Roger Waters has shared why he dropped studying architecture full-time to pursue a career in music.
The Pink Floyd bassist had been in full-time education before dropping out to form the band with Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright. Before he became a progressive rock innovator, Waters had been studying for a degree in architecture. He dropped his studies after being offered “the dream” of a recording contract and the chance to live as a full-time musician. While success was not guaranteed for Waters, he decided to “give it a shot” and dropped out of studying architecture to perform with Pink Floyd. It’s not as though the band wouldn’t rely on Waters’ studies, either, with their 1979 album The Wall seemingly inspired by his early education. The veteran songwriter would confirm that he dropped out of studying architecture when offered the chance to create music full-time.
Waters said: “Well, we were offered a recording contract. And it had always been my dream to live, you know, that sort of life, as I imagined it might be, of being in a band and doing gigs. And I decided to give it a shot, and so I left the college where I was studying architecture and turned pro February 1967 and that was the end of my career as an architect.”
The legendary musician would go on to share an “obvious” connection between his pre-music studies and The Wall. Waters reflected on what he believed was a “fair battle” between himself and the teacher of his course.
Following Waters’ reflection on his two years of study, he suggested that the “training” he had helped him visualise a crucial part of The Wall when it came to touring the album. An “autobiographical narrative” found on the double album is also seemingly inspired by Waters’ two years on the course.
While being kicked off his architecture course may have inspired him, Waters has also insisted that mathematics had nothing to do with his music. He told Q Magazine in 1987: “But music is only mathematics anyway. It is another way of interpreting maths. Musical intervals are also mathematical intervals.
“But let me say that I never saw any music in maths. It was all complete drudgery to me. I was completely uninterested in it. I could never see the beauty of mathematical relationships.” What may have inspired The Wall is Waters’ architectural studies, which he carried out for two years before being kicked off the course for not attending a specific set of lectures.
He recalled: “I started studying Architecture but they slung me out after two years for refusing to attend History of Architecture lectures. I was very bloshie. I must have been horrible to teach. But the History lecture that I came up against was very reactionary, so it was a fair battle.”
