![\"Sting](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Sting-Paul-McCartney-Split-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Acroterion \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n
Fri 16 January 2026 15:00, UK <\/p>\n
When you\u2019re someone who\u2019s been around for as long as Sting<\/a>, chances are you\u2019ll know a thing or two about being a legend.<\/p>\n Usually, the best lessons in that department come as part of navigating controversy or scrutiny, or perhaps, arguably the toughest hurdle of all \u2013 progressing and developing your artistry enough so that you don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n The lessons that came with The Police are similar to what you\u2019d expect from a band whose hit songs aren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n In the band, he wasn\u2019t 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\u2019d done a lot of maturing inside and outside of the band, which meant that carrying on would have been impossible anyway.<\/p>\n As he once said, being in a band was pretty much for kids, and if you stay in one place for too long, you\u2019ll never get anywhere. \u201cI don\u2019t think any grown man can be in a band, actually,\u201d he said. \u201cA band is a teenage gang. Who wants to be in a teenage gang when you\u2019re knocking 70? It doesn\u2019t allow you to evolve. You have to obey the rules and the gestalt of the band.\u201d <\/p>\n