0:00

M Welcome

0:06

to Induction Vault, a production of I

0:09

Heart Radio and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

0:15

M No

0:28

Doubt. Front Woman in Style Icon Gwen

0:30

Stefani gets a special fangirl

0:32

moment when she inducts The Police into the Rock

0:34

and Roll Hall of Fame, enthusiastically

0:37

describing how she got to meet the trio as

0:39

a teenager and how they inspired

0:41

her to grab ahold of her own

0:43

destiny and join a band. Then

0:46

sting Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland

0:49

make their way to the stage, keeping their remarks

0:51

humble and brief, eager to perform

0:53

together for the first time in almost

0:55

two decades. Rather than

0:57

recounting career highlights and humorous anecto

1:00

oats, the Police focus on gratitude,

1:02

thanking the loved ones and colleagues that supported

1:05

them on their relatively brief but definitely

1:08

extraordinary time as a band.

1:16

I can't believe I'm the one doing this. It's

1:18

crazy, but I'm completely

1:21

honored to be here tonight to induct

1:23

one of my all time favorite, favorite,

1:25

favorite favorite bands, The Police,

1:28

to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It

1:32

seems crazy to me that enough time has passed

1:34

already to get these guys in a museum.

1:37

I mean, it just seems insane to me.

1:39

But I saw all the guys last

1:41

night, and Um, I asked him

1:43

if there's anything specific they

1:45

wanted me to say or mention, and

1:48

Stewart said, make sure

1:50

to tell everyone that

1:52

he is the greatest drummer ever

1:55

and that the Police are the greatest band of all time.

1:57

So it seems for that. Next

2:01

I went up to Andy and I asked him, is there anything

2:04

that you want me to mention about you

2:06

know, you guys, and he said, just make

2:08

sure to tell everyone that I'm the greatest guitar

2:10

player ever, so saying

2:13

that, So, after all these years, um,

2:15

I am here to reveal the great secret

2:17

of the Police that Sting is

2:19

actually the humble one of the group. SA.

2:25

So I was in eighth grade, about thirteen

2:27

years old when I first heard the Police

2:30

um in my older brother's bedroom, and

2:32

I remember hearing those early songs Roxanne

2:36

so Lonely Message in a Bottle.

2:39

And it was the eighties. It was an amazing time

2:41

to be growing up and be a music

2:43

fan. We had our MTV, we

2:46

had our VCRs, we had our like

2:49

our alternative radio,

2:51

true alternative radio. So

2:53

I can remember taping the video if I don't stand so

2:55

close to me, and watching it, and sitting and

2:58

watching an over and over, sting, taking

3:00

a shirt off and watching it over, rewinding

3:02

it over and over and over. And

3:05

we would watch them TV as much as we could. I

3:08

was starting to discover myself through this band,

3:11

through a whole bunch of new music that included

3:14

The Police, Elvis Costello,

3:16

The Clash, as well as a bunch of other bands

3:20

UM. These groups were the dividing line between

3:22

old and new, innocence

3:24

and discovery. They defined

3:27

my teenage years and they inspired me to

3:29

start a band myself.

3:32

The Police was the first big concert

3:35

ever went to. I missed the van

3:37

days, I missed the club shows.

3:39

I wasn't at the Whiskey and Go go the Santa

3:41

Monica Civic or the Palladium.

3:44

But by the time I fell in love with them, they had

3:46

already achieved world domination were

3:48

about to play the largest show they would ever

3:50

play in the l A area, and that

3:53

was at the Hollywood Park UM

3:55

on their Synchronicity tour. This

3:58

is where the story gets good because

4:00

my dad worked for Yama Motorcycles. UM.

4:03

He got us backstage passes. So

4:05

Yamaha was doing a special promotion for the police

4:08

and they were shooting this poster. Um.

4:11

They had the bikes, they had the smoke machines, and

4:13

we were all standing there watching them. And even

4:15

as a thirteen year old kid, I was aware

4:17

of the band's reputation for fighting, and

4:20

that like Sting was a little bit scary. And

4:23

uh, all of a sudden, Sting takes off

4:25

on one of the motorcycles, and my Dad's like, you know, hurry

4:28

up, you gotta go get his autograph her, you know, And I'm

4:30

like terrified, but I run after

4:32

him. And I was this little, chubby, thirteen

4:34

year old girl from the suburbs of Orange County.

4:37

This wasn't the typical backstage

4:39

girl. I was in love

4:41

with him, but I just want to show you what what

4:44

was happening that over there. This is me

4:46

staying pretty

4:52

cool. Yeah,

4:55

it wasn't even looking at me. You know, he's

4:58

totally grumpy. He didn't wanna

5:00

sign my poster, but

5:02

it didn't bring me out too bad. That was the last

5:05

and the only autograph I ever got. Um.

5:08

This was one of the most memorable concerts of

5:10

my life. They played so many incredible songs

5:12

wrapped around your finger, King

5:15

of Payne and of course

5:17

every breath you take. This song was

5:19

everywhere that summer. You could get away from

5:21

it. It had this wild and

5:24

you know, it was crazy to see fifty thou people

5:26

singing all these songs word for word, and it

5:28

was a life changing performance for me. Um.

5:32

The Police were so unique. They had such a fresh,

5:34

special sound. They were a mix of rock, new

5:36

wave, punk, reggae,

5:40

jazz pop. They were like

5:42

this fruit salad of sound all coming together, just

5:44

amazing. In addition to

5:46

being hugely popular, they were totally

5:48

a musician's band. Andy

5:51

Summer's guitar style created

5:53

such a wall of sound, which is so

5:55

amazing because these guys were only three piece.

5:58

Stewart he was a drummer's drummer.

6:01

Everybody wanted to be Stewart Copeland. You

6:03

know Adrian in my band, Adrian

6:08

looks up to Stewart. He's like a drum good

6:10

so he's so first until he completely

6:12

has a style of his own. And

6:15

of course sting Um

6:18

let's start with how sexy is it to have a bass

6:20

player be the lead singer as well? And

6:22

his lyrics are just purely poetic.

6:25

He simplifies all his experiences

6:27

so the whole world can relate. His

6:30

vocal style is so completely recognizable.

6:33

As soon as you hear it, you just know it's him.

6:36

So twenty years later, my band was

6:38

able to play Message in a Bottle with Sting

6:40

at this year's Super Bowl, So you can imagine me

6:42

walking down singing Message

6:44

in a bottle to Sting. It was just an amazing, amazing

6:47

experience. See

6:54

Um, anyways, move

6:57

on here. The

7:00

Police achieved something with me and many

7:03

others that I believe is one of the most

7:05

difficult and fulfilling accomplishments.

7:08

They created music that inspired me

7:10

to be in a band. It motivated

7:12

me and many others to create and grab

7:15

hold of our destiny. I'm

7:17

sure that they will continue to be a creative point

7:19

of reference for years to come. That

7:23

connection and level of inspiration with their

7:25

fans deserves acknowledgment from the Hall of

7:27

Fame, Ladies and gentlemen.

7:30

I present to you Andy Summers, Stuart

7:32

Copeland, Sting, the Police

7:42

I could break. We'll hear from Sting,

7:45

Andy and Stewart on the Rock and Roll

7:47

Hall of Fame Induction Vault. Um,

7:53

we haven't played together in eighteen years,

7:56

and we're very keen to do that. So we're

7:58

not going to make any fancy speeches, but

8:03

I I would like to to thank

8:05

manager Miles Copeland. Stand up, Miles,

8:08

come on, stand up. Mr Miles Scotland

8:13

and his partner Kim Turner,

8:15

who couldn't be with us tonight he's not well

8:17

in England. God bless him. But

8:21

A and M Records, Jerry Morris,

8:23

her Barbara Gilfriesen, all

8:25

of you guys. Andy,

8:29

Yes, well, I like to thank everybody

8:31

as well, and particularly our accountants who kept

8:33

a charge of all that incredible amount

8:35

of cash that came flowing through as we worked away

8:37

at it. I'd like to make it very clear

8:39

that there's absolutely no ego in our band

8:42

whatsoever. We

8:44

came here against the record company wishes

8:47

in deep Snow and deep ship, and somehow

8:51

we made it out of there. But we have to thank this

8:53

country for giving us to start. And I'd like to actually

8:56

point out there's a gentleman here by the name

8:58

of Oedipus who played

9:00

rock sane and without

9:02

here we may never have gotten started, you

9:05

know, And I think we're all very fortunate to have met

9:07

each other because I think we brought something

9:09

very special out of one another that may not

9:11

have happened in another combination. And

9:14

God, of course he's you know, there with every

9:16

single rock band and at every award ceremony.

9:19

So thank you all. And it's a great honor to be

9:21

in this along with all the incredible talent.

9:23

You know, it's humbling, Thank you very much.

9:32

I was raised to be a jazz musician. That's

9:35

why I play rock and roll. Uh,

9:37

there's a few people we we we gotta thank. We're gonna keep

9:39

it real sharp. We're just gonna do the thanks, because that's really

9:41

more important than the funny stories and stuff. Gil

9:44

Freesing, my brother Ian who

9:46

was my agent when I was twelve and was the police's

9:49

agent. Uh, Michael

9:51

Plan, Bob Garcia,

9:54

Uh oh no, no, I'm gonna freeze. There's just

9:56

so many our crew, tam

9:59

Uh, Danny, Danny,

10:02

tom O, Jeff Psyche. These

10:04

are the guys who've been with us from the very top all

10:06

the way down, and they're still here. Thank

10:08

you very much. And uh, that's

10:10

it. That's it. We're gonna play now, see

10:19

you later. Thanks

10:33

for joining us on this week's episode. Of Rock

10:35

and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Vault. For

10:37

more on your favorite inductees, to shop

10:40

inductee merch or to plan your trip to

10:42

the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, visit rock hall

10:44

dot com. Plus Rock

10:47

and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Special on demand

10:49

on HBO Max. Our

10:52

executive producers are Noel Brown, Shelby

10:54

Morrison, and Esa Gurkey. Supervising

10:57

producer is Taylor shakogn Research,

10:59

and our table assistants from Isabelle Keeper

11:01

and Shannon Herb. Thanks again for joining

11:04

us on this week's episode of Rock and Roll Hall of

11:06

Fame Induction Vault. Induction Ball

11:08

is a production of I Heart Radio and the Rock

11:10

and Roll Hall of Fame. For

11:18

more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I

11:20

heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

11:22

or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.