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1995 Police Mailing List Survey Results
These are the results of the 3rd annual (1995) Police Mailing List
survey, which was also the 1st annual Internet Police Fandom survey.
There were 118 respondents to the poll, 70 of them from the mailing
list, 35 who saw the survey on Martin's "Fields of Gold" web page, and
12 who saw it in a newsgroup (plus one who didn't answer the question).
I have divided these into three different groups:
SP: People who like Sting more than the Police (gave a higher answer to
question III.1 than to I.1). There are 59 of them (50%).
E: People who like Sting and the Police equally well. There are 44 of them
(37%).
PS: People who like the Police more than Sting (including people who don't
like Sting solo at all). There are 15 of those (13%).
As you will see later, these populations show marked differences in
just about every category.
There are other populations which show differences in some categories,
and I will mention them where appropriate.
And now, on to the questions:
I. The Police
1) On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you like The Police?
Answer All SP E PS
5-6 3% 6% 0% 0%
7 36 40 34 27
8 23 25 18 27
9 25 29 20 27
10 13 0 27 20
Average 8.1 7.8 8.4 8.2
As can be expected, SPs like the Police least. The odd thing is,
however, that PS average less than Es. That is, Police fans like the
Police less than people who're equally fans of Sting and the Police.
The average for mailing list members was 8.4, for non-members 7.5.
This is probably due to the fact that the non-members are mostly
Sting fans (which is why they were reading a Sting web page).
It is important to note that E's are split into two major groups:
those who are obsessed with both Sting and the Police (gave both 10),
and those who merely count both Sting and the Police among their
favorite acts (gave both 7).
2) What is your favorite Police album?
Answer All SP E PS
Synchronicity 44% 44% 46% 36%
Regatta de Blanc 14 14 10 29
Zenyatta Modatta 13 20 7 7
Ghost in the Machine 12 8 15 21
Outlandos d'Amour 10 8 12 7
Synchronicity is everybody's favorite, altough PS are the least
enthusiastic about it (maybe because it's too close to being a "Sting
solo" album?). This is significantly different from last year's results,
where 62% of SP liked Synchronicity, but only 16% of E and 18% of PS
did.
When it comes to second-favorite, we see differences between the groups
this year also. SP's like Zenyatta Mondatta, E's like Ghost in the
Machine, and PS's like Regatta de Blanc.
Other interesting points:
27% of women, as opposed to 6% of men, like Ghost in the Machine best.
21% of mailing-list members, as opposed to 3% of non-members, like
Regatta de Blanc.
3) What are your three favorite Police songs / compositions.
There were 45 different songs mentioned, over half the Police songs
ever published. The most often mentioned were:
Answer All SP E PS
Every Little Thing She Does 29% 31% 38% 0%
Message in a Bottle 26 25 31 13
Every Breath You Take 25 35 17 13
Synchronicity II 21 25 17 20
King of Pain 20 23 14 27
So Lonely 19 15 26 13
Wrapped Around Your Finger 17 21 14 7
Roxanne 10 13 10 0
Don't Stand So Close to Me 9 12 2 20
I Burn for You 9 12 2 20
Walking on the Moon 9 12 5 13
Can't Stand Losing You 7 0 7 33
Here we see serious differences between the groups. SP and E like
"Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" a lot - but no PS likes it!
On the other hand, PS favorites include "Can't Stand Losing You", "I Burn
for You", and "Don't Stand So Close to Me", which the other groups
aren't all that enthusiastic about. (But also "King of Pain", which
SP like too). SP voted unashamedly for "Every Breath You Take", the
commercial hit; E and PS were more reserved about it.
Changes from last year: while "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic"
is still first, as it was then, it has dropped from 42% to 29%. Its most
serious loss is among PS: last year, 55% of them voted for it. This year,
none did. "Synchronicity II" and "Every Breath You Take" improved their
standings. "The Bed's Too Big Without You", which was 5th last year,
dropped out of the chart. This is probably because last year people
heard the "mono" version on the box set for the first time and liked it.
This year, the novelty has worn off, and they're back to the old favorites.
A point to note (re recent mailing list thread) is that all the songs
except "I Burn for You" (at 9th place) were singles. Assuming most fans
know all the songs, this means the people who decided which songs to
release as Police singles knew what they were doing: those are the best
songs. (The public sometimes failed to appreciate them as much as we
do, but what do they know.)
4) What is your least favorite Police album?
Answer All SP E PS
Zenyatta Mondatta 26% 20 27 43
Outlandos d'Amour 25 34 17 14
Ghost in the Machine 22 20 33 7
Regatta de Blanc 13 20 7 7
Every Breath You Take 7 7 3 14
Synchronicity 6 0 10 14
Here there is no one album that stands out in the overall standings.
When we look by group, however, we see that each has its pet peeve.
SP's don't like Outlandos d'Amour, E's don't like Ghost and
Zenyatta, and PS's really don't like Zenyatta.
The major change from last year is that _Regatta de Blanc_ dropped
from second place to fourth, because PS and E no longer dislike it as
much as they did then.
5) What are your 3 least favorite Police songs / compositions?
Despite the fact that some people wouldn't answer this question, and
several others only sent in one or two songs, there were 60 songs
mentioned. Including, of course, many songs that were somebody else's
favorites.
The top of the chart goes like this:
Answer All SP E PS
Mother 51% 59% 51% 25%
A Kind of Loving 18 21 22 0
Behind My Camel 10 15 5 8
Be My Girl - Sally 9 15 5 0
Miss Gradenko 9 10 11 0
Landlord 7 8 8 0
Born in the 50's 6 13 0 0
Flexible Strategies 6 3 8 8
Shambelle 5 3 0 25
Canary in a Coalmine 5 5 0 17
King of Pain 5 0 5 17
Every Breath You Take 3 0 3 17
For the third year in a row, "Mother" wins this question handily,
with over half SP's and E's disliking it. PS's hate "Shambelle" just
as much, but being relatively few they hardly affect the total. Their
other least favorites, "Canary", "King of Pain", and "Every Breath You
Take" are also low in the list.
Trailing far behind "Mother" are:
"A Kind of Loving", which I still believe would "score" higher if it
weren't relatively obscure (nobody can enjoy that screaming!),
"Behind My Camel" (what, don't you people believe in Grammy's?),
"Sally", which some find offensive, and "Miss Gradenko", for no fault I can see.
Even "Mother" is not, I think, a bad song as such. It is simply
not a Police song. Some people just don't like the style it represents.
The people who dislike "Mother" tend to like Eric Clapton, Genesis,
Phil Collins, Billy Joel, and Enya much more than those who don't mind
"Mother". On the other hand, they don't like Pink Floyd, David Bowie,
Tori Amos, Live, and Van Halen nearly as much.
"Born in the 50's" and "Behind My Camel" traded places, "Miss Gradenko"
and "Landlord" are new in the list, and "One World (not three)" dropped
out.
6) What is your favorite Police videoclip?
Some people understood this question to mean a song video, others
thought it meant any piece of film. Perhaps I should make it clearer
next time.
Answer All SP E PS
Wrapped Around Your Finger 23% 26% 18% 27%
Every Breath You Take 21 26 21 18
Synchronicity II 14 6 24 0
Don't Stand So Close To Me 13 14 15 0
Don't Stand So Close '86 10 9 9 18
Last year, "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" was second, with
30% of E and PS votes. This year, only two people mentioned it.
7) Have you ever seen the Police live?
8 people have. The other 110 envy them.
This is about 7%, a drop from 17% last year.
8) How long have you been a Police fan?
The spread here is huge. We have a person who became a fan less than a
year ago - and another who claims to have been born a fan, 19 years ago.
And just about every value in between.
All: Average 9.2 years (standard deviation 4.7), median 9
SP: Average 8.2 years (standard deviation 4.8), median 7
E: Average 10 years (standard deviation 4.4), median 10
PS: Average 10.5 years (standard deviation 5.2), median 12
II. Stewart Copeland
1) On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you like Stewart?
63% of us don't feel they know him (or his music) enough to answer that.
The rest average 6.9 (almost one of their favorite musicians).
Breakdown by groups gives us:
SP: 69% don't know Stewart. The rest like him an average of 6.8.
E: 48% don't know Stewart. The rest like him an average of 6.8.
PS: 66% don't know Stewart. The rest like him an average of 7.4.
We have 2 obsessed Stewart fans (answered "10"), and 5 more who
are nearly obsessed (9).
Last year, only 31% didn't know Stewart, but those that did liked him
less. Perhaps this year, those that only heard one or two albums and
didn't like them, answered with "0" rather than a low number.
2) What is your favorite Stewart album?
Answer All
Klark Kent 37%
Rhythmatist 32
Equalizer 12
Rumblefish 12
This is a major change from previous years, and is due to the release of
Klark Kent: Kollected Works on CD.
3) What is your favorite Stewart song / composition?
There were 19 different songs mentioned, of which the following six
appeared more than once:
Answer All
On Any Other Day 19%
Miss Gradenko 16
Too Kool to Kalypso 6
Love Lessons 6
Equalizer Busy Equalizing 6
Away From Home 6
Again, the release of Klark Kent on CD familiarized people with those
songs, so while last year's list was predominantly Police songs, this
year's is half KK. Still, the Police tunes lead.
4) What is your least favorite Stewart album?
Only 16 people answered this one, with seven different answers.
The repeated ones were Equalizer (25%), Rumblefish (19%),
Animal Logic (19%) and Klark Kent (19%).
5) What is your least favorite Stewart song / composition?
Only 12 people answered this question, with 12 different answers.
6) What is your favorite Stewart videoclip?
Practically nobody has ever seen any.
7) Have you ever seen Stewart live?
3 of us have.
8) How long have you been a Stewart fan?
The average is 7.9 years, with standard deviation of 4.8.
III. Sting
1) On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you like Sting?
30% of us are obsessed with the man. Another 29% are nearly obsessed,
but retain some sense of proportion (or at least think they do).
One person "doesn't like" Sting (answered this question "4"), and
one other "doesn't care one way or another about him" (5).
The averages and medians are:
All: 8.6 (9)
SP: 9.1 (9)
E: 8.4 (8)
PS: 7 (7)
The overall average, as well as the average for SP's, dropped about half
a point in the last year. Are Sting's fans getting disillusioned? On the
other hand, the average for E rose a little, and the average for PS rose
a point and a half. Are Police fans getting more tolerant of Sting's
solo work, or have those that really don't like him dropped out of the
mailing list?
2) What is your favorite Sting album?
Answer All SP E PS
Soul Cages 33% 34% 36% 17%
Nothing Like the Sun 25 22 24 42
Dream of the Blues Turtles 21 22 14 33
Ten Summoner's Tales 10 12 10 0
Bring on the Night 6 7 5 8
Fields of Gold 5 2 12 0
Last year, 64% of PS preferred Dream of the Blue Turtles, and none
of them liked Nothing Like the Sun. Then, it was the E's who voted
for Nothing Like the Sun (32% of them). As a consequence, Dream was
second, and Nothing Like the Sun trailed (18% vs. 31% for Dream) in
third place.
Curiously enough, two years ago Soul Cages was in third place.
Police fans liked Dream, Sting fans liked Nothing Like the Sun and
Dream. Soul Cages is apparently an album which takes a while to
grow on the listener.
3) What are your 3 favorite Sting songs / compositions?
There were 50 different songs mentioned.
The top of the chart looks like this:
Answer All SP E PS
Fortress Around Your Heart 25% 15% 35% 22%
Fragile 21 19 21 33
Why Should I Cry for You? 20 25 19 0
Mad About You 17 21 12 11
Englishman in New York 17 19 12 22
Shape of My Heart 14 18 9 11
Fields of Gold 13 12 16 0
Russians 11 16 5 11
Wild Wild Sea 10 7 14 11
All This Time 9 5 12 22
Moon Over Bourbon Street 9 11 7 11
Soul Cages 8 4 12 22
When We Dance 8 9 9 0
Be Still My Beating Heart 7 2 14 11
Once again, the different groups show different tastes. SP like
"Why Should I Cry for You?" and "Mad About You", E like "Fortress",
and PS like "Fragile".
There is also a high correlation between people's favorite album and
songs. Soul Cages fans like "Why Should I Cry for You?" (33%),
and "Wild Wild Sea" (28%); Nothing Like the Sun fans like "Fragile"
(37%), "Englishman in New York" (26%), and "Sister Moon" (15%); and
Dream of the Blue Turtles fans like "Fortress Around Your Heart" (52%),
"Russians" (24%), and "Moon Over Bourbon Street" (19%).
Finally, there are marked differences between people on the mailing
list and not. The non-members like "Shape of My Heart" (20% vs. 9% of
members), "Fields of Gold" (17% vs. 7%), and "When We Dance" (17% vs. 4%)
much more than members.
On the other hand, the non-members don't like "Why Should I Cry For
You?" (10% vs 24% of members) and "Sister Moon" (3% vs. 10%) as much.
Last year, "Fortress" was also first, but back then it was SP and PS
who voted for it most. The E's then liked "Mad About You", which was
second. "Shape of My Heart" and "Fields of Gold" are new on the chart -
probably because last year only mailing list members were surveyed.
4) What is your least favorite Sting album?
Answer All SP E PS
Ten Summoner's Tales 37% 31% 36% 67%
Soul Cages 20 24 18 11
Dream of the Blue Turtles 20 19 24 11
Nothing Like the Sun 13 12 18 0
Not too surprisingly, Ten Summoner's Tales is the least liked
album, especially among PS's who truly despise it. SP's dislike
Soul Cages nearly as much, and E's don't much like Dream of the
Blue Turtles.
Two years ago, Soul Cages was first, with over half of Sting fans
liking it the least. Seems they've learned better...
5) What are your 3 least favorite Sting songs / compositions?
There were 45 songs mentioned, including many that were other
people's favorites.
The most repeated were:
Answer All SP E PS(*)
Love is Stronger than Justice 26% 26% 27% 14%
We'll Be Together 22 12 30 43
Rock Steady 16 14 18 14
Secret Marriage 12 12 12 14
Russians 11 19 3 0
This Cowboy Song (**) 11 10 15 0
When We Dance 9 2 12 29
Fields of Gold 6 5 3 29
(*) Only 7 PS answered this question, so the significance of the
statistics is questionable.
(**) Some people wrote "the cowboy song" or words to that effect.
When that happened last year, I took it to mean "Love is Stronger
Than Justice". This year, it's a little confusing. I may have
given votes to "This Cowboy Song" which were meant for "Love is
Stronger Than Justice".
People don't like "Love is Stronger Than Justice", Sting's attempt
at musical and lyrical humor which apparently fails with us.
E and PS dislike "We'll Be Together" even more, for being a banal
pop song unworthy of Sting.
I'm not sure what's wrong with "Rock Steady", perhaps someone can
enlighten me?
"Russians" is an odd song. 16% of SP love it, 19% of them hate
it. No other song places so high on both charts.
Except for the first three, all the songs are different from what
we had last year, although last year's least favorites do appear further
down the chart.
6) What is your favorite Sting videoclip?
There were 20 different clips mentioned. The most repeated were:
Answer All SP E PS(*)
We'll Be Together 16% 17% 18% 0
If I Ever Lose My Faith In You 15 17 12 20
Fortress Around Your Heart 12 17 6 20
Englishman in New York 10 10 6 40
(*) Only 5 PS answered this question.
A surprise here is "We'll Be Together", which starred in the "least
favorite song" question. But, apparently, the video is rated separately
from the song.
Last year, "Fields of Gold" was first, and "We'll be Together" only
third.
7) Have you ever seen Sting live?
76 of us have.
8) How long have you been a Sting fan?
The spread is as wide as for the Police. The average is 8.6 years,
standard variation of 4.5.
IV. Andy Summers
1) On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you like Andy?
66% of us don't know him enough to answer that. 76% of SP, 55%
of E, and 60% of PS.
Of those that did answer, the average is 6.2 (little better than
"he's OK"). (6.1 for SP, 6.25 for E, and 6.2 for PS).
We have 2 obsessed Andy fans, and one almost-obsessed fan.
2) What is your favorite Andy album?
Answer All
Charming Snakes 25%
XYZ 21
I Advance Masked 14
Bewitched 7
Invisible Threads 7
Women like XYZ more (38%), while men like Charming Snakes (30%).
Last year, Golden Wire got 20% of the votes. This year, it only
got 1 vote. XYZ was first then, and Charming Snakes only third.
3) What is your favorite Andy song?
Answer All
Someone to Talk To 15%
Murder by Numbers 11
Mother 7
Sally 7
Friends 7
Girl in a Swing 7
Blues for Snake 7
Most of those are, of course, Police songs.
Interestingly, the only people who like "Murder by Numbers" are women
who dislike "Mother".
4) What is your least favorite Andy album?
Only 9 people answered that.
3 picked XYZ, 2 picked Charming Snakes, and 2 picked Mysterious
Barricades.
5) What is your least favorite Andy song?
14 people answered. 7 of them said "Mother".
6) What is your favorite Andy videoclip?
Two people mentioned "Love is the Strangest Way", two people described
the "Sumo wrestling" scene in Around the World, two liked his part in
"Don't Stand So Close to Me", and one said "Parade".
7) Have you ever seen Andy live?
None have, except those who've seen him with the Police or guesting
with Sting.
8) How long have you been an Andy fan?
The average here is 8.3 years, standard deviation 4.5.
V. Reunion
1) Do you think The Police will reunite?
46% of us said no. Some emphasized it ("No way no how!").
PS are most convinced: 64% of them said "No".
37% think they'll do it for some special occasion
18% think there will be another song, album, and/or tour.
Last year, about the same number of people thought no reunion would
happen, but only half as many (10%) thought there will be more than
a one-time gig.
2) When do you think this reunion will happen?
Obviously, the same 46% said "never". The rest said:
Answer All
Within next 3 years 19%
5-10 years hence 28
More than 10 years away 7
Last year, 40% thought it was 5-10 years away. Well, time is passing.
3) Do you think the Police SHOULD reunite? Why?
49% think they should.
54% of E think it would be nice, but only 31% of PS think it will be
other than a disaster.
The reasons given for a reunion varied from selfish ("I want to
see them") to musical ("They can make better music together than
each apart").
The reasons given against a reunion also included musical reasons
("They've each grown in a different direction and are happy that way"),
personal ("There would be bloodshed"), and concerns with image ("Leave
the legend alone").
Quite a number of people wouldn't answer this question in a yes/no
manner. They said, basically, that a reunion would be great if it worked
out but aweful if it didn't.
VI. Music in general.
1) What are your 10 favorite musical acts (no need to rank them)?
There were over 350 different acts mentioned. They cover music from
J.S. Bach to Ice-T, and just about everything in between.
The top twenty are as follows:
Act All SP E PS
Police 86% 80% 93% 86%
Sting 85 98 81 50
U2 31 32 31 29
Peter Gabriel 25 24 26 21
REM 20 20 21 14
Beatles 22 16 26 29
Pink Floyd 13 14 10 21
Genesis 11 12 14 0
Eric Clapton 11 8 19 0
Billy Joel 9 14 5 7
Cranberries 8 12 5 0
Pearl Jam 8 12 5 0
Sarah McLachlan 8 12 5 0
Phil Collins 8 10 10 0
Dire Straits 8 10 5 7
Tori Amos 8 8 10 7
David Bowie 7 4 7 14
Jimi Hendrix 7 2 10 14
Nirvana 7 2 12 7
Van Halen 7 6 10 0
Neither Stewart nor Andy made it to this list. Stewart only got 6 votes,
Andy got just two votes.
Last year, the top of the list was much the same, although U2 were
only in fifth place. The rest of the list, however, was different:
Crowded House, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, the Eagles, They Might Be
Giants, Paul Simon, Weird Al Yankovic, Led Zeppelin and the Stone Temple
Pilots were on the list, instead of the Cranberries, Pearl Jam, Sarah
McLachlan, Dire Straits, Tori Amos, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana,
and Van Halen.
2) Does your interest in The Police prompt you to seek out works by people
who worked with them (musicians, producers, etc.)?
55% seek out such works. Last year, only 46% did.
3) How many hours a day, on average, do you listen to music?
The spread here is from "I hardly ever have time to listen" to 19 hours.
And many people said it varies widely.
So, for what it's worth, the average is 4.3 with a standard deviation
of 3.5, and a median of 3.
VII. Police and Internet
1) Where did you see this survey?
60% saw it on the mailing list.
30% saw it on the "Fields of Gold" web page.
6% saw it in alt.fan.sting
4% saw it in alt.music.the.police
2) How actively do you participate in the Police mailing list?
32% of the respondents are not members.
24% lurk.
45% post sometimes or frequently.
More SP are not members (39% of them), while more PS (50%) and E (58%)
post on the list.
3) How actively do you participate in alt.fan.sting?
58% don't or can't see it
23% lurk
19% post sometimes or frequently
4) How actively do you participate in alt.music.the.police?
61% don't or can't see it
22% lurk
17% post sometimes or frequently
It appears the propagation of the two newsgroups is rather poor. Several
people said that they could not find them. (You must ask your system
administrator for them). Some others said that they can find the groups,
but the quality of discussions there made them turn away.
5) How actively do you participate in Police-related WWW activity?
23% don't
31% have browsed a page or two
40% check out every page they can find, and sometimes mail comments
to the page maintainers
6% (7 people) own a Police or Sting web page.
VII. General & Personal
1) What is your gender?
64% of us are male. 70% of the mailing list members are.
Last year, 79% were male.
Looking at the audience in concerts, we know Police/Sting fandom
isn't predominantly male. It's the Internet that is - and that is
changing.
SP are almost evenly split: only 54% are male. Looked at another
way, 63% of females are SP, but only 42% of males. Sting's sex appeal?
PS, on the other hand, are 79% male, and E are 72% male.
2) What is your age?
Our youngest are 15, 16, and 17 (3 of them).
Our oldest are 49, 40, 36, and 35 (2 of them).
So the spread is pretty wide. However, most cluster around the early
twenties. The average age is 23.3 (standard deviation is 5), the median
is 22. SP average youngest (22.6, median 21), PS average 23.6 with median
24, and E average 24.2 but their median is only 23.
5) What is your profession / major?
It may be a sign of our complex world that no two people described
their jobs or majors in the same way. I've tried to make some groupings,
but don't flame me if you see yourself lumped with people who're "nothing
at all like what I'm doing".
31% of us are computer people (students, programmers, or managers).
19% are in the natural or engineering sciences (physics, biology,
environment, chemical and electrical engineering)
13% are in communication (TV, journalism) or the performing arts
11% are students
9% are in political science, government, and international relations
6% are in business (marketing, advertising)
5% are in psychology or education
4% are in English and related fields
3% are in law
Despite what is being said about the Internet no longer being the sole
province of computer freaks, the percentage of computer people among us
has not changed from last year.
And that's who we are this year. Thanks to all who participated.
Your questions and comments are welcome. Please e-mail them to
orits@cs.huji.ac.il
Here's hoping that, next year, Mercury Falling and its songs will appear
on the "favorites" lists!
Orit
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