Pink Floyd members thought Roger Waters had ‘gone the way of Syd Barrett’ during one album recording

Follow Cult Following

Get more of our coverage in Google.

Members of the legendary band Pink Floyd believed Roger Waters had “gone the way of Syd Barrett” during the recording of one album.

Barrett fronted The Piper at the Gates of Dawn but left shortly after to focus on his solo career. He retreated from public life soon after the release of his self-titled album in 1970. His seemingly reclusive lifestyle and sudden appearance change in 1975, which stunned members of Pink Floyd, had the group wary of future changes to the core members. Waters had worried the band during the making of one album, when the group wondered if he had “gone the way of Syd Barrett.” A request from Waters for the live shows following the release of Animals is believed to have worried some members of Pink Floyd.

Waters, speaking in 1987, said: “The pig was specifically for the concerts that went with the Animals record. Actually, I think the boys thought I’d gone the way of Syd when I said that we needed a giant inflatable family and a load of inflatable animals.”

Though the now iconic album cover features a flying pig over Battersea Power Station, it appears the band’s on-stage displays were meant to be a more low-key affair. Waters has constantly offered huge visual expansions of the albums while touring, particularly The Wall.

But the “humour” of the work failed to make it to the stage, according to Waters. Waters added: “I don’t think the humour of the work has ever really escaped in the way it might have. The political subject matter on top of it has been generally dour. I suppose I have always appeared as a rather melancholy person. But I’m not. My situation is like the opposite of the cliche of the comedian who when he’s not performing is a miserable sod.

“Hopefully, this Radio KAOS show will have a similar effect to The Wall. It’s the same team, although Gerry Scarfe isn’t involved in this one. I’ve toyed with the idea of playing in a legitimate theatre, but I’ve shied away from it because I suspect that to me rock ‘n’ roll would seem just as uncomfortable in a 1,500 seater with a proscenium arch as it does in an 80,000-seat stadium.

“The arena feels like a good place to be. You can put a decent-sized sound system in and make it loud without hurting people. It’s going to be a travelling radio show. So it will be like being in Radio KAOS with Jim Ladd providing links between all the songs, and my Bleeding Heart band being the live band inside the radio station.

“We hope to have a dialogue with the audience who’ll be able to make calls to the stage from phone booths in the auditorium.”