The Police drummer, Stewart Copeland, appeared on the latest episode of the Follow Your Dream podcast and explained how he chose the band’s name. During the discussion, the drummer also revealed that he regrets choosing ‘Police’ as their name.
Apparently, the name had to do with hostility, and Copeland figured that The Police would be a good hostility name. Following the chat, the drummer shared his thoughts on the name and revealed why he regrets it now:
“It turns out to be a crap name, not a good name. Well, the name ‘fish’ we don’t own the word ‘police.’ If you Google ‘police,’ you get the Brooklyn Police Department, and we don’t own that word. Doesn’t belong to us. The logo, the actual graphic, the art, we can own that, but I should have come up with some word, not the English or a code combination, not on the English language.”
Why the Name ‘The Police’?
Right before the conversation, Copeland was asked about the story that had to do with family and the CIA, which his brother Miles denied when asked about it. Apparently, Miles said that the drummer would tell the story of the name. The rocker revealed with a short answer:
“Oh that’s an easy one—free advertising on cars all over in every city in the world.”
The host cleared that it was the exact answer of the drummer’s brother.
According to the rocker, it was the era of bands who had ‘nice’ names like Renaissance, followed by The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Damned and more. Talking about the hostility of his band’s name, he made it clear that it was the time of hostile band names, and he wanted to have a hostile name for his band as well, thus naming it The Police.
The Misunderstood Story About the Name
Contrary to what some fans believe, the recent interview clarified the band was not named because of his father’s role in the CIA.
According to the story, Copeland named the band The Police because he was inspired by his father, Miles Copeland Jr., an American officer who helped in the founding of the CIA. The story was shared in blogs and forums but was denied with the drummer’s latest words.
Along with his role in the CIA, the drummer’s father was also a musician, which makes it evident that he followed in his father’s footsteps in music.
You can listen to the latest episode here.
