70s Music

1979 is sort of a “technical truth” in this case. New wave and post-punk started around 1979 but really thrived through the early 1980s. This song in particular was released late in the year and didn’t start charting until 1980 in some countries. So if you hear this tune and think of it as “1980s music” that’s probably why.

Great song!

Thanks for sharing it with us!

“Message in a Bottle” is the first track and Grammy Award-winning single off of The Police’s second album Regatta de Blanc.

At the start, the song explores themes of being stuck on a deserted island. It follows into a metaphor that aims to explain the pitfalls of being heartbroken and alone. At the end, the protagonist learns he’s not the only lonely person. Sting shared:

I like the idea that while it’s about loneliness and alienation it’s also about finding solace and other people going through the same thing.

It was The Police’s first #1 song in the UK, Ireland and Spain and it reached the top 5 in six other countries, but in the US it peaked at #74.

In 2000, the band discussed “Message In A Bottle” with Revolver magazine:

Summers: I’ve always said it was Stewart’s finest drum track, plus great guitar riffs, lyrics, the song – it was one track where everything came together. We had also just learned the trick of playing a song two or three times in a row to let the energy build, then we’d come straight in for another take with the tape still rolling.

Copeland: It was also a great way of getting the tempo up to where I like – which is really fast.

Sting: That’s what he thought. We were actually trying to tire Stewart out so we could slow it down a bit.

Next in the interview, Sting is asked about the song’s lyrics:

Sting: As a narrative, it had a beginning, middle and an end. The story actually developed. It wasn’t just ‘I’m lonely, isn’t it terrible!’ – which is what a lot of my other songs were about. If I’m lonely, but I realize everybody else is too. I feel better. I think the Germans call that Schadenfreude – enjoying the misery of others.

Copeland: My favorite thing about ‘Message In A Bottle’, apart from all the money we made off it, was hearing cover bands trying to play my drum parts. I’d overdubbed about six different parts, and to watch some band in a Holiday Inn struggling to play all those overdubs still gives me great joy. Now that is really Schadenfreude.^[[1] https://genius.com/The-police-message-in-a-bottle-lyrics]