Pink Floyd fans are saying Roger Waters is trying to “rewrite history” with his claim over who wrote one of the band’s best albums.
Music lovers were not impressed with Waters’ comments, which were made in an interview where he was asked about The Dark Side of the Moon. In a post to the Pink Floyd subreddit which was titled “fuck Roger Waters,” fans were left recalling past quotes from the legendary songwriter as he now claims The Dark Side of the Moon is “my project”. All lyrics are credited to Waters. But fans believe the album is a more collaborative project than he now suggests.
A post to the Pink Floyd subreddit shared a snippet of an interview with Waters’ thoughts. He said: “I wrote The Dark Side of the Moon. Let’s get rid of all this ‘we’ crap! Of course we were a band, there were four of us, we all contributed – but it’s my project and I wrote it. So… blah!”
Fans have since commented on Waters’ previous thoughts on the making of The Dark Side of the Moon. One user wrote: “Back when he was on Howard Stern in the early 2010s, he was very adamant that Pink Floyd’s success was due to a group collaboration and that he never wished he’d done it alone. It’s very strange and sad to see the total 180 he’s done since.”
Another user wrote: “This is just sad, really. Yes, we know you wrote the words to all the songs! We know you came up with the riff for Money. We know you were the main driving force after Syd left! What are you trying to prove? Nobody is trying to revise history by saying you didn’t contribute anything. Why get so defensive about it?
“Why can’t you be proud that you contributed to the greatest album of all time? Why is it so shameful for you to admit that your bandmates also contributed? That doesn’t make your contributions any less important. It just means it was a collaboration. Nothing shameful about that at all.”
Others have since suggested Waters could be trying to “rewrite history” by claiming he was the sole writer of the band. One user wrote: “He didn’t write Us and Them. Richard Wright did he just wrote the lyrics. Trying to rewrite history.”
Another user, while full of praise for Waters’ work as a lyricist, says the claims put a “bad taste” on the album and for listeners. They wrote: “Roger is no doubt among the ranks of the greatest lyricists ever and the load he took on after Syd was gone was enormous, and he thrived under that pressure. Regardless these little outbursts of egomania are embarrassing and it’s putting a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Roger started down a slippery slope long ago and he’s been falling for a while now…”
A third added the album would not be the same without the instrumental additions of his bandmates. They wrote: “Without Nick’s drums, Rick’s keyboard playing and obviously David’s iconic guitar riffs, The Dark Side of the Moon is nothing, obviously Roger wrote the words and played the basslines but without all the band members, the album means nothing and it doesn’t matter how good the words sound on paper.”
Even fans of Waters are finding it hard to defend his comments on The Dark Side of the Moon. One user wrote: “When people trashed Roger for being too ‘political’ or whatever, I stood up for him. He can make his shows whatever he wants and you (the royal ‘you’) don’t have to go. I happen to enjoy them. When they say that Pink Floyd’s music was better without him, I defended him. This is indefensible. Lately, he’s crossed my line more than once. It’s sad to me.”
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Lol looks like many people are butt hurt that Roger Waters is the man behind Dark Side Of The Moon but he was. He came up with the concept and wrote all the lyrics. More than likely he wrote the basics for all of the songs and at a later stage the band contributes to HIS creation. Why is it so hard to understand that’s how it works in bands?
Totally agree. Most of these clowns are butthurt over his politics and look for anything to be critical about.
Rubbish. He wrote the lyrics, not the music. Without the rest of the band he’s nothing. He’s did very little since.
Rick wright wrote the music for the great gig in the sky and us and thèm..the band without waters wrote any coloùr you like
Waters wrote the lyrics. Who wrote the music?
While you can’t take credit away from Dave, all song are credited to both him and Roger, there’s no doubt that Roger created the album. In the end, that was 50 years ago. I enjoy the music as much today as I did back then, and without including an acid trip.
Both Roger and Dave are credited with music and lyrics.
Roger Waters may have written the lyrics, but the album was still a collaborative effort and stripping away the contributions of everyone else leaves it hollow. What this most reveals is the extent to which he alienated everyone else and called it an artistic expression. From what I have heard of Redux, it sounds like an old man mumbling to himself in an empty house.
Rick wrote the music for The Great Gig and Us and Them. The backbone of the album. Good lyrics are good lyrics but the album is nothing without the keyboards and guitar. And the drums especially on Time. Waters wrote the Money riff, but the song is made by the guitar solos and don’t try to say Waters told Gilmour how to play them. He wasn’t even the best bass player in the band.
Roger may be an asshole. But he is still pink Floyd to me. The music is awesome. But the music isn’t pink Floyd. No one can write lyrics like Roger. Gilmore has proved that over and over since Floyd split. And Waters has proved that it’s easier to replace a musician than it is to replace a lyricist.
Your opinion is fine, because it’s subjective, BUT…. I feel that it is a bit misguided. Waters is absolutely a great lyricist, no doubt. And I don’t even disagree with his honest political views ( I’m a Jew actually, sue me ) so there’s no negative bias on my part.
That said, lyrics, no matter how great, are only one part of a bigger equation when you’re in a band. Each member has to build off of one anothers parts respectively. That takes a lot of time and very specific chemistry. The chemistry leads to the moods which in turn helps or hinders an individuals creative output.
Pink Floyd could have been an entirely different group all together with the ommission or inclusion of ANY of the members. Eg; People often discount drummers as simply being time keepers for rhythm, but this is incredibly ignorant. Changing Nick out could have totally reshaped PF in a way where the entire band as a whole, put out totally different feeling and sounding themes and songs.
Again, nothing against Roger, but…have you actually listened to his DSOTM redux? It is absolutely nothing like its namesake, and if every Floyd album was made in the same vain, with whomever as a guitarist, keyboard player and drummer, we would absolutely NOT be having this conversation. No one would care, because PF would not be the PF we all loved.
As a side note, I’m not sure of why people compare David and Rogers lyrical writing skills? David’s wife has done most of the lyrics for him. But also, Rogers writing style is obviously ( like anyone ) a reflection of his personality, which is cynical and dark, and he knows how to get those traits out on paper with great aplomb.
I don’t listen to David’s solo work when I’m feeling broody or angry. But I do when I want to feel uplifted and need some licks for creative inspiration.
I lied… One more point, Victor. You said that Roger proved that it’s easier to replace a musician than it is a lyricist. You’re kind of disproving your own point saying this, as all of the MUSIC his touring band plays, mimics the entirety of what was CREATED by each member of PF as a whole. If it had been Roger with other musicians back then, we would NOT have PF as it were. Again, using redux as an example.
Also, NO ONE plays and feels like David on any song. Period. Not to mention his vocal contributions. I love Rogers vocals, but David’s just as much, and as a band, they arranged the songs to compliment each other’s voices where appropriate.
Such arrangements don’t work very well when you don’t have a host of perfect components meshing together.
Without the rest of the band DSOTM would probably sound like Roger’s demo versions of the songs 😝
Roger hired who many consiser the best guitarist ever – Jeff Beck – and Amused to Death is great but would the sixth best album after Meddle to the Final Cut. Dave and Rick were musical geniuses and Roger has become delusional. He can barely admit he played with perhaps the best guitar player in the world not named Jeff Beck and that Gilmour’s parts light up every single time he plays them. Plus Dave sang beautifully on every song except Brain Damage. It’s like tossing away Elton John because Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics. Never mind the brilliant Rick Wright and the very very badly underrared Nick Mason. Waters has some screws coming badly loose. All their best albums are collaborative. Can you imagine Dogs oe Comfortably Numb without Dave’s godly solos?
I’m gonna chime in here. Floyd’s one of my all time favorite bands there influence on modern music is vast. While I agree the band worked together on dsotm, no one can argue it was waters vision that lead that charge…it was his baby. While it’s most likely that his vision was then embraced by the rest and then they(the rest of the band) collaborated with the logistics…i.e laying down their instrumentals)
So in a way Waters is right and the rest of the band is as well.
But here’s the thing about Floyd…Without Waters it’s hardly Pink Floyd, and I will also say if Waters was still there but not…say Gilmore…or any one of the others..it still wouldn’t be Floyd.
I’m saddened by the rift between Gilmore and Waters and Lord knows it’s been a long time. I wish they could work it out. Gilmore’s guitar is so important to their sound. He brings Rodger Waters lyrics and vision to life with that guitar, and Waters lyrics are so mesmerizingly poignant and brilliant, effortlessly illustrating his remarkable poetry and vision.
That whole band is crazy amazing l wish they could have pulled it together to continue creating the music they did so well together. I kinda think it’s too late now so much water under the bridge and all. But who knows?
Why is he such an arrogant jerk? It took ALL of the band to make it bad ass amazing
. The wall showed he was really crazy in his words, the whole sound of every song, mad , angry,.
. Watching the movie really told me , nope not 1 of my favs at all.
As a life long Floyd fan i would disagree with you defenders of waters. Floyd didn’t really get things right til Alan Parsons came on to engineer DSOTM. That was when they found their true sound.
It’s likely Roger Waters came into the studio with the outlines done and while teaching his band mates about what he was looking for. The rest of them being master musicians, different ideas would surely start to emerge within the theme of the piece. That’s how it was done in any band I was in, normally it would start with a riff or a passage.
I am very much a fan of Roger Waters and I largely agree with his political views. Nevertheless, I don’t agree with shit like this. He does certainly seem to be a bit of an egotist. He needs to stop with this kind of shit, as it’s petty.
After Sid was gone, Roger took the reins over, nobody else did! DSOTM was released on 3/1/73, Roger actually picked me up hitchhiking in downtown London on 4/16/74, he was 30, I was 20! Cut the guy a break people, he’s 81 now, he can act and say however whatever he wants to! DSOTM put the Floyd in the stratosphere of music! They all contributed, but it was his baby