Essex

Copeland says that his idea for a trio punk band called The Police started with himself and Henry Padovani. He says that the idea for the name was inspired by nightly confrontations between Punk Rockers, those in that lifestyle and the British Police. But if that’s true, why was the band called Strontium 90 instead of The Police from the beginning? A more exotic version of the name origination goes back to stories written about the band right around the time of their first album release in the USA and lives on as a legend.

The legend says that while playing a gig in London, Sting had a confrontation with a club manager. It seems that Strontium 90 was supposed to follow another band that was, in the alleged words of the S man, “dreadful.” Sting was annoyed because the band was not only terrible, but kept playing and refused to leave the stage despite loud audience disapproval. Even after people started throwing things at the band, they stuck it out trying to finish their set. Not wanting to face a completely hostile crowd armed with bottles and folding chairs, Sting voiced his concerns to the club manager with his fellow band members standing nearby and encouraged the man to get the other group off the stage as soon as possible