Released February 16, 1981 Genre Reggaedance | Format 7"12" Length 4:04 | |
B-side "Warm Leatherette", "Bullshit" |
"Demolition Man" is a song written by Sting and performed by Grace Jones as the A-side of a 1981 single. Sting's band, The Police, later released their rendition of the song on their album Ghost in the Machine.
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Background
The song was written by Sting of The Police. The lyric "I'm a three-line whip", often assumed to be a reference to sadomasochism, is in fact an allusion to the voting instructions issued to British members of parliament to cast their votes according to the party line. Sting explained this in an interview: "Whatever party's in power in Parliament, if it's a really important vote, you get a one-line whip. If it's incredibly important, you have a two-line whip, and something monumentally important is a three-line whip."
Grace Jones version
"Demolition Man" was released as the lead single from Grace Jones's 1981 album Nightclubbing. The song was performed on A One Man Show tour, featuring marching "Joneses" (stand-ins wearing Grace Jones masks), and included in the documentary film. A still picture from the video was later used for the cover of 1982 singles "Nipple to the Bottle" and "The Apple Stretching".
Track listing
The Police version
Soon after Jones released her version as a single, The Police recorded their own version for their 1981 album, Ghost in the Machine. The Police recorded the song in a jazzy hard rock style, featuring a guitar solo by Andy Summers.