Sting Panned As Worst Lyricist In Blender List
Posted October 9, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Judging by the sold-out shows on the Police’s reunion tour, fans have no problem with the band’s songs.
But maybe they should be listening a little more carefully.
Frontman Sting was just lambasted by music magazine Blender as rock’s worst lyricist. The teacher-turned-rocker writes lines that according to the publication exude “mountainous pomposity (and) cloying spirituality.”
Sting topped the list, to be published in the November issue, for a few laughable lyrics, including the decision to quote a Volvo bumper sticker in “If You Love Someone Set Them Free,” borrowing from the words of Chaucer, St. Augustine and Shakespeare, and name-dropping Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov in the song “Don’t Stand So Close To Me.”
A spokesperson for the rock star didn’t respond to the poll results.
Also making the top five, Rush drummer Neil Peart at number two, Creed frontman Scott Stapp at number three, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher at number four, and soft rock artist Dan Fogelberg at number five.
Canadian drummer Peart was described as writing “richly awful tapestries of fantasy and science,” while Gallagher “seemed incapable of following a metaphor through a single line, let alone a whole verse.”
Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant made the list at number 23 for the song “Ramble On,” which contains references to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series.
Carly Simon was also taunted for “You’re So Vain,” which rhymes the words “yacht,” “apricot” and “gavotte.”
Even one of the Fab Four members made the list – Paul McCartney sat at number 38 for his duet with Stevie Wonder, Ebony and Ivory, a song about racial harmony.
British singer and bassist Sting, member of rock band The Police, performs at the ‘Stade de France’ in Saint-Denis, Northern Paris, September 2007 (STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/Getty Images)
