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1996 Police Mailing List Survey Results
These are the results of the 4th annual (1996) Police Mailing List
survey, which was also the 2nd annual Internet Police Fandom survey.
There were 73 respondents to the poll, 59 of them from the mailing
list, 9 who saw it in a newsgroup, and 3 who saw it on the "Zenyatta
Regatta" web page. This is not an overly impressive showing. I seem
to recall the mailing list has hundreds of members. Where are you all?
I have divided the respondents 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 44 of them (60%). Last
year, by the way, they were only 50%, and the year before only 42%.
An interesting subgroup of these are the 29 people obsessed with
Sting (but not with the Police).
E: People who like Sting and the Police equally well. There are 17 of them
(23%). 6 of them are obsessed with both the Police and Sting.
PS: People who like the Police more than Sting (including people who don't
like Sting solo at all). There are 12 of those (16%).
As you will see later, these populations show marked differences in
just about every category. However, since there are relatively few
E's and PS's, statistics about them are rather suspicious.
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
7 26 44 0 0
8 25 26 24 25
9 31 28 41 25
10 18 2 35 50
Average 8.4 7.9 9.1 9.2
As can be expected, PS like the police most, SPs least.
Women averaged 8.1, while men averaged 8.6.
2) What is your favorite Police album?
Answer All SP E PS
Synchronicity 50% 60% 35% 33%
Regatta de Blanc 18 5 35 42
Ghost in the Machine 11 16 6 0
Outlandos d'Amour 10 9 12 8
Zenyatta Modatta 7 2 12 17
Synchronicity is the SP's clear favorite, maybe because it's almost
a "Sting solo" album. PS prefer the rawer Police sound of Regatta de
Blanc. And E's like both the same.
This is different from last year, when all groups liked Synchronicity.
3) What are your three favorite Police songs / compositions.
There were 41 different songs mentioned, about half the Police songs
ever published. The most often mentioned were:
Answer All SP E PS
Message in a Bottle 40% 44% 35% 33%
Every Little Thing She Does 31 33 29 25
Every Breath You Take 29 44 6 8
King of Pain 22 16 29 33
Don't Stand So Close to Me 15 23 6 0
So Lonely 19 16 24 25
Bring On the Night 13 9 12 25
I Burn for You 11 9 12 17
Secret Journey 11 9 12 17
Synchronicity II 11 14 6 8
Wrapped Around Your Finger 11 7 24 8
Roxanne 10 14 6 0
An upset! After three years at the top, "Every Little Thing She Does
Is Magic" is dislodged by "Message in a Bottle". And all the groups agree
on that. What they don't agree on is second/third-favorite. SP like "Every
Breath You Take" just as much as "Message", but the other groups aren't
that fond of it. SP also like "Don't Stand So Close to Me", which the
others don't. Instead, E and PS like "King of Pain" and "So Lonely".
E's like "Wrapped Around Your Finger" a lot, too, while PS are partial
to "Bring on the Night".
4) What is your least favorite Police album?
Answer All SP E PS
Ghost in the Machine 28% 31 21 30
Zenyatta Mondatta 25 24 43 0
Outlandos d'Amour 25 38 7 10
Every Breath You Take 11 7 7 30
Synchronicity 8 0 14 20
Regatta de Blanc 4 0 7 10
Another upset. Zenyatta, which was first in the last two years,
is only second now.
While nobody likes Ghost, SP dislike Outlandos even more,
E's find Zenyatta lacking, and PS don't like the commercialism
of EBYT - the Singles.
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 50 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 59% 60% 53% 67%
A Kind of Loving 24 17 40 22
Behind My Camel 22 20 20 33
Be My Girl - Sally 20 26 7 22
Friends 14 11 27 0
Peanuts 12 17 7 0
For the fourth year in a row, "Mother" wins this question handily.
In fact, the entire top four are the same, but the numbers have grown.
Our tastes here have become more uniform.
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 21% 26% 13% 17%
Every Breath You Take 16 20 13 8
Don't Stand So Close To Me 14 11 19 17
Every Little Thing She Does 10 9 13 8
7) Have you ever seen the Police live?
9 people have, including one who saw them twice.
The other 64 envy them.
This is about 12%, a rise from 7% last year.
8) How long have you been a Police fan?
The spread here is huge. We have two people who became fans a year
or less ago, and two others who have been fans for 18 years.
And just about every value in between.
The average is 10.4 years (standard deviation 4.7). The median is
11. There is no significant difference between the groups.
II. Stewart Copeland
1) On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you like Stewart?
46% of us don't feel they know him (or his music) enough to answer that.
This is a drop from 63% last year.
The rest average 6.6 (just a little better than "he's OK").
Breakdown by groups gives us:
SP: 60% don't know Stewart. The rest like him an average of 5.9.
E: 24% don't know Stewart. The rest like him an average of 6.8.
PS: 25% don't know Stewart. The rest like him an average of 7.7.
We have 2 obsessed Stewart fans (answered "10"), and 2 more who
are nearly obsessed (9). We also have one person who can't stand
Stewart's music (answered "1").
2) What is your favorite Stewart album?
Answer All
Klark Kent 59%
Rhythmatist 18
As more and more people find the CD of Klark Kent: Kollected Works,
it gains points. Last year it held only 37% of the votes.
These are the only two albums which got more than 1 vote.
3) What is your favorite Stewart song / composition?
There were 15 different songs mentioned, of which the following six
appeared more than once:
Answer All
Does Everyone Stare 13%
Darkness 13
On Any Other Day 10
Miss Gradenko 10
Don't Care 10
Last year there were several Klark Kent songs there, and neither
"Does Everyone Stare" nor "Darkness" appeared at all. But this year
sees a return to the favorites of '94 and '93 - which are the Police
tunes.
Only men voted for "Darkness". Women prefer "Miss Gradenko".
The people who are obsessed with Sting tended to go with "Does
Everyone Stare" and "On Any Other Day".
4) What is your least favorite Stewart album?
Only 11 people answered this one, with eight different answers.
The only one repeated was _Equalizer and Other Cliffhangers_,
with 4 votes (36%).
5) What is your least favorite Stewart song / composition?
17 people answered this, with 15 different answers. The two
repeats were "Nothing Achieving" and "African Dream".
6) What is your favorite Stewart videoclip?
Practically nobody has ever seen any.
7) Have you ever seen Stewart live?
5 of us have, including one who saw him twice.
This is about 7%.
8) How long have you been a Stewart fan?
This varies, again, between 1 year and 18. The average, like the
Police, is 10.2. However, women and Sting's obsessed fans have only
started paying attention to Stewart 3 or 4 years ago.
III. Sting
1) On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you like Sting?
49% of us are obsessed with the man. Another 31% are nearly obsessed,
but retain some sense of proportion. Of the women, 63% are obsessed.
Of men, only 41%.
The worst anybody had to say about him was one person who answered
"5" ("don't care one way or another about him").
The averages are:
All: 9.2
SP: 9.6
E: 9.1
PS: 7.8
Women: 9.5
Men: 9
The overall average is up over half a point from last year. Even the
average for PS is up, from 7 to 7.8. Either the people who aren't
die-hard fans have dropped off the mailing list, or we're all starting
to like Sting better.
2) What is your favorite Sting album?
Answer All SP E PS
Soul Cages 35% 42% 35% 8%
Ten Summoner's Tales 17 23 6 8
Nothing Like the Sun 17 19 12 17
Dream of the Blues Turtles 17 5 29 42
Mercury Falling 10 7 18 8
Soul Cages remains strong in the first position. Ten Summoner's
Tales, which last year trailed far behind SC,Nothing Like the Sun,
and Dream of the Blue Turtles, now holds an equal place to the latter
two, due to SP growing to like it.
PS remain loyal to Sting's first solo album, DotBT. They seem to
believe he's been going downhill ever since.
The new album, Mercury Falling, makes a poor showing, picking up
only a few of the E votes. But if SC and TST are anything to go by,
it may do better next year, after having time to grow on us.
3) What are your 3 favorite Sting songs / compositions?
There were 60 different songs mentioned.
The top of the chart looks like this:
Answer All SP E PS
Fortress Around Your Heart 25% 25% 24% 45%
Fragile 18 23 18 0
Mad About You 17 16 18 18
I Was Brought to My Senses 15 18 18 0
All This Time 15 14 24 9
Shape of My Heart 11 16 0 9
Soul Cages 11 11 12 9
Why Should I Cry for You? 10 11 6 9
Fields of Gold 10 11 6 9
"Fortress Around Your Heart" is well ahead, for the fourth year
in a row. "Fragile" and "Mad About You" were also at the top before.
"Why Should I Cry for You?" has dropped, from third place and 20%
last year.
"I Was Brought to My Senses", from the new album, makes a very
good showing at fourth place. Other songs from _Mercury Falling_
(and its b-sides) also got votes, although not enough to make it
to the top:
Hounds of Winter 8%
25 to Midnight 4
Lithium Sunset 4
The Pirate's Bride 4
Beneath a Desert Moon 4
All Four Seasons 3
You Still Touch Me 3
I Hung My Head 1
Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot 1
Lullaby to an Anxious Child 1
4) What is your least favorite Sting album?
Answer All SP E PS
Mercury Falling 29% 28% 13% 55%
Nothing Like the Sun 19 16 27 18
Dream of the Blue Turtles 17 19 20 9
Soul Cages 16 16 13 18
Ten Summoner's Tales 12 9 27 -
Ten Summoner's Tales, which was least liked last year and the
year before, has now dropped to the bottom of the list. It seems
its detractors have found a new album to hate.
Among Sting's obsessed fans, Soul Cages heads the least-favorite
list, as well as the favorites list. Talk about a controversial album.
5) What are your 3 least favorite Sting songs / compositions?
There were 55 songs mentioned, including many that were other
people's favorites.
The most repeated were:
Answer All SP E PS
We'll Be Together 25% 20% 17% 50%
Secret Marriage 19 20 8 30
Rock Steady 16 17 25 0
All Four Seasons 14 17 17 0
Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot 12 9 0 40
I Hung My Head 11 17 0 0
St. Augustine in Hell 11 14 8 0
History Will Teach Us Nothing 11 11 17 0
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free 11 11 0 20
Major change here. "Love is Stronger Than Justice", which headed
the list for the past three years, has dropped out of sight with
only 9% of us still hating it. Either it's grown on us, or its
haters have found viler songs on Mercury Falling, 3 of whose
tracks appear here.
The other Mercury Falling tracks which irked people are:
I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying 7%
Lithium Sunset 4
Valparaiso 4
La Belle Dame Sans Regret 3
25 to Midnight 1
Giacomo's Blues 1
Some interesting notes: only women, 26% of them, hate "If You Love
Somebody Set Them Free". Only men, 18% of them, hate "History Will
Teach Us Nothing." Sting's obsessed fans, 19% of them, continue to
dislike "Love is Stronger than Justice".
6) What is your favorite Sting videoclip?
There were 21 different clips mentioned. The most repeated were:
Answer All SP E PS
If I Ever Lose My Faith In You 14% 11% 20% 18%
All This Time 13 11 20 9
Fortress Around Your Heart 11 16 0 9
We'll Be Together 9 8 7 18
"All This Time" is new on this list, despite being an "old" video.
Why have we suddenly remembered it?
The women's #1 favorite is "Fortress". Men, on the other hand, like
"We'll be Together" four times as much as the women do. Gee, I wonder
why. Men also like "Faith" and "All This Time" twice as much as women
do.
7) Have you ever seen Sting live?
93% of us have. 98% of SP, 88% of E, and 82% of PS. This is up
from 64% last year, and is probably due to Sting's extended touring
this year.
Each and every one of Sting's obsessed fans, as well as all our
women, have seen Sting in concert.
Several people replied with the number of times they've seen Sting,
(some even gave dates and venues). Those average about 6 times.
8) How long have you been a Sting fan?
The spread is as wide as for the Police. The average is 10.2,
with Sting's obsessed fans averaging only 9.5 and PS averaging 11.4.
IV. Andy Summers
1) On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you like Andy?
44% of us don't know him enough to answer that. 58% of SP, 29%
of E, and 17% of PS. This is significantly lower than last year,
when 66% of us didn't know his work.
Of those that did answer, the average is 6.4 (somewhat better than
"he's OK"). (5.3 for SP, 7.3 for E, and 7.5 for PS).
We have 2 obsessed Andy fans, and 5 almost-obsessed fans.
2) What is your favorite Andy album?
Answer All
XYZ 20%
Golden Wire 16
Synaesthesia 16
World Gone Strange 16
Charming Snakes, which was first last year, was only voted for
by one person this year. In fact, except for XYZ (which was second
last year), the entire list is different from last year. On the other
hand, two years ago, Golden Wire got 20% of the votes. Last year, it
only got 1 vote. It would appear that we have too few Andy-connoiseurs
for this list to be representative.
The new album, Synaesthesia, has picked up a following quickly.
3) What is your favorite Andy song?
There were 19 songs named. The ones repeated were:
Answer All
Someone to Talk To 19%
Omegaman 15
Friends 8
Those are, of course, Police songs.
One person proudly named "Mother".
4) What is your least favorite Andy album?
Only 10 people answered that.
4 picked Mysterious Barricades and 2 picked Golden Wire.
5) What is your least favorite Andy song?
19 people answered. 13 of them (68%) said "Mother". That includes
100% of the 9 SP who answered. However, one person said, "Definitely
NOT Mother. I love that one."
6) What is your favorite Andy videoclip?
Three people mentioned "Love is the Strangest Way", and two people
described the "Sumo wrestling" scene in Around the World.
7) Have you ever seen Andy live?
14% have, including one person who's seen him 8 times! Several
saw him join Sting on stage.
8) How long have you been an Andy fan?
The spread, again, is from 1 year to 18. As with Stewart, the women
and Sting's obsessed fans only started paying attention to Andy a few
years ago.
V. Reunion
1) Do you think The Police will reunite?
23% of us said no.
This is down from over 40% in the past two years.
PS have changed the most, 18% (as opposed to 64% last year)
said "No".
51% think they'll do it for some special occasion
25% think there will be another song, album, and/or tour.
Of PS, 54% think so.
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 23% said "never". The rest said:
Answer All
Within next 3 years 56%
5-10 years hence 19
More than 10 years away 3
Three years ago, 39% of us thought a reunion gig was only 3 years
away. Well, it hasn't happened, but Andy and Stewart did join Sting
(separately). Maybe this is what accounts for the change of mind
we're having.
3) Do you think the Police SHOULD reunite? Why?
Quite a few people would not give a clear answer, only conditions.
"Only if they want to" or "Only if they stay in the studio".
Many said, basically, that a reunion would be great if it worked out
but aweful if it didn't.
Of those that answered with a Yes or No, 52% think the Police should
reunite. 85% of E and 64% of PS believe it would be a good idea,
but only 39% of SP do.
The reasons given for a reunion were mostly selfish ("I want to
see them") but also a few 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").
VI. Music in general.
1) What are your 10 favorite musical acts (no need to rank them)?
There were about 250 different acts mentioned. They cover most of
pop and rock, as well as some jazz, classical, new age...
The top are as follows:
Act All SP E PS
Sting 90% 95% 94% 67%
Police 85 81 100 75
U2 37 36 41 33
Beatles 28 33 24 17
Peter Gabriel 23 26 24 8
REM 15 19 12 8
Oasis 14 14 18 8
Crowded House 13 7 29 8
Eric Clapton 13 14 6 17
Pink Floyd 13 12 18 8
Andy Summers 11 0 29 25
Stewart Copeland 11 0 29 25
Nirvana 11 5 29 8
Genesis 11 12 6 17
Phil Collins 11 12 12 8
George Michael 10 10 18 0
Billy Joel 10 14 6 0
Eagles 10 14 0 8
Another major upset! For the first time in four years, Sting has passed
the Police. Apparently, we now have quite a few Sting fans who don't
number his first band as one of their favorite acts.
Also for the first time, both Stewart and Andy made it into a
respectable position on the list.
Other than that, last year's list was much the same as this one.
Oasis, Crowded House, George Michael and the Eagles are new.
In addition to what we see here, SP like Elton John (12%), Don Henley
(10%, all of them women) and Van Halen (10%); E like Bryan Adams (18%, all
of them men) and Jimi Hendrix (18%); and PS like Men At Work (17%, all
of them men).
Women also like the Cranberries (12%), the Dave Matthews Band (12%),
and Crosby Stills Nash & Young (12%). Men like Dire Straits (11%).
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, some more than others.
3) How musically active are you?
38% of us only listen to music - tho some more intensely than others.
45% sing or play an instrument in private.
17% sing or play in a band, most of them (11%) bands which play in
public or have recorded a demo.
The most active are the E's, 24% of whom are in bands. Least active
are SP's, only 14% of whom are in bands - although 47% of them play
or sing in private.
22% of Sting's obsessed fans are in bands.
Most people didn't name an instrument, so I have to assume they sing.
That makes 60% (of those who said they play or sing at all). 17% play
the guitar. Others play flute, drums, piano, bass guitar, saxophone,
you name it.
VII. Police and Internet
1) Where did you see this survey?
83% saw it on the mailing list.
8% saw it in alt.fan.sting
4% saw it in alt.music.the.police
4% saw it on the "Sting etc." web page.
This is a big change from last year, because Martin Nickel's wonderful
"Fields of Gold" web page has been shut down. Last year, 30% of the
respondents came from there.
2) How actively do you participate in the Police mailing list?
8% of the respondents are not members.
13% lurk.
89% post sometimes or frequently. No wonder we get so much traffic.
3) How actively do you participate in alt.fan.sting?
38% don't or can't see it
32% lurk
29% post sometimes or frequently
This is better than last year, when over half the respondents didn't
see a.f.s. Its propagation has improved, apparently.
4) How actively do you participate in alt.music.the.police?
56% don't or can't see it
30% lurk
14% post sometimes
It appears the propagation of this newsgroup remains rather poor.
Or maybe its signal-to-noise ratio is such that most people can't
be bothered to visit it.
5) How actively do you participate in Police-related WWW activity?
6% don't
25% have browsed a page or two
46% check out every page they can find, and sometimes mail comments
to the maintainers
23% (16 people) own a Police or Sting web page
The Web is growing, no doubt about it. Last year, 23% of respondents
didn't read Police material on the Web, and only 6% had their own
Police/Sting page. This year, the values are reversed.
VII. General & Personal
1) What is your gender?
64% of us are male. This is the same as last year.
Looking at the audience in concerts, we know Police/Sting fandom
isn't predominantly male. It's the Internet that is.
SP are almost evenly split: only 51% are male. Looked at another
way, 81% of females are SP, but only 48% of males. Sting's sex appeal?
PS, on the other hand, are 75% male, and E are a whopping 88% male.
2) What is your age?
We have aged two and a half years in the past year. The average used
to be 23.3, now it's 25.8.
We still have some kids, 2 16-year-olds, 2 17-yo, and 4 18-yo. But
we also have "ancients" of 50, 42, 40, and 39 (2 of those).
SP average oldest, 27.3, and PS youngest, 23.1. This is a change
from previous years. Does it mean Sting really does appeal to an
older crowd now?
Our women are older still, averaging 28.6. The men are only 24.3.
5) What is your profession / major?
For the first time, computer people do not dominate the group.
They used to be over 30%, now they are a mere 11%. We have more
people in business, economics, and sales. And almost as many in
political science and history.
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
Orit
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