Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies

I read autobiographies by Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland, in that order. If you are a fan of Sting, read his first. But don't be surprised that the book suddenly ends where he re-marries and Police conquers the world. If you are looking for musical journey as a musician and more thorough coverage of the history of Police, read Andy Summer's book first. He even shares what he was thinking about when he came up with world-famous riffs. On the other hand, Steward Copeland skipped the entire history of Police - quite disappointing, as he is THE founder of Police - and replaced it with 2-page long poem. He comes back to the reunion tour towards the end of the book, but we get to see his "other" life as a son of CIA operative on foreign soils, a roadie, a session drummer, a renowned movie scorer, and polo player (with his own team), to list a few. All three members of Police are excellent storytellers. I strongly recommend all of them to Police fans.

Before I give my opinion, let me say that I love Stewart Copeland as a drummer and a composer, and I enjoy all his interviews. He's intelligent, interesting, and has a great life story. These are the reasons I purchased this book. Unfortunately the book was nothing like I expected. I was looking for his biography, in particular the Police years. This book is really just a random group of stories about polo, pygmies, and a variety of topics that I didn't find interesting. His writing style is certainly witty and intelligent, but this book is certainly not for those who are looking for a real traditional biography.

I loved this book! Stewart is so witty and so smart that all of his stories are interesting to me. I already knew he wasn’t going to cover the beginning of The Police, so I wasn’t disappointed there. What an interesting life he has led! He’s very gracious to practically everyone he speaks of, and gives praise where it belongs. I’ve always enjoyed his interviews because of his wit, his ability to make fun of himself (Stephen Stills had NO IDEA who he was- “I could have been a Jonas Brother.”), and OTHERS (a certain bass player/lead singer), all in a nice way. The reunion tour is fully discussed, so you get your Police fix there. Great stories from one of the greatest drummers.

Articulately written, slice-of-life nonsense. Stewart is learned and his prose is beautiful, but the aimless stories, chapter after chapter, on polo horses and wiring operas is mind-numbing. Even his foray into Africa as The Rhythmatist will have you cutting Zzzs faster than Sominex. I wanted to like this book, and I wanted to learn about Mr Copeland...neither of those has happened. Save your time and money and skip this book. If you are a true music fan of Mr. Copeland and The Police and feel some deep inner “need” to read this book, and a quick 1000th listen to Outlandos D’Amour doesnt allow the urge to pass, your library hopefully owns it.

As a fan of The Police and of biographies/memoirs in general, this one satisfied me from both perspectives. Stuart Copeland had an interesting life outside of The Police and this book does a good job of focusing on that aspect (though I would have liked to know more about his dad's job as a CIA agent -- more stories like the one Sting tells about him in his book regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls). The book glosses over the 1980's heyday of The Police in a single chapter, but gives more attention to the 2007-2008 reunion tour. The part about polo was the only section that dragged a bit for me. Overall a satisfying read, though.

Love Stewart Copeland always have-/love the police-/a truly monster musician and an interesting human being-love forever Dude-/ owned this years ago and read it then figured I’d require and enjoy again-/!

I like Stewart’s sense of humor and descriptive storytelling. While I wish he wrote more about the Police in their heyday, I still enjoyed the book. I’d recommend it to any Copeland fan, but a general Police fan might be a little disappointed in the lack of stories from the ‘80s. (There is some insight into what caused arguments amongst Stewart and Sting which is discussed toward the end of the book.)

I really could not care less about Polo, and consider it a bad vestige of Colonialism, so I flew through that nonsense with more than a few grains of salt. I would have liked to have read some details about his time with both Curved Air and his life with Sonia, as well as specifics on the first run of the Police, but that is simply not there, sorry to. say. Very disappointing. The details of the reunion tour are nice, but this book should have been a whole lot more than it is.

After reading both Sting and Andy's autobiographies I just had to complete the collection by reading Stewarts too! From my experience of watching Stewart in interviews he is a funny guy with a great and sometimes outrageous sense of humour and he doesn't disappoint in this collection of tales from the drummer and composer's life in the limelight.Stewart tells us of how he grew up in Beirut unknown to him that his father was a major US spy and what it was like growing up there. He tells of his college years in America and what it was like in his 1st fairly successful act Curved air. Stewart talks about Klark Kent and gives a quick history of The Police. Just like in Sting's autobiography there isn't much about the adventures of The Police the 1st time round (you have to read Andy's autobiography for that). Stewart's experiences have stretched from filming in the Congo to playing polo against Prince Charles and a lot of it is a joy to read. Stewart talks about his experiences with bands he toured with such as Foo fighters, Incubus and Rage against the machine. There's a lot more to this man than you might expect and Stewart reveals it in a great way throughout. Stewart talks about his years after The Police and how he scored soundtracks for many movies. Stewart talks about the lead up to The Police's 2007 reunion and whereas the other guys autobiographies don't include anything from the reunion (as they were released before) about a quarter of this book chronicles life on the reunion tour with the band. This was probably my favourite part of the book and I laughed many times about Stewart's thoughts of working with Sting again after 25 years and his opinion on Sting's leadership style! Stewart takes us throughout the tour reciting the interesting parts until their last show at Madison Square.What I am not hugely impressed with is how ADD this book can appear! Instead of the years being in order they change around and it sometimes can get a little irritating but if you're into discontinuity then you will be happy! He will tell a tale about The Police's reunion tour and then go back to 1978. Sometimes the mix makes it interesting but sometimes you wish that'd it'd be more orderly.Despite this minor flaw it is a great read and an insightful step into this highly successful drummers career and his interesting and eventful life. In my opinion it's a must-read for any fan of The Police and it's a book I'm sure you will enjoy reading because I know I did! Although sometimes not as detailed as Sting's autobiography and not as frank as Andy's it is definitely a contender for most entertaining.

I loved this book. The Polo section is wonderfully dramatic - the Police expose' is bitter sweet. Copeland's bio is as wild and wacky as his compositions and drumming, and was deliciously soaked up by this reader, and pleased it didn't go on and on and on like some music bio's I have had the misfortune to endure. Wonderful stuff. No picture in the Kindle version but don't let that put you off.

Really enjoyed this. Copeland gives a very humane and insightful account of his life to date.He seems to be a well grounded and decent guy who is aware of the wonderful gifts and privileges life has given him.The police years do not have the sense of bitterness or lack of recognition of other accounts. Copeland has a healthy sense of humour and understanding of his wonderful talent. His well deserved status as "Drum God" does not seem to have gotten the better of him.

Absolutely hilarious anecdotes from a great drummer

Found this boring but then had only just finished Andy Summer's fantastic biography