The Police guitarist And Summers recently sat down with Jeremy White. During the interview White brought up the similarities between ‘Every Breath You Take’ and Def Leppard’s ‘Hysteria.’ The guitarist who wasn’t aware of the song said:
“I haven’t heard it but yeah we got ripped off. I’ll look into that maybe we can have a lawsuit against them that’ll be fun.”
When Jeremy couldn’t believe that Summers hadn’t heard of ‘Hysteria’ he played the song to the guitarist. After listening to the track Andy said:
“Yeah, that’s pretty close. They do it very well they. They’re a very good band. Okay, well, you know in some ways you can get all up upset about it or you can go all right well they made a little tribute to us that’s nice I won’t kill them in court.”
White went on to share that Phil Collen has previously spoke about his admiration for The Police in different interviews. For instance, during an appearance on the ‘No Sleep ‘Til Sudbury’ podcast back in 2021, Phil named his favorite band. He expressed:
“I think Sting was, and sometimes is, my favorite songwriter. He can walk the line of great songwriting and pop silliness… ‘Every Breath You Take’ is one of the classic songs of all time. ‘Walking On The Moon’ had actually done something to me as well; it was a goosebump thing. As much as I wish I wrote ‘Every Breath You Take’, it’s ‘Walking On The Moon’ that sends shivers down my spine.”
You can watch Andy Summers’ interview with Jeremy White and listen to ‘Every Breath You Take’ as well as ‘Hysteria’ below.
