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.

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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