Former Pink Floyd singer Roger Waters has spoken about the genesis of the seminal album ‘The Wall’.
Released at the height of punk, ‘The Wall’ became Pink Floyd’s definitive statement. Hugely successful, it was a concept album at a time when prog rock was being sneered at by a new generation.
Spawning a film adaptation, Pink Floyd undertook a lavish tour which involved an actual wall being built and then demolished onstage. Going down in rock mythology, singer Roger Waters brought back ‘The Wall’ for a one off performance in Berlin after the process of re-unification had begun.
Set to perform the album in its entirety over a series of North American dates later this year, Roger Waters has also stated his intention to bring the tour to Europe.
Speaking to the BBC, the songwriter explained that the album is essentially autobiographical. “All those years ago, when I was a relatively young man, there were a number of things going on in my life that made me fearful, and in consequence I tended to wall myself in behind aggressive behaviours” he said.
“I guess in its essence The Wall was an autobiographical work about those central feelings and themes of my life.”
Furthermore, Roger Waters explained that he felt deeply alienated from his own audience. “I found myself getting really angry with the audiences. I couldn’t quite work out why. I realised I felt this extreme feeling of alienation from these hundreds of thousands of people, all swilling beer and hooting and shouting. And so I suddenly had a visual image of an arena with a wall built across it and a band performing behind this wall.”
“I remember now with a smile staring down at this little piece of paper with this drawing on, thinking this is a great idea. So I started to talk to the other guys in the band about it and of course everybody thought I was completely insane.”
Roger Waters will bring ‘The Wall’ to Europe later this year.
