"Fall Out" was the first single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 released by The Police

The Police

The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...

. It was originally released in May 1977 and then re-released in 1979. "Fall Out" was a 7" single

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 with "Nothing Achieving" on its B-side

A-side and B-side

A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

. Although it did not appear on any studio albums, it has appeared on a number of compilation and live albums including Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings

Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings

Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings is a four-CD boxed set by The Police, containing all of their studio albums in chronological order, as well as singles, B-sides, and tracks from various compilation albums and the Brimstone & Treacle soundtrack.Disc 1 includes live renditions of "Landlord"...

and The Police Live!.

Development and production

"Fall Out" was written and produced by drummer Stewart Copeland

Stewart Copeland

Stewart Armstrong Copeland is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the band The Police. During the group's extended hiatus from the mid-1980s to 2007, he played in other bands and composed soundtracks...

, and was one of the first songs he presented to vocalist and bassist Sting when The Police were forming.

The single was recorded before the Police had done any live performances, using a budget of £150 borrowed from Paul Mulligan, and is the only Police recording featuring original guitarist Henry Padovani

Henry Padovani

Henry Padovani is a French musician from Corsica, who is noted for having been the original guitarist for The Police...

. Due to nervousness in the studio, Padovani only played the guitar solos for both tracks, with Copeland playing the other guitar parts. The actual packaging of the 7" singles was done by Copeland and Sting.

Release

"Fall Out" was released on the Illegal Records label, part of the Faulty Products group of companies owned by Copeland's brother Miles. Copeland estimates that the single sold mostly because it was a part of the overall punk

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 movement; the band appears in the cover photograph in clothes that were fashionable at the time and fans of the punk movement were buying any punk single that came out. Sting has cited Mick Jagger

Mick Jagger

Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....

's review of the single in Sounds

Sounds (magazine)

Sounds was a long-term British music paper, published weekly from 10 October 1970 – 6 April 1991. It was produced by Spotlight Publications , which was set up by Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left "Melody Maker" to start their own company...

 as another contributor to its success.

It failed to chart on its original release, but when re-released in 1979 it made number 47 on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

, two months after "Message in a Bottle

Message in a Bottle (song)

"Message in a Bottle" is a 1979 song by The Police, from their second album, Reggatta de Blanc.The song is ostensibly about a story of a castaway on an island, who sends out a message in a bottle to seek love. A year later, he has not received any sort of response, and despairs, thinking he is...

" reached number one.

Track listing

UK 7" vinyl single

1. "Fall Out" (Stewart Copeland
   Stewart Copeland
   Stewart Armstrong Copeland is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the band The Police. During the group's extended hiatus from the mid-1980s to 2007, he played in other bands and composed soundtracks...
   
   )
2. "Nothing Achieving" (Stewart Copeland, Ian Copeland
   Ian Copeland
   Ian Adie Copeland was a pioneering American music promoter and booking agent who helped launch the New Wave movement in the United States....
   
   )

Personnel

• Sting - bass, vocals
• Henry Padovani
  Henry Padovani
  Henry Padovani is a French musician from Corsica, who is noted for having been the original guitarist for The Police...
  
  - guitar
• Stewart Copeland
  Stewart Copeland
  Stewart Armstrong Copeland is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the band The Police. During the group's extended hiatus from the mid-1980s to 2007, he played in other bands and composed soundtracks...
  
  - drums, guitar, producer.

Charts

Chart (1979)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	47