Since David Gilmour’s addition to Pink Floyd, tensions gradually arose as both he and Roger Waters were domineering figures in the band. Following the release of ‘The Wall,’ one of Pink Floyd’s most famous albums, the band started working on another. David Gilmour believed the upcoming album should’ve included new material rather than leftover songs written for ‘The Wall.’ Waters, on the other hand, thought Gilmour lacked lyrical contributions to the band’s catalog. The tension grew, and in the end, Gilmour’s name wasn’t on the credit list as a producer in ‘The Final Cut.’
The feud between the two continued for years, and tensions arose higher following Roger Waters’ departure. While Waters continued to attack David Gilmour during several of his interviews, Gilmour didn’t really speak ill of his bandmate. He argued that Waters’ lyrics overshadowed Pink Floyd’s music and admitted he was somewhat jealous of the musician’s talent. However, in 1995, the guitar icon made a controversial remark about his former bandmate by calling one of his performances’ terrible.’
Following the release of ‘The Wall,’ Roger Waters wrote all material for ‘The Final Cut’ and didn’t listen to Gilmour’s suggestion to delay the recordings until he came up with new material. Following this release, Gilmour recorded a solo album titled ‘About Face’ to distance himself from Floyd. Waters then embarked on a tour for his first solo effort. So, the band focused on their solo careers during this period. Following the release of his 1984 solo album, Waters said Pink Floyd wouldn’t reunite.
This remark was followed by Waters’ departure and his legal battle to dissolve the band and prevent the use of Pink Floyd’s name. However, the band continued under David Gilmour’s leadership. Waters didn’t stop attacking Gilmour, though, as he stated that the iconic guitarist didn’t allow him to use the band’s social media accounts or website. In another statement, the musician said he was in a toxic environment during his tenure in Pink Floyd. The feud didn’t resolve for a long time, and their unexpected encounter in the same studio was nothing but a bizarre coincidence.
Following his departure in 1985, Waters focused on solo endeavors. Eight months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he decided to go there to commemorate this historical event. He then held the iconic live show ‘The Wall – Live In Berlin,’ with several differences from Pink Floyd’s original production of The Wall show. Although the event gathered a significant number of fans, the audio and video sales of the show weren’t satisfying. As it seems, David Gilmour had his reasons why.
David Gilmour joined Der Spiegel in 1995 for an interview, and referring to the song ‘Welcome to the Machine,’ the interviewer jokingly asked whether he thought of placing machines on stage instead of themselves. Gilmour then said they once intended to make other musicians do their work, but this remained a joke.
Following that, he was also asked if anyone would’ve noticed the difference in this situation. Without hesitation, the guitarist said Pink Floyd’s music is very hard to imitate. The interviewer then told him Roger Waters once argued there would be Pink Floyd concerts even after their passing. Gilmour recalled Waters’ The Wall live show and said it didn’t sound like Pink Floyd. According to the guitarist, the performance was terrible.
Asked his opinion about Waters’ claims that Pink Floyd would remain so famous that there would be Pink Floyd concerts even after 500 years, Gilmour said, “Oh yes, good old Roger. He staged The Wall in Berlin. Did that sound like Pink Floyd? No, it sounded terrible.”
So, David Gilmour believes that no one can imitate Pink Floyd’s music as they have a pretty distinctive sound. Therefore, he disagreed with Roger Waters’ belief that there would be Pink Floyd concerts in the far future. Gilmour supported his claim by giving Waters’ ‘The Wall – Live In Berlin’ show as an example, as he believed it sounded nothing like Pink Floyd without the other band members.
