# This Song by The Police Exposed the Growing Fissures Within the Band

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/this-song-by-the-police-exposed-the-growing-fissures-within-the-band/
- Published: 2026-11-12T21:30:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-12T22:36:47+00:00
- Original publisher: American Songwriter
- Original article: https://americansongwriter.com/this-song-by-the-police-exposed-the-growing-fissures-within-the-band/
- Topics: Asia, Entertainment, Music, World

## Key points

- Sting’s growing artistic control strained relations within The Police.
- Summers had to fight to get guitar into the synth-led track.
- The song reached No. 11 before the band’s final album.

## Summary

The Police’s “Spirits in the Material World” became a hit as tensions grew over who controlled the band’s music. Sting arrived at sessions for the 1981 album *Ghost in the Machine* with developed demos, challenging the group’s usual practice of building songs together in the studio.

Sting wrote the song on synthesiser, drawing lyrical inspiration from Arthur Koestler’s *The Ghost in the Machine*. Andy Summers pushed to include guitar, though it remained secondary to the synths; the single reached No. 11 in 1981. The band made one more album, *Synchronicity*, before splitting up in 1983.

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