Roger Waters says he has “no problem” with David Gilmour using the Pink Floyd name.
The bassist would leave the hitmakers behind The Dark Side of the Moon and Animals in 1985, though the group would carry on with Gilmour as frontman until 1994. A reunion between Waters, Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright saw the four play a twenty-minute set at Live 8 in 2005. After that, it’s been more or less silent from the group, bar a few remasterings and a catalogue sale to Sony Music. Gilmour fronted the band once more in 2022 to release the song Hey Hey Rise Up, a track based on the song Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow. The song featured Ukrainian musician Andriy Khlyvnyuk on lead vocals. Aside from this release, the Pink Floyd name has not been used by any individual band member, but Waters says he would have no problem if Gilmour did use it.
Speaking after the Live 8 performance which put the four on seemingly good terms for the first time in two decades, Waters did not begrudge his ex-bandmates for continuing on without him. He said to TVNZ: “My view is this. And it’s only my personal view. There were sort of two bits of Pink Floyd that I thought was important.
“One was Syd Barrett and his extraordinary, most weirdly, wonderful songs that he wrote in 1966, 67 and maybe even a little of 68. And after Syd developed his disease we carried on without him and we struggled and struggled and eventually did some really compelling work between 1968 and 1982.
“And there was all the argy bargy and other people would say then there were the two big tours that the boys did, and two albums that they made. I don’t really think that work holds up, that’s just a personal opinion of mine. It would have been better if they’d called it something else. But they didn’t and they took that decision and I promise you I have no problem with it.”
Though Waters may not have been a fan of Gilmour’s work as frontman, it seems Waters had no issue with Gilmour carrying on. The band would make two albums under Gilmour’s lead, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell. A third album, The Endless River, would release over two decades on from the band’s final show.
It’s an album Gilmour has alleged he was “bullied” into making by the record label. Gilmour said: “I’ll tell you: When we did that album, there was a thing that Andy Jackson, our engineer, had put together called The Big Spliff – a collection of all these bits and pieces of jams [from the sessions for 1994’s ‘The Division Bell’] that was out there on bootlegs.
“A lot of fans wanted this stuff that we’d done in that time, and we thought we’d give it to them. My mistake, I suppose, was in being bullied by the record company to have it out as a properly paid-for Pink Floyd record. It should have been clear what it was – it was never intended to be the follow-up to The Division Bell. But, you know, it’s never too late to get caught in one of these traps again.”
What a egotistical big head Waters is!.
He didn’t like them using the name at first and he even sued the band to stop them. It was settled with the band ceding ownership of The Wall to Waters and the band kept the name. Waters to his credit has said his lawsuit was wrong. So his not minding is probably true. He does have an obsession with bitterness towards Gilmour in particular, but not so much Mason.
I believe Syd Barrett for his brief time in PF was tantamount to their future art and sound. There is definite imprinting of his presence throughout and maybe that was due how his band mates were unable to deal with his deteriorating condition and the lack what to do about it and how to continue. RW is right about Syd Barrett’s weirdly wonderful songs. They were whimsical, fairytale like and had a connection with the Victorian and Celtic view of nature. A connection to the past but with the evolving technology of sound and light shows. PF could never escape that imprint and that unique sonic signature that is Barrett like. As to the feud between RW and DG there is no good guy in this at all. Barrett was really the good guy after all.
I was under the impression that Roger’s “bitterness” was toward Rick. Interesting. I was able to catch Roger 4 times, the three of ’em twice, and Gilmour once (Blue Light- UIC Pavilion). Such a pity ego caused such schism. but is expected when such fame is involved.
It was towards Rick at first as Rick became the least productive after Darkside and Wish you were here. Rick is a soft spoken guy who doesn’t perform well under a perceived pressure environment which would be Waters who started taking a more commanding leadership role of the band after Darkside. But when “The Wall” was conceptualized, Waters pushed wright out of the band. After that, it shifted towards Gilmour. Waters is creative but he also loads his albums with a lot of contrive bloatware. You can see that in his solo albums. Gilmour is great at cutting fat (bloat), streamlining the compositions and getting to the meat of the material, especially with the wall. He and Bob Ezrin both. Gilmour’s compositions are only a handful of songs but the best parts of the wall, even though he can’t write lyrics. Waters didn’t like a lot of the cuts Gilmour and Ezrin made and that is how you got “Final Cut”. It’s mostly a Water’s Solo Album, of the bloat left over from the wall. Gilmour didn’t even want credit on Final Cut. He wanted nothing to do with it. That’s pretty much when the Gilmour’s/waters feud went into the Stratosphere . Rick wright was long out of the band, only hired as a session musician at Gilmour’s and Mason’s urging. He wouldn’t rejoin the band until long after Momentary Lapse Of Reason, where he was a big contributor to Division Bell.
All great artist and I love Roger’s words. He is so brilliant as a writer and songwriter. David is awesome with his sounds. Words and music are always the best when meshed together into one brilliant song. Wish they were here forever!!!
Waters has nothing to prove. His solo albums are all excellent and carries on the edgieness of his era of Pink Floyd. Whereas pink Floyd without waters is akin to “close, but no cigar” edgeless limp efforts.
Waters music is tuneless and his guitar playing immature, Gulmour us the total opposite!
Wrong
Pink Floyd music style changed after David Gilmour joined, otherwise we know the mess they were if anyone bothered to listen to the crap that was “Piper at the Gates of Dawn” brainchild of none other than Roger Waters and Syd Barrett.
You’ll never understand the art of PF without Piper. It’s a masterpiece.
Syd was the Floyd.
Which one was pink?
I think MLOR and TDB are great albums. I love all the PF albums some more than others. Syd set up this great sound and vibe that still resonates in the hearts and minds of people today .Favourite band.
Pink Floyd was awesome regardless of configuration. These were boys with talent and egos doing the the best they could. The result was magical. Their music was a big part of my life and I thank them dearly.
Pink Floyd was big from the Waters era. I don’t like Syd’s part.
I only Wish they could work things out and play the Sphere in Las Vegas 🙏🙏🤞
Nobody cares, mans a joke. Keeps saying controversial stuff in a bid to stay relevant when in reality its long past time he retired and shut the fk up.
I hate to say it, but I totally agree with you. I’m a huge Waters fan that has kind of lost respect for him. He chimes in with comments that are extremely controversial sounding, but play out as an act. As far as retiring or shutting up, unfortunately egos of this type will never do either.
Floyd was the sum of it’s parts.
I totally agree. Pink Floyd when the four of them worked together as a collective whole, all doing what they did best, created magic together. Too bad Roger had to go spoil it by being a megalomaniac.
They wrote some of the greatest lyrics maybe the should listen to the advice they offered in their music..
This is complete nonsense. A gross misrepresentation of history from an offhand comment 20 years ago
Waters loudly sued Pink Floyd and lost to prevent his band mates touring without him and using the name. Everyone knew this.
That was the context.
He’s trying to justify it or bury the hatchet at this one feel good moment.
Wrong his lawsuit was based on only having half of the band. Rick was a paid musician at that time. Waters claimed that you couldn’t carry on the pink floyd name with half the band.
No. Without him!!
What a douche. That certainly isn’t the attitude he started out with. I can’t believe he wrote some of the greatest songs of all time. They seem so aware and mature and he behaves like a child. It’s obvious that the rest of the band made a big difference because none of his music without them compares. (Amused to Death is great but it’s no Animals.)
Roger was the creative force behind the band from Obscured by Clouds to The Wall. Dark Side, Wish, + Animals, my personal favorite. Meddle, which features the epic “Echoes” was truly a collaboration of all four, with Wright + Gilmour contributing as much as Roger.
I still love Pros + Cons of Hitchhiking + Amused to Death…more Floydish than anything Gilmour and company ever did. Roger is right. Division Bell + Momentary Lapse don’t measure up to the high Floyd bar, at least for me.
It doesn’t matter that Roger can be overbearing and insufferable at times. So is Dylan. It’s a thing with great writers.
Like they wrote “together we stand, divided we fall.. we fall.. we fall..
I have lost all respect for Roger Waters after the comments he made about Ozzy Osbourne!