Don't Stand So Close to Me
The Police | Artist Essentials
First released: 1980 (year verified)
Original 1980 Police studio recording
MusicAtlas editorial note: A tense, spacious verse gives way to a much more direct refrain.
YouTube opens a title-and-artist search. The selected recording and date are identified below.
Release evidence and recording details
First released: 1980 (year verified)
The original Police studio recording belongs to the documented 1980 single and album release cycle. Year precision is used; no album day is assigned to an earlier single.
Recording: Original 1980 Police studio recording
Credit: The Police
Role in this collection: Primary artist
Original single: Don't Stand So Close to Me
Dont Stand So Close to Me versions - official discography
Original Zenyatta recording is identified with 1980; a materially different 1986 remake, live performance and dance mix are separately identified. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Zenyatta Mondatta - official Sting/Police album archive
Original album tracklist and studio recording discussion, read in the public discography body. The official studio index separately supports 1980. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Annual version match under review
The selected recording has release evidence, but its version has not been matched to the retained annual entry. It is omitted from Beyond the yearly lists until this match is resolved.
An actual retained annual candidate exists, but it does not specify the recording edition. The official archive distinguishes the original 1980 recording from a later remake. The selected original is supported; the annual version is provisionally linked rather than counted as Beyond.
Dont Stand So Close to Me versions - official discography
Original Zenyatta recording is identified with 1980; a materially different 1986 remake, live performance and dance mix are separately identified. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Zenyatta Mondatta - official Sting/Police album archive
Original album tracklist and studio recording discussion, read in the public discography body. The official studio index separately supports 1980. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
About The Police
The Police brought together Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland in a trio whose music combined elements of punk, reggae and rock. Their five studio albums appeared between 1978 and 1983, from Outlandos d'Amour to Synchronicity. The playing often depended on space between the guitar, bass and drums, while Ghost in the Machine added denser keyboard and horn layers. Sting's subsequent solo recordings and the members' other projects have their own credits, separate from the group's studio catalog.
Artist background sources
The Police - official studio catalog and original years
The original five albums are explicitly dated 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1983. Their original tracklists are separated from the 2018 box and later bonus disc. Names the trio and describes its punk and reggae vocabulary. | Retrieved 2026-10-17
Ghost in the Machine - official Sting/Police album archive
Original album tracklist and studio recording discussion, read in the public discography body. The official studio index separately supports 1981. | Retrieved 2026-10-17
Synchronicity - official Sting/Police album archive
Original album tracklist and studio recording discussion, read in the public discography body. The official studio index separately supports 1983. | Retrieved 2026-10-17
Profile reviewed: 2026-10-17. Artist background does not establish a song's creative origin or release date.
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