Sting: Demolition Man [Paperback]

Christopher Sandford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 2000

This first full-length biography of the Newcastle schoolteacher who became Sting explores the substance behind the rock-star cliche‚ as it examines the creative disagreements - and physical violence - among The Police; the musical intelligence that consistently produced Grammy-winning albums; a much-publicized campaign to save the rain forest; two marriages and legendary sexual entanglements.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

With plenty of detail for Sting fans of all ages, Sting: Demolition Man traces the rise of young Brit Gordon Sumner to the international pop icon known as Sting. Focusing continually on the man's personal and professional growth, this is no sleazy-tabloid type of biography; instead, his variety of talents, beliefs, and musical styles are shown against the backdrop of his personal life. The transformation from irritable and angry young punk living in a basement to multimillionaire father and activist makes for interesting material when coupled with his dramatic changes in musical style. Equal focus is given to all stages of his adult development--the chart-topping band the Police are presented as just another side trip, albeit an important one, in Sting's career. While there's a lot of minute detail, the presentation is uniformly impersonal: after reading this book, you'll know everything about the man from his favorite hobbies to when he had his nose done, but somehow there's little sense of true motives or guiding inspiration. Old Police fans who've wondered what happened to the bleached-blond, sneering singer since his "growing up" will be relieved to learn there's a bit less self-importance behind his image than we've been led to believe. Author Christopher Sandford includes opinions about individual songs and movie scenes throughout the book (feel free to disagree), and fans wanting complete lists of Sting's accomplishments will find the timeline at the end of the book most helpful. --Jill Lightner

From Publishers Weekly

His critics find him pretentious, his admirers think him a genius and some just want him to get the Police back together. Sting, one of rock's most successful musicians, has never lacked for attention in a career that's now more than two decades long. In this absorbing, sympathetic new biography, Sandford (Kurt Cobain) depicts Sting as a complex figure driven as much by his overwhelming ego as by ambition and talent. Sandford follows the former Gordon Summer from his working-class childhood in Newcastle, England, to London, where, in 1976, he formed the Police with drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers. With their blend of rock, reggae and punk, the Police enjoyed phenomenal success, recording five hit albums in all, despite personal and artistic antagonism between Sting and his bandmates (particularly Copeland) that occasionally led to fistfights. From the band's breakup at their commercial peak in 1983, Sandford follows Sting's post-Police life and career as he gradually mellowed from hubristic rock star to spiritual family man. Sandford concludes that Sting's enduring stardom and wealth can be attributed to his uncanny ability to fuse musical versatility, intelligent (though occasionally mawkish) lyrics and savvy business sense. His brooding good looks haven't hurt, either.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (January 25, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786707178
• ISBN-13: 978-0786707171
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,301,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best biography on Sting to date., August 7, 1998

By 

D. Dunn "wendavey" (Stockton, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sting: Demoliton Man (Hardcover)

Although Sting did not co-operate or contribute to the biography Sandford's book is really very good, and the author has clearly done a great deal of research. It helps that Sandford is a good writer. The stunning analogy he draws in the first few paragraphs of the book between 60's supergroup Cream and the Police was one of the best introductions to a book we can remember. Very few people - understandably - get really close to Sting, so Sandford has sought out old friends, colleagues (and enemies) to help fill out Sting's life. Sting of course has lived the second half of his life in a media glare so bright it would have blinded and broken lesser men. Forever in the news and always available for a media friendly news-bite or always 'arms-length' interview, all of the attributable quotes in this book are recognisable to fans. It is in his examination of career-defining points, that Sandford digs up anecdotes and stories that have you glued to the page. Whether t! hese are details of Sting's legal case with Virgin which resulted in the return of ownership in his songs (and later guaranteed royalty income of millions of pounds), the decision to go solo in 1985, the visit to the Brazilian Rainforest, or his well publicised "missing millions" legal case in the mid 90's, the stories are told objectively and not in the tabloid friendly sensationalist manner of Wensley Clarkson's poor biography from 1996. There are of course errors which keen fans will see - The Police for example played no concerts in 1985, the show referred to was on the Blue Turtles tour (we were there at the Newcastle show he describes) and this story appears to be cribbed from Clarkson's book which makes the same error. There are one or two other factual errors - at one point Sting is described as past 50, when he won't hit that landmark until 2001! On the whole though, the book is well researched and it is clear that Newcastle Library has been graced by a visit or! two as the Newcastle Journal archives have been extensivel! y trawled. For example, "On the morning Gordon Sumner was born the weather broke in a shawl of rain." Sting comes out of the book with great credit, and as something of a conundrum - the shy man for example, who thinks nothing of performing in front of 200,000 people but quakes at the thought of playing to a few hundred. A perfectionist who toils late into the night mixing tracks or choregraphing shows, but who shows his accountant a picture in Country Life whilst walking on the beach and says "I want this house". Sandford also recognises that Sting, despite being is a star of huge proportions - selling out concerts from Croatia to Hong Kong - is also a journeyman, happily dueting with rapper Puff Daddy, trading licks with his peers at the Montserrat benefit, playing guitar for crooner Julio Inglesias, or donning a bootlace tie and adopting "Maverick" mode to play at the Country Music Awards. In short, the book is bang up to date, and is without questio! n, the best biography written to date on Sting.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars It's cr*p, in convenient book form!, April 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sting: Demoliton Man (Hardcover)

Upon completion of this book, I put it down, and made a silent, futile wish that the time I wasted reading it might somehow be returned to me. It was informative in some respects, such as shedding a little light on Sting's background and the rise of the Police. But I found myself slogging through all too many paragraphs which were full of editorial comment about Sting's psyche. And let me say, there were more than enough of these paragraphs to skip over time and time again, until the book became an amazingly fast read. Granted, I am interested in learning more about Sting, the individual, which was why I bought the book. But I could really do without the author's consistently negative opinions of his chosen subject. This book contains 25% fact, 25% interviews from people who may or may not even know Sting, and 50% editorial comment and snidely worded jabs from the author. So even though it SAYS "Biography," it's more like 352 pages of unadulterated cr*p. I should have listened to the man himself, when he said "Go over everything in my C.V. - you'll still know nothing 'bout me." Then I wouldn't have squandered my money - and my time! - on this most unsatisfactory book.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars One should write about something one likes, February 8, 2000

By 

Kevin P. Dolan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sting: Demoliton Man (Hardcover)

Let me put it this way: If you thought THE SOUL CAGES was a bad album lyrically and musically, why oh why would you take the time to write a biography of the man who wrote the album? DEMOLITION MAN is useful in many respects, but the one thing I couldn't escape was that Christopher Sanford cannot praise Sting without adding in a criticism, and usually a pin-headed criticism at that. The above is a perfect example; CAGES was the most heartfelt, autobiographical album Sting has ever done, and Sandford TOTALLY slags it off. I'm sorry, but if you didn't like CAGES, you'll probably have trouble with Sting, and Sandford has a lot of trouble with Sting. He constantly criticizes him for being pretentious (musically and politically), writing bad songs and generally being a cad-- and yet, sometimes on the same page, he praises Sting unabshedly. Sometimes, when talking about politics, the praise and condemnation is on the exact same topic! I don't mean to say that only fans should write biographies; this book is good in many ways. It's a virtual how-to guide to being a wealthy pop star, and the business stories are really fascinating. The facts are also solid, and it's a good story. But you can't help noticing that Sandford really hates about half of Sting's music. It's one thing to be an independent observer, and quite another thing to take shots at someone for sport. Sting fans should buy this book, but they will be irritated by it. Oh, and also, the prose style is utterly insufferable.