In a recent interview with Rick Beato, Stewart Copeland explained the ‘weird’ reason he broke Sting’s ribs.
“Oh, no no we did have fights but not in anger, only when we’re laughing,” the drummer said when Beato asked whether Copeland and Sting had fistfights. “I broke his rib one time when we were laughing so hard. This is on stage at Shea Stadium. We do our soundcheck and we are having a great time.”
Copeland recalled the rest of the incident, “Sting grabs my New York Times, I’m like, ‘F*ck, gimme my…’ So we end up in a tug-of-war with my New York Times. I finally had to apply a knee to his chest to get my f*cking newspaper back. And we’re both laughing hysterically by the way. And then, ‘Oh, f*ck. F*ck, Copeland! God Dammit! You always overdo it.'”
“Okay, and I got my paper back and we played one of the best shows we ever played that night. It was just a magic night. Just building to a crescendo. Next day, he’s still feeling a little something like that and he gets an X-ray and he’s got a hairline crack in his rib. But no, we never fought in earnest. We had psychological weapons that were much more devastating [laughs],” the rocker admitted.
Earlier this year, Copeland spoke about his relationship with the other Police members, explaining, “We had a great bond, which wasn’t strong enough to make recording together very easy.”
“We tore each other’s throats out in the studio but those two motherf*ckers came up with incredible stuff and we got on really well on stage, in the van, on the plane. To this day we still send each other dumb Instagram clips. It’s a myth that Sting and I fought all the time. I broke his rib once, but we were play-fighting,” he also shared.
The Police broke up in 1984 due to several reasons. Despite their fame, internal disagreements and their age differences caused tension. The Police’s went on a reunion tour that took place in 2007–2008. The band celebrated their 30th anniversary. By the end, it became the third highest-grossing tour ever, earning over $360 million.
