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

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.