GOOD TIMING
But even as headstrong a spirit as Levine's occasionally takes the sensible route. Such as when the band decided not to play their new single, Won't Go Home Without You, when supporting the Police, because of its obvious debt to Every Breath You Take. "Sting went into our dressing room and slapped me in the face," Levine jokes. "Seriously, though, [Every Breath] is one of my favorite songs ever written. I wanted to write a song like it. There was no way it wasn't a direct influence."
"When Adam first brought the song to the band," says Valentine, "it was like the Beach Boys meets the Strokes, because of the way the guitars were arranged. It's still like that in the chorus, but the turn came when we were recording it, and we came across that muted part in the verse. We were like, 'Should we do that?' And we decided, 'It's fine - it's an homage to one of our favorite bands."
"The song would not have turned out the way that it did had they gotten back together before we made the album," Levine explains. "They were totally dead and gone, and were never going to get back together. And they announced their tour a week after our album came out. It would have been silly to play it." Madden sighs. "It would have been like us saying, 'Hey, have you guys ever heard the Police?'"
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