This Custom Card is Sending Out an S.O.S.

How many of you can already hear that repeated line from the song Message in a Bottle?

That's always the sign of a big hit: You hear someone speak a few words from it, and suddenly the entire song—vocals, guitar, drums, and bass—is in your head.

 

The Police certainly had a few of those hits; those songs that were a little different.

 

And if you're a three-man band, you need to be different. Well, actually, you're already different because there are only three of you. But I guess what I'm trying to say is that difference makes you stand out, so you'd better bring something special to the table. Power, speed, quirkiness, a new sound. Something.

And The Police did that. They were a sensation back in the early '80s. They had such good energy. Such a cool sound.

Cool enough, in fact, to inspire me to put them on a custom card.

Why the 1980 Topps template?  

 

Well, in 1979, just a year or two after Copeland, Sumner, and Summers formed The Police, they released Message in a Bottle as well as another super hit, Walking on the Moon. Both songs went to #1 on the charts in the UK. If the three guys were baseball players, I'd bet Topps would have issued them a Future Stars card the following year. It would have been great timing, too, as the band embarked on their first world tour in 1980.

The Police grew so popular that they even touched the trading card realm, having a handful of cards issued in some little-known music sets of the 1980s. And coolest of all, a 7-Eleven Slurpee Disc in 1984 and 1985!

 

Remarkably, though, as those Slurpee discs were being released, the three guys were getting ready to go their separate ways to pursue individual careers. Copeland began producing movie and TV soundtracks, Summers recorded numerous albums, and Sting reached the stratosphere with his solo work.

 

Still, the five albums they released from 1978 to 1983 were, and continue to be, outrageously popular. The trio was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, 2003. 

 

And for all their success and good energy they put out, I felt a custom card was in order.

 

Speaking of good energy, have a look at this video from their early days:

 

 

Here's to one of the mega-bands of the '80s. And to another custom card.

Any Police fans out there? Favorite song?

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!