and has made more money from the song, 'Every Breath You Take' than all of us combined.

In the end, my intention in starting this wasn't to bash one of my favorite musicians or question his character. It's not my place. I've never walked in his footsteps. See what I did there???
 
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#147
tb-player said:
I'm sure many of you have seen the Rick Beato interview with Sting and his guitarist, Dominic Miller. It was a fascinating look into songwriting, basslines, and (inadvertently) one gargantuan ego.

It was a great conversation. But when Rick began to discuss the other members of The Police (Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers), Sting stepped in and essentially gave himself credit for their contributions to the band.

At some points it was subtle. Others, not so much. But I found it to be very off-putting that one of my all-time favorite musicians showed so little humility in dealing with his bandmates.

Did anyone else notice that?
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No real problem at this end. I didn't have much respect for him at the outset.
 
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#148
Spin Doctor said:
If it turned out Bach had a big ego, he wouldn't be worthy of your respect. Apparently...
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Um, no. You completely missed the point, apparently.

The point being that whatever genius your ego might believe you to be, you're a gnat compared to this guy so be humble.

You're of course free to disagree with that, but not to misconstrue my statement so utterly and not be corrected.
 
#151
bassobrutto said:
You are right about all the egomania and the treatment of "underlings". But as someone who grew up in the North East in the 70s, I always had the impression that he was embarrassed by his Geordie roots and went to great lengths to conceal his accent because it didn't fit his cooler-than-thou hipster-artiste self-image. Only latterly, with that self-indulgent abomination The Last Ship, has he really seemed to reclaim his "Geordieness".
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I agree re the accent as you well know a Gordie is about as far from Stings accent as possible in the same way Madonna has the fake English accent going on
 
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#154
fishdude101101 said:
I would say its a case of music theory being more descriptive rather than prescriptive.
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you are probably right ...

but I have seen this multiple times where someone analyzes a song and get's really deep into the theory and the guy who wrote the song simply thought "gee this sounds nice"

that being said I do appreciate the theory explanation of a song sometimes.
 
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#156
Ric5 said:
you are probably right ...

but I have seen this multiple times where someone analyzes a song and get's really deep into the theory and the guy who wrote the song simply thought "gee this sounds nice"

that being said I do appreciate the theory explanation of a song sometimes.
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For sure. If someone wrote the other way around it might become a vanity project that connects eith nobody, or not. Nothing wrong with expression or analysis.
 
#157
When they were just renting little Penske trucks and vans and playing small places, even then he was a douche. There is a YouTube video and one of the roadies was the one in that documentary. Not a fan but he is not that bad, he has skills within the limited parameters. But Beato is not from the humility camp either. One of the videos as if he discovered or invented the Lydian scale
 
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#160
I watched it twice, and my initial reaction softened on the second viewing. My first takeaway was that they were reserved, and that's o.k.

On the second viewing I appreciated the way Rick drew him out as he became more comfortable. I don't imagine Sting gets a lot of interviewers ask musical process questions. I actually thought that with his defenses down, Sting was often humble and self-effacing as to how his songs come about.

Rick also pivoted quite quickly from the Aeolian mode and sharp C and all that once Sting said that music is all about surprise to him. He is an artist so of course he is more comfortable talking about intangibles and not nuts and bolts. I think Sting was genuinely engaged and ended by saying "good conversation".

I think the Pat Metheny interview is phenomenal.
 
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