On this day in history (November 2, 1978), The Police released their debut album Outlandos d’Amour featuring the singles Roxanne, Can’t Stand Losing You and So Lonely. This album features a variety of music styles, incorporating elements of reggae, pop and punk.
The album didn’t perform well after it’s initial release. It wasn’t receiving a lot of exposure as the BBC took issue with Can’t Stand Losing You (about suicide) and Roxanne (about prostitution). Sting had this to say about this
We had [a] publicity campaign with posters about how the BBC banned ‘Roxanne’. The reason they had a problem with ‘Can’t Stand Losing You’ was because the photo on the cover of the single had Stewart standing on a block of ice with a noose around his neck, waiting for the ice to melt.
Videos
Roxanne
Can’t Stand Losing You
So Lonely
Charts
- Rolling Stone magazine ranked #38 on the 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time
- Rolling Stone magazine ranked #428 on the 500 Greatest Albums Of all time.
- Peaked at #6 on the UK Albums chart
- Peaked at 23 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart
- Can’t Stand Losing You peaked at #2 on the UK Singles chart
- So Lonely peaked at #6 on the UK Singles chart
- Roxanne peaked at #12 on the UK Singles chart and #32 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart
Track Listing
- Next To You
- So Lonely
- Roxanne
- Hole In My Life
- Peanuts
- Can’t Stand Losing You
- Truth Hits Everybody
- Born In The 50s
- Be My Girl – Sally
- Masoko Tanga
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