10 Key Insights Into The Police's 'Synchronicity'

As The Police approached their fifth and final album, 1983's Synchronicity, they stood on the brink of a major breakthrough. Their previous album, 1981's Ghost In the Machine, had climbed to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and produced the Top 5 hit “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.” The reggae-influenced, once-punk trio from England, led by Sting, was now ready to achieve a level of fame few bands ever experience.

Synchronicity—celebrating its 40th anniversary this June—certainly lived up to the hype. With three Top 10 singles, including the iconic and often misinterpreted “Every Breath You Take,” the album topped the Billboard 200 and stayed at No. 1 for 17 non-consecutive weeks. It also reached No. 1 in the UK. More significantly, it displayed a band that, despite facing intense internal tensions, managed to craft groundbreaking music that pushed their artistic boundaries.

Here are 10 essential facts about The Police’s legendary final album.

1. The band members were far from getting along.

The recording sessions for 1981’s Ghost In the Machine were relatively smooth. Sting arrived with song ideas, and then guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland added their unique contributions. But things took a turn with Synchronicity: The trio was 'sick of each other,' according to producer Hugh Padgham, as he shared with Sound on Sound.

According to Padgham, 'Sting and Stewart hated each other, and while Andy didn’t display as much hostility, he could be rather grumpy—and there were both verbal and physical altercations in the studio.' In the end, Police manager Miles Copeland organized a poolside meeting that helped prevent the sessions from falling apart.

2. Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland ended up working in different rooms.

The Police recorded Synchronicity at the AIR studio in Montserrat, a facility owned by Beatles producer George Martin. Sting played bass in the control room, Summers strummed guitar in the studio's live space, and Copeland banged his drums in an upstairs dining room. Producer Hugh Padgham explained that this setup 'worked both sonically and for social reasons.' It kept the band members separated, and it prevented any interference between the bass and guitar during the recording process. Moreover, Copeland's drums sounded best in the dining room, even though he could only see his bandmates through a live video feed.

3. The album's title was influenced by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung.

Sting, known for his intellectual leanings, once again showcased this with Synchronicity. The album’s title pays homage to the renowned Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, specifically his 1960 book Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle, which explores the 'meaningful coincidence of two or more events where something beyond chance is at play.' According to Jung, some coincidences aren't mere accidents—they carry a deeper significance. As Sting shared with the radio show In the Studio, he wanted the entire album to reflect this idea.

‘The concept fascinated me because it’s about accidents, and many of the greatest moments in music—especially within a band—are accidental, or seem to be,’ Sting explained. He can even be spotted reading Jung’s book on the Synchronicity album cover.

4. Synchronicity marked the beginning of the end for The Police.

Though influenced by the works of Jung—the psychologist who developed the theory of the collective unconscious—Synchronicity was profoundly personal for Sting, who had recently gone through a divorce. '“Every Breath You Take,” 'Wrapped Around Your Finger'—they were all about my life,' Sting revealed to In the Studio. 'That’s when it ended for The Police because I realized I couldn’t bring such personal matters into a democratic process, at least not on those terms. So, it became clear to me during the creation of this album that this was the end of The Police.'

5. Sting composed many of the songs in a legendary house.

Sting might have been emotionally fragile when writing the songs for Synchronicity, but at least his surroundings were tranquil: He was staying at Ian Fleming's Goldeneye estate on the northern coast of Jamaica. 'Britain had gone to war with Argentina over the Falklands,' Sting recalled in his book Lyrics. 'Young men were dying in the freezing waters of the South Atlantic, while I was gazing at sunspots on a clifftop overlooking the Caribbean.'

6. Summers worked through some unresolved issues with his mother on 'Mother.'

Synchronicity features the chart-topping singles 'I’ll Be Watching You,' 'Wrapped Around Your Finger,' and 'King of Pain.' But it also includes 'Mother,' a harsh, spoken-word track by Summers. Over three uncomfortable minutes, Summers vents about his mother constantly calling him and threatening to 'devour' him—an anxiety possibly rooted in this line: 'Every girl I go out with becomes my mother in the end.'

Summers shared with Songfacts that 'Mother' was inspired by his actual mother. 'We all have our family dynamics, and I had a pretty intense mother who was very focused on me,' he explained. 'I was kind of 'the golden child,' and here I was, fulfilling all of her dreams by being this pop star in The Police. I got some pressure from her. It’s not heavy—it’s written ironically, kind of funny, but crazy. It’s a bit inspired by Captain Beefheart. It's really off-the-wall.' The most surprising part? Sting apparently loved it.

7. 'Wrapped Around Your Finger' is inspired by Greek mythology.

In the opening of 'Wrapped Around Your Finger,' Sting sings about being 'caught between the Scylla and Charybdis.' This phrase means 'stuck between a rock and a hard place,' while also referencing two legendary creatures from Greek mythology. Scylla was a fearsome sea monster, described as having twelve feet and six heads, each adorned with sharp teeth. On the other side, across the Straits of Messina, lived Charybdis, a terrifying whirlpool. Both monsters appear in several ancient stories, especially in Homer’s Odyssey, where Scylla claims six of Odysseus’s men.

8. 'O My God' echoes two earlier Police (or Police-related) tracks.

A standout track on side one of Synchronicity, the saxophone-infused 'O My God' features references to two earlier songs. The opening verse and chorus are taken from '3 O’Clock Shot,' an unreleased track from Sting, Summers, and Copeland’s pre-Police band Strontium 90. Later, around the 2:58 mark of 'O My God,' Sting also includes lyrics from 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic' from Ghost in the Machine.

9. From a musical perspective, the album explores minimalism. (In a way.)

After the rich, layered sound of Ghost in the Machine, which incorporated synths and horns, The Police chose to simplify their approach on the follow-up. 'We had become so refined as a band that we realized the three of us, just playing solo and together, might be the best approach—and it just seemed to work,' Sting explained to Rolling Stone. 'The songs felt right with just three instruments. While there were many overdubs, the overall vibe was minimalist.'

10. The album cover exists in numerous variations.

The cover design of Synchronicity features a series of three rows of black and white photographs, each adorned with a streak of bright color, such as red, yellow, or blue. This basic concept led to a multitude of versions. According to the Goldmine Record Album Price Guide, there are a total of 93 different versions, though some estimates, such as a seemingly reliable YouTube video, suggest that the number of U.S. vinyl variants is closer to 40, depending on how variations are counted. Additionally, certain rare editions replace the standard colors with black and white or gold, silver, and bronze.