For those who are actually following this and wonder where #63 went, it’s “The Boys of Summer” by Don Henley, which I already discussed at length here. Let’s move on to one of the only artists viewed as being as pretentious as Mr. Henley. Yes, folks, that would be Gordon Sumner, who you know better as Sting. Sting, along with Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland, was a member of The Police, who recorded the song you find at #62: “King of Pain”. See how it all ties together?
Anyway, there are quite a few Police songs that I wanted to include in here (Side 1 of “Zenyatta Mondatta” might be my favorite side of an album ever), but “King of Pain” gets the nod because it’s the song that best marries the highbrow intelligence of many of Sting’s lyrics to a simple yet effective pop tune. How effective? I was 7 when this record came out and I loved it despite the fact that I had no bloody idea what The Police were talking about. “There’s a blind man looking for a shadown of doubt”? Whaaa???
Anyway, “Synchronicity” is one of only a handful of albums (I can only think of six) with more than one song on this list, a testament to the legacy The Police left in only five short years of making records. Sting saving the rainforests may have muted their impact somewhat, but these were the records that turned me on to rock music. So let’s temporarily forget about the pompous ass-iness, the tantric sex and the cash-grabbing reunion tour (although they were quite good when I saw them) and remember how damn good this song is.
