Following David Gilmour’s addition to Pink Floyd, the tension between him and Roger Waters was constant. As both had domineering personalities, they often had clashing opinions on their music and the band’s future. Waters had remarkable contributions to the albums, especially ‘The Wall.’ He conceived the album’s concept during 1977’s In the Flesh tour and created the character Pink after himself and Syd Barrett.
That was a time marked by disappointment and tension, especially with David Gilmour. Waters wasn’t pleased with their audience’s reactions to their shows, to the point that he spat one of them. Gilmour, on the other hand, wasn’t happy to be in this environment. He refused to play a final encore during a show and sat at the soundboard. Battling with feelings of despair, Roger spoke to Bob Ezrin’s psychiatrist. The bassist told him he wanted to build a ‘wall’ between the audience and the stage.
While the rest of the band focused on other commitments, Waters started to write music material for ‘The Wall.’ He then introduced the concept to his bandmates. Until the album’s release, he continued developing the story and the material. Waters wrote most of the album, Gilmour co-wrote ‘Comfortably Numb’ ‘Run Like Hell,’ and ‘Young Lust,’ and Ezrin co-wrote ‘The Trial.’ After the release of the classic record, tensions arose again between Gilmour and Waters.
Their feud has continued for years, and Roger Waters’ departure didn’t resolve anything. He persistently attacked Gilmour with his statements and began a legal battle with the band. Waters didn’t want them to continue using Pink Floyd’s name and material. However, Gilmour and Mason wanted to go on as Pink Floyd. In 1987, the two sides reached an agreement, and Waters retained the copyrights to ‘The Wall’ concept. However, he still wasn’t pleased — because ‘The Wall’ was still associated with Pink Floyd.
In 1990, Roger Waters decided to go to Berlin to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall. He then held the historical live show ‘The Wall – Live In Berlin,’ but with several differences from Pink Floyd’s original production. The concert attracted a great number of fans and ended up being a significant event in the history of rock with its stage show. Despite this success, Waters had something to feel remorse for. He thought it wasn’t fair ‘The Wall’ was still associated with Pink Floyd and believed nobody knew what the album was about.
The same year, Roger Waters spoke to Q Magazine about whether ‘The Wall – Live In Berlin’ was a display of force addressed to David Gilmour and Nick Mason. “No, it’s not top that!” Waters said. “But it certainly will be most gratifying that a few more people in the world will understand that ‘The Wall’ is my work and always has been. There must be an element of that.”
“Though after hearing them at Knebworth, I don’t think I should worry,” he then revealed. The musician also added, “They haven’t got the faintest idea of what it’s about. But then they never did. Still, most of the audience for this show will probably think it’s Pink Floyd anyway. The attachment to the brand name is limpet-like. It’s just something I live with.”
So, Roger Waters regretted that ‘The Wall,’ the album he was most proud of, was still remembered as a Pink Floyd album. He believed it should be associated only with him as it had always been his work. Besides, the musician is disappointed that nobody understood the true meaning behind ‘The Wall,’ including his Pink Floyd bandmates. Considering the effort he put into making the record, it’s not a surprise he felt remorse seeing his contributions fall behind the Pink Floyd name.
