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Synchronicity

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Synchronicity

Not who you're looking for? Others named Synchronicity: concept, first introduced by analytical psychologist Carl Ju · 2000 debut studio album by OLIVIA · Indian rock music festival · 2018 song by Nogizaka46

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Overview

Synchronicity is the fifth and final studio album by the British rock band the Police, released on 17 June 1983 by A&M Records. The band's most successful release, the album includes the hit singles "Every Breath You Take", "King of Pain", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", and "Synchronicity II". The album's title and much of the material for the songs were inspired by Arthur Koestler's book The Roots of Coincidence (1972). At the 1984 Grammy Awards the album was nominated for a total of five awards, including Album of the Year, and won three. At the time of its release and following its tour, the Police's popularity was at such a high that they were arguably, according to BBC and The Guardian, the "biggest band in the world". Synchronicity is considered to be a defining album of the Second British Invasion. It reached number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200, and sold over eight million copies in the US. The album was widely acclaimed by critics. Praise centred on its cohesive merging of disparate genres and sonic experimentation. Rolling Stone described "each cut on Synchronicity [as] not simply a song but a miniature, discrete soundtrack". It has since been included in the magazine's lists of the "100 Best Albums of the Eighties" and the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2009, Synchronicity was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2023, the album was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Recording The album's title was inspired by Arthur Koestler's book The Roots of Coincidence. Frontman Sting was an avid reader of Koestler, and also titled the Police's prior studio album Ghost in the Machine (1981) after one of his works. The album marked a significant reduction in the reggae influences that were a part of the band's first four studio albums, instead featuring production-heavy textures and liberal use of synthesizers that, at times, drove entire songs ("Synchronicity I", "Wrapped Around Your Finger"). The influence of world music can also be heard in songs such as "Tea in the Sahara" and "Walking in Your Footsteps". As opposed to the band's previous effort, Ghost in the Machine, the songs are much sparser, with less overdubbing, more akin to the trio feel and the band's aesthetic of "less is more". Sting explains:

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“It is in the humble opinion of this narrator that this is not just "something that happened." This cannot be "one of those things"... This, please, cannot be that. And for what I would like to say, I can't. This was not just a matter of chance. … These strange things happen all the time.”
— Paul Thomas Anderson, in the introductory narration on the strange synchronicities in the film Magnolia (1999)
“Although they look remarkable and entirely unpredictable, in fact these events are to be expected. No mysteries are required to explain them—no superstitions, no miracles, no gods, no supernatural interventions or psychic powers, no synchronicity, seriality, morphic resonance, or any of the host of other imaginary imps. All that’s needed are the basic laws of probability.”
— David Hand in The Improbability Principle: Why Coincidences, Miracles, and Rare Events Happen Every Day (2014) p. 40
“Naturally, every age thinks that all ages before it were prejudiced, and today we think this more than ever and are just as wrong as all previous ages that thought so. How often have we not seen the truth condemned! It is sad but unfortunately true that man learns nothing from history.”
— Carl Jung, in Synchronicity : An Acausal Connecting Principle (1960), p. 33
“Any parapsychological effect that depends upon volition, upon the subject's intent, must differ from synchronicity.”
— Victor Mansfield, in Distinguishing Synchronicity from Parapsychological Phenomena: An Essay in Honor of Marie-Louise von Franz (1998)
“Synchronicity's lack of an adequate theoretical structure; its uncontrollability; and its reliance on subjectivity, feelings, and scientifically suspect terms such as meaning make it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to test scientifically.”
— Victor Mansfield, in Head and heart (2002) p. 178
“Jung believed there was a large pattern to life, that it wasn't just chaos. Our song Synchronicity II is about two parallel events that aren't connected logically or causally, but symbolically.”
— Sting, on the song Synchronicity II, as quoted in "Official Police business" by Jay Cocks, in TIME magazine (15 August 1983), p. 50

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Overview

Synchronicity is the fifth and final studio album by the British rock band the Police, released on 17 June 1983 by A&M Records. The band's most successful release, the album includes the hit singles "Every Breath You Take", "King of Pain", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", and "Synchronicity II". The album's title and much of the material for the songs were inspired by Arthur Koestler's book The Roots of Coincidence (1972). At the 1984 Grammy Awards the album was nominated for a total of five awards, including Album of the Year, and won three. At the time of its release and following its tour, the Police's popularity was at such a high that they were arguably, according to BBC and The Guardian, the "biggest band in the world". Synchronicity is considered to be a defining album of the Second British Invasion. It reached number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200, and sold over eight million copies in the US. The album was widely acclaimed by critics. Praise centred on its cohesive merging of disparate genres and sonic experimentation. Rolling Stone described "each cut on Synchronicity [as] not simply a song but a miniature, discrete soundtrack". It has since been included in the magazine's lists of the "100 Best Albums of the Eighties" and the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2009, Synchronicity was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2023, the album was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Recording The album's title was inspired by Arthur Koestler's book The Roots of Coincidence. Frontman Sting was an avid reader of Koestler, and also titled the Police's prior studio album Ghost in the Machine (1981) after one of his works. The album marked a significant reduction in the reggae influences that were a part of the band's first four studio albums, instead featuring production-heavy textures and liberal use of synthesizers that, at times, drove entire songs ("Synchronicity I", "Wrapped Around Your Finger"). The influence of world music can also be heard in songs such as "Tea in the Sahara" and "Walking in Your Footsteps". As opposed to the band's previous effort, Ghost in the Machine, the songs are much sparser, with less overdubbing, more akin to the trio feel and the band's aesthetic of "less is more". Sting explains:

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Synchronicity is the fifth and final studio album by the British rock band the Police, released on 17 June 1983 by A&M Records. The band's most successful release, the album includes the hit singles "Every Breath You Take", "King of Pain", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", and "Synchronicity II". The album's title and much of the material for the songs were inspired by Arthur Koestler's book The Roots of Coincidence (1972). At the 1984 Grammy Awards the album was nominated for a total of five awards, including Album of the Year, and won three. At the time of its release and following its tour, the Police's popularity was at such a high that they were arguably, according to BBC and The Guardian, the "biggest band in the world".

Not who you're looking for? Others named Synchronicity: concept, first introduced by analytical psychologist Carl Ju · 2000 debut studio album by OLIVIA · Indian rock music festival · 2018 song by Nogizaka46

Notable quotes

“It is in the humble opinion of this narrator that this is not just "something that happened." This cannot be "one of those things"... This, please, cannot be that. And for what I would like to say, I can't. This was not just a matter of chance. … These strange things happen all the time.”
— Paul Thomas Anderson, in the introductory narration on the strange synchronicities in the film Magnolia (1999)
“Although they look remarkable and entirely unpredictable, in fact these events are to be expected. No mysteries are required to explain them—no superstitions, no miracles, no gods, no supernatural interventions or psychic powers, no synchronicity, seriality, morphic resonance, or any of the host of other imaginary imps. All that’s needed are the basic laws of probability.”
— David Hand in The Improbability Principle: Why Coincidences, Miracles, and Rare Events Happen Every Day (2014) p. 40
“Naturally, every age thinks that all ages before it were prejudiced, and today we think this more than ever and are just as wrong as all previous ages that thought so. How often have we not seen the truth condemned! It is sad but unfortunately true that man learns nothing from history.”
— Carl Jung, in Synchronicity : An Acausal Connecting Principle (1960), p. 33
“Any parapsychological effect that depends upon volition, upon the subject's intent, must differ from synchronicity.”
— Victor Mansfield, in Distinguishing Synchronicity from Parapsychological Phenomena: An Essay in Honor of Marie-Louise von Franz (1998)
“Synchronicity's lack of an adequate theoretical structure; its uncontrollability; and its reliance on subjectivity, feelings, and scientifically suspect terms such as meaning make it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to test scientifically.”
— Victor Mansfield, in Head and heart (2002) p. 178
“Jung believed there was a large pattern to life, that it wasn't just chaos. Our song Synchronicity II is about two parallel events that aren't connected logically or causally, but symbolically.”
— Sting, on the song Synchronicity II, as quoted in "Official Police business" by Jay Cocks, in TIME magazine (15 August 1983), p. 50

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Synchronicity across IJR

Ask IJR about Synchronicity Create in Studio Build a game Watch videos