Grace Jones recorded “Demolition Man” for her 1981 album Nightclubbing. She had requested a song from Sting and he sent her the demo. He wrote the song for his band The Police to record but they had not used it. Producers Chris Blackwell and Alex Sadkin wanted Jones to embrace a multi-genre style based on New Wave because of the backlash against the disco sound on her previous albums. Black Uhuru’s Sinsemilla album was used as inspiration for Jones’s next direction. “Demolition Man” had reggae rhythm, eerie synthesizers, and Jones’ emphatic chatting and singing. The video was an outtake of the song’s performance on her A One Man Show Tour with an army of Grace Jones clones. The fresh sound of Nightclubbing and Jones’s high fashion androgynous image made an indelible impression on pop. The painted photograph on the album cover taken by her then-boyfriend Jean-Paul Goude consists of Jones in an Armani suit with a flat-top haircut and has been recognized as one of the best by several designers and the music press. Jones appeared at Paris Fashion Week in March.
