The Police’s Stewart Copeland recently sat down with KTLA 5 for an interview and described Kendrick Lamar’s music as ‘sophisticated.’
When the interviewer asked him his thoughts on electronically created music, the drummer said:
“Of course, my generation abhors all of the stuff. Just the way my daddy said with electric guitars, ‘How do you stand that record?’ That’s what Dad says, but in fact, there is good news and bad news. I don’t know what the bad news is, but the good news is that electronics have democratized it.”
Discussing The Shift In Music Creation
Copeland went on to explain his opinions on modern music and the use of different sound resources:
“Anybody, like Moby, can’t play guitar to my knowledge. He can’t play guitar, but he could create music. Or Puff Daddy or Kendrick Lamar or any of those people. They create music using elements that are alien to me. My music is from fifty years ago, but modern music today… My children educate him when I drive them to school, and I listen to what is happening.”
Personal Insights On Lamar’s Work
The musician then expressed what he thinks about Lamar’s music:
“Now they are all grown-up and adult. I don’t know what is going on now. The last thing I heard was Kendrick Lamar, which was really interesting. That’s not how you’re supposed to do it. It completely wearies an actual player. Who cares? It’s really sophisticated, really moving, and as soon as she gets out of the car, ‘Have a great day at school,’ I go back to Stevie Ray Vaughan.”
When he joined Rolling Stone in 2017 to share his favorite songs in the context of indulgence and abandon, Copeland also included ‘For Sale? (Interlude)’ from Lamar in his list and said the following about it:
“At last, after a half-century of domination by guitar, bass and drums, everything has been turned upside down. It’s a revolution.”
In other news from the drummer, his new book ‘Police Diaries‘ arrived on October 26. It is available in three deluxe editions, featuring original diary pages from 1976 to 1979, with new commentary and both classic and unseen photos from the early days of the Police.
You can watch his full interview below.
