"Demolition Man" is a song written by Sting and performed by Grace Jones as the A-side of a 1981 single. Sting's band, the Police, later released their rendition of the song on their album Ghost in the Machine.

Background

The song was written by Sting in the Summer of 1980 while he was living in Peter O’Toole’s home in Connemara, Ireland. It was written for potential use on The Police’s Zenyatta Mondatta, but they never got around to recording it. A demo was sent to Grace Jones when she requested a song from Sting. The lyric "I'm a three-line whip" is an allusion to the instructions issued to members of British parliament to cast their votes according to the party line. Sting explained in an interview, "Whatever party's in power in Parliament, if it's a really important vote, you get a one-line whip. If it's incredibly important, you have a two-line whip, and something monumentally important is a three-line whip." According to Sting, he never guessed that his A-level in British Constitution would "bear fruit in a rock and roll lyric."

Grace Jones version

"Demolition Man" was released as the lead single from Grace Jones's 1981 album Nightclubbing. She performed the song on her A One Man Show tour, featuring marching "Joneses" (stand-ins wearing Grace Jones masks), and it was included in the documentary film of the tour. A still picture from the video was later used for the cover of her 1982 singles "Nipple to the Bottle" and "The Apple Stretching".

Track listing

The Police version

Soon after Jones released her version as a single, the Police recorded their own version for their 1981 album, Ghost in the Machine. Guitarist Andy Summers recalls: ""He [Sting] did have Demolition Man previously, mind you – he'd already given that to Grace Jones to put on her Nightclubbing album. In fact, that was the song we recorded first. You have to break the ice with something, and that was an easy one to do. It’s a very simple song. We all listened to the Grace Jones version and thought 'Shit, we can do it much better than that.' It was a one-take job. To me, our version is more ballsy, which is what you’d expect from Grace Jones."" The Police recorded the song in a jazzy hard rock style, featuring a guitar solo by Andy Summers. Sting's roadie Danny Quatrochi played the bass.

Personnel

Use in popular culture and other media