Somedude wrote:

Sting likes the pop, and I don't mean pop rock, I mean "I want it that way, tell me why...." pop music.

Well, I'm not the kind of fan who will worship his favourite singers whatever they do (I used to be a huge fan of U2, but from Zooropa on they've just kept on letting me down), but I honestly believe saying this is going *a bit* too far. First of all, I don't need to tell you what I think about the Backstreet Boys, but I sincerely don't understand all the fuss that Sting singing with them in a TV show has caused. I mean, would you prefer a Sting who only accepts to feature in a show if his favourite musicians are in it? Would you prefer a haughty Sting saying "I'm the best, I'm a god, so I won't sully my golden reputation by performing with such mean individuals as the Backstreet Boys"? I wouldn't. He joined (and was joined by) them in a couple of songs in a show, that's all. Is it such a scandal? Does it mean he appreciates their music and sees them as a model to follow? I don't think so. As to his "pop" music being comparable to the BSB's one, if you aren't joking I respect your opinion but I can't quite conceive how such a thing can be said. We've often heard him say that his artistic aim is to make music which defies categorization. And, IMO, he succeeds in it. Sting's music isn't pure rock, it isn't pure jazz, it isn't pure anything. So "pop" comes as a comfortable term to refer to it, but only because it is so complex and hybrid that no precise word is available. Do you honestly believe the same can be said of BSB? Clarissa wrote:

My Jupiter-sized blind spot doesn't prevent me from rolling my eyes a bit when he does yet another corporate sponsorship thing, but it does make me buy every single Sting CD I can get my hands on, gaze adoringly at pictures, go to concerts (except I've only been to two--probably about thirty less than the average person on this list) and so forth. And I will also admit that I am sensitive when it comes to criticism of Sting. It's stupid, but there you are. At the same time, I don't worship his personality.

I don't worship his personality either, but for this very reason I don't care too much about the corporate sponsorship things he does. Again, Sting is not a god, he's a musician: it is for his music that he should be judged. As long as he makes music that I love as I've done till now, he will be my favourite singer. I mean, I don't refrain from buying a CD by someone if he/she has such-and-such political ideas or behaves in such-and-such a way. One of the zillion reasons why I love Sting is that music is an aim to him, not a medium. Although he's tried to convey social and political messages with some of his past songs, he treats music for what it is: art. He tries to make art, that is, to create beauty regardless of the messages his lyrics may try to express. He does so, much unlike Rage Against the Machine, Beastie Boys, Manu Chao and dozens of Italian musicians I won't mention because luckily you're very unlikely to have ever heard of them. Terrence wrote:

Sting's music is computer driven, The last time I checked Mucicians were human, Not machines!!!

I too tend to prefer humanly played music, but I think opposing unconditionally to any use of computer in music is a bit limitating. Squarepusher's music is computer driven, Howie B's music is computer driven, not Sting's, IMO. He makes (relative) use of the computer both live and in the studio just as he uses any other musical instrument. I've been a fan of his for nearly 14 years, and I honestly doubt he will ever push his use of computer as far as to make his music computer driven. (BTW, Terrence, he's my drummers' top 5: Stewart, Vinnie, Omar, Manu, Abe). Thanks for reading and sorry for being so long. Michele