(Credits: Far Out / Acroterion / Alamy)
Fri 16 January 2026 15:00, UK
When you’re someone who’s been around for as long as Sting, chances are you’ll know a thing or two about being a legend.
Usually, the best lessons in that department come as part of navigating controversy or scrutiny, or perhaps, arguably the toughest hurdle of all – progressing and developing your artistry enough so that you don’t get left behind. Sting knows a thing or two about that, too, considering that he was once a part of one of the greatest-ever rock bands in history.
The lessons that came with The Police are similar to what you’d expect from a band whose hit songs aren’t exactly ones that show off the full extent of their sound, mainly centring around the fact that, most of the time, even during their most successful moments, Sting yearned to break free from the mould and take full creative control in a way that allowed him to flex all of his stylistic muscles.
In the band, he wasn’t constantly wanting to leave, per se, but his mindset was conducive to someone who always would at some point, and accept the inevitability of going solo, where he could finally take matters into his own hands. When he left, he also realised he’d done a lot of maturing inside and outside of the band, which meant that carrying on would have been impossible anyway.
As he once said, being in a band was pretty much for kids, and if you stay in one place for too long, you’ll never get anywhere. “I don’t think any grown man can be in a band, actually,” he said. “A band is a teenage gang. Who wants to be in a teenage gang when you’re knocking 70? It doesn’t allow you to evolve. You have to obey the rules and the gestalt of the band.”
At the time, he’d been talking about bands like AC/DC and The Rolling Stones, but his is something that’s constantly in the back of his mind, and progressing as an artist, to him, isn’t just a natural journey after being in a popular group or band, it’s a necessity for survival and for maintaining a respectable reputation. According to him, not even the biggest, most legendary names are immune to falling flat if they don’t embark on their own development journey.
Not even Paul McCartney. You’d think that someone who was in the best rock group of all time would be immune to failure, but according to Sting, not even the esteemed former member of the Fab Four has his success guaranteed. In fact, he once said that he felt McCartney was doing everything wrong, and that he lacked when it came to establishing his own vision outside of the band.
“I worry about McCartney, too,” he told Playboy. “I think he isn’t sure what to do anymore. There is fear of growing up in rock ‘n’ roll, of progressing, of experimenting, of incorporating what one has learned. McCartney is a genius in many ways, but I think he should push himself to do work that’s more serious. His Beatles work was as important as Lennon’s was–more important, in some cases–and he is one of the people in the world who could take more risks. If you have already accomplished a certain amount, you want to move ahead and break new ground.”
He also pushed back against having criticisms directed his way, or when people accuse him of becoming too serious, saying that people are more attuned to material with political or cultural contexts, which is precisely what he seeks to do to maintain a connection with his fans. According to Sting, that’s where McCartney falters – not having enough meaningful messages.
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