The Wall
Encyclopedia
The Wall is the eleventh studio album by English progressive rock
group Pink Floyd
. Released as a double album
on 30 November 1979, it was subsequently performed live with elaborate theatrical effects, and adapted into a feature film, Pink Floyd—The Wall.
As with the band's previous three studio albums The Wall is a concept album
, and deals largely with themes of abandonment and personal isolation. It was first conceived during the band's 1977 In the Flesh Tour, when bassist and lyricist Roger Waters
's frustration with the spectators' perceived boorishness became so acute that he imagined building a wall between the performers and audience. The album is a rock opera
that centres on Pink
, a character based on Waters or maybe Syd Barrett. Pink's life experiences begin with the loss of his father during the Second World War
, and continue with ridicule and abuse
from his schoolteachers, an overprotective mother and finally, the breakdown of his marriage. All contribute to his eventual self-imposed isolation from society, represented by a metaphorical wall.
The Wall features a notably harsher and more theatrical style than Pink Floyd's previous releases. Keyboardist Richard Wright
left the band during the album's production but remained as a salaried musician, performing with Pink Floyd during The Wall Tour. Commercially successful upon its release, the album was one of the best selling of 1980, and as of 1999, it had sold over 23 million RIAA certified units (11.5 million albums) in the United States. Rolling Stone
magazine placed The Wall at number 87 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
.
—a small group of noisy and excited fans near the stage irritated Waters to such an extent that he spat at one of them. He was not the only band member who felt disaffected at the show, as guitarist David Gilmour
refused to perform the band's usual twelve-bar blues encore. Later that night, while returning from hospital to treat an injury sustained to his foot while playfighting backstage with manager Steve O'Rourke
, Waters spoke with music producer Bob Ezrin
, and a friend of Ezrin's, a psychiatrist sharing their car, about the feelings of alienation he was experiencing on the tour. He articulated his desire to isolate himself by constructing a wall across the stage between the performers and the audience. He later said, "I loathed playing in stadiums ... I kept saying to people on that tour, 'I'm not really enjoying this ... there is something very wrong with this.'" While Gilmour and Wright were in France
recording solo albums, and Nick Mason
was busy producing Steve Hillage
's Green, Waters began to write new material. The spitting incident became the starting point for a new concept, which explored the protagonist's self-imposed isolation after years of traumatic interactions with authority figures and the loss of his father as a young child. To execute The Wall concept was to attempt to analyze the performer's psychological separation from the audience, using a physical structure as a metaphoric and theatrical device.
In July 1977 the band reconvened at Britannia Row Studios
, where Waters presented two new ideas for concept albums, the first was a 90-minute demo with the working title Bricks in the Wall. The second, a project about a man's dreams across one night that dealt with marriage, sex, and the pros and cons of monogamy and family life versus promiscuity. The first option was chosen by the group for the new Pink Floyd project and the second idea eventually became Waters's first solo effort, a concept album titled, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking
.
By September, the band were experiencing financial difficulties. Financial planners Norton Warburg Group (NWG) had invested £1.3–3.3 million (up to £ in contemporary value) of the group's money in high-risk venture capital
to reduce their tax liabilities
. The strategy failed as many of the businesses NWG invested in lost money, leaving the band facing tax rates potentially as high as 83 per cent. Pink Floyd terminated their relationship with NWG, demanding the return of uninvested funds. The band thus urgently needed to produce an album to make money. Because the project's 26 tracks presented a challenge greater than the band's previous albums, "Waters decided to bring in an outside producer and collaborator." He later said, "I needed a collaborator who was musically and intellectually in a similar place to where I was."
At the suggestion of Waters's then girlfriend, Carolyne Christie, who had worked as Ezrin's secretary, the band hired him to co-produce the album. He had worked with Alice Cooper
, Lou Reed
and Kiss
and he produced Peter Gabriel
's debut solo album. From the start, Waters left Ezrin in no doubt as to who was in charge: "You can write anything you want. Just don't expect any credit". Ezrin, Waters, and Gilmour read Waters's concept, keeping what they liked, and discarding what they thought was not good enough. Waters and Ezrin worked mostly on the story, improving the concept. His 40-page script was presented to the rest of the band, with positive results: "The next day at the studio, we had a table read, like you would with a play, but with the whole of the band, and their eyes all twinkled, because then they could see the album." He broadened the storyline, distancing it from the autobiographical work Waters had written, and instead basing it on a composite, or gestalt character named Pink. Engineer Nick Griffiths later said of the Canadian producer: "Ezrin was very good in The Wall, because he did manage to pull the whole thing together. He's a very forceful guy. There was a lot of argument about how it should sound between Roger and Dave, and he bridged the gap between them." Waters wrote most of the album's material, with Gilmour sharing credit on "Comfortably Numb", "Run Like Hell", and "Young Lust", and Ezrin co-wrote "The Trial".
become metaphoric "bricks in the wall". The protagonist eventually becomes a rock star, his relationships marred by infidelity, drug use, and outbursts of violence. As his marriage crumbles, he finishes building his wall, completing his isolation from human contact.
Hidden behind his wall, Pink's crisis escalates, culminating in an hallucinatory on-stage performance where he believes that he is a fascist dictator
performing at concerts similar to Neo-Nazi
rallies, at which he sets men on fans he considers unworthy. Tormented with guilt, he places himself on trial, his inner judge ordering him to "tear down the wall", opening Pink to the outside world. The album turns full circle with its closing words "Isn't this where...", the first words of the phrase that begins the album, "...we came in?", with a continuation of the melody of the last song hinting at the cyclical nature of Waters' theme.
The album includes several references to former band member Syd Barrett
, including "Nobody Home
", which hints at his condition during Pink Floyd's abortive US tour of 1967, with lyrics such as "wild, staring eyes", "Hendrix perm" and "Gohills Boots". "Comfortably Numb
" was inspired by Waters's injection with a muscle relaxant
to combat the effects of hepatitis
during the In the Flesh Tour.
. Michael Kamen
supervised the orchestral arrangements at CBS Studios
in New York
, in September. Over the next two months the band used Cherokee Studios
and The Village Recorder
in Los Angeles
. A plan to work with the Beach Boys at the Sundance Productions studio in Los Angeles was cancelled. For a week in November they worked at the Producers Workshop, also in Los Angeles.
James Guthrie
, recommended by previous Floyd collaborator Alan Parsons
, arrived early in the production process. He replaced engineer
Brian Humphries, emotionally drained by his five years with the band. Guthrie was hired as a co-producer, but was initially unaware of Ezrin's role: "I saw myself as a hot young producer ... When we arrived, I think we both felt we'd been booked to do the same job." The early sessions at Britannia Row were emotionally charged, as Ezrin, Guthrie and Waters each had strong ideas about the direction the album would take. Relations within the band were at a low ebb, and Ezrin's role expanded to that of an intermediary between Waters and the rest of the band. As Britannia Row was initially regarded as inadequate for The Wall the band upgraded much of its equipment, and by March another set of demos were complete. However, their former relationship with NWG placed them at risk of bankruptcy, and they were advised to leave the UK by no later than 6 April 1979, for a minimum of one year. As non-residents they would pay no UK taxes
during that time, and within a month all four members and their families had left. Waters moved to Switzerland, Mason to France, and Gilmour and Wright to the Greek Islands. Some equipment from Britannia Row was relocated in Super Bear Studios near Nice
. Gilmour and Wright were each familiar with the studio and enjoyed its atmosphere, having recorded there during the production of their solo albums. While Wright and Mason lived at the studio, Waters and Gilmour stayed in nearby houses. Mason later moved into Waters's villa near Vence
, while Ezrin stayed in Nice.
Ezrin's poor punctuality caused problems with the tight schedule dictated by Waters. Mason found the producer's behaviour "erratic", but used his elaborate and unlikely excuses for his lateness as ammunition for "tongue-in-cheek resentment". Ezrin's share of the royalties was less than the rest of the band and he viewed Waters as a "bully", especially when the bassist mocked him by having badges made that read NOPE (No Points Ezrin), alluding to his lesser share of the album's royalties. Ezrin later admitted that he had marital problems and was not "in the best shape emotionally".
More problems became apparent when Waters's relationship with Wright broke down. The band were rarely in the studio together. Ezrin and Guthrie spliced Mason's previously recorded drum tracks together, and Guthrie also worked with Waters and Gilmour during the day, returning at night to record Wright's contributions. Wright, worried about the effect that the introduction of Ezrin would have on the band's internal relationships, was keen to have a producer's credit on the album (their albums up to that point had always stated "Produced by Pink Floyd"). Waters agreed to a trial period with Wright producing, after which he was to be given a producer's credit, but after a few weeks he and Ezrin expressed dissatisfaction with the keyboardist's methods. A confrontation with Ezrin led to Wright working only at nights. Gilmour also expressed his annoyance, complaining that Wright's lack of input was "driving us all mad", and Ezrin later reflected "… it sometimes felt that Roger was setting him up to fail. Rick gets performance anxiety. You have to leave him alone to freeform, to create …" Wright had his own problems, a failing marriage and the onset of depression, exacerbated by his non-residency. The band's holidays were booked for August, after which they were to reconvene at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, but Columbia
offered the band a better deal in exchange for a Christmas release of the album. Waters therefore increased the band's workload accordingly; booking time at the nearby Studio Miraval. He also suggested recording in Los Angeles ten days earlier than agreed, and hiring another keyboardist to work alongside Wright, whose keyboard parts had not yet been recorded. Wright, however, refused to cut short his family holiday in Rhodes
.
Accounts of Wright's subsequent departure from the band differ. In his autobiography, Inside Out
, Mason says that Waters called O'Rourke, who was travelling to the US on the QE2, and told him to have Wright out of the band by the time Waters arrived in LA to mix the album. In another version recorded by a later historian of the band, Waters called O'Rourke and asked him to tell Wright about the new recording arrangements, to which Wright allegedly responded "Tell Roger to fuck off …". Wright disagreed with this recollection, stating that the band had agreed to record only through the spring and early summer, and that he had no idea they were so far behind schedule. Mason later wrote that Waters was "stunned and furious", and felt that Wright was not doing enough to help complete the album. Gilmour was on holiday in Dublin when he learnt of Waters's ultimatum, and tried to calm the situation. He later spoke with Wright and gave him his support, but reminded him about his minimal contribution to the album. Waters, however, insisted that Wright leave, else he would refuse to release The Wall. Several days later, worried about their financial situation, and the failing interpersonal relationships within the band, Wright quit. News of his departure was kept from the music press. Although his name did not appear anywhere on the original album, he was employed as a session musician on the band's subsequent The Wall tour.
By August 1979 the running order was largely complete. Wright completed his duties at Cherokee Studios aided by session musicians Peter Wood and Fred Mandel
, and Jeff Porcaro
played drums in Mason's stead on "Mother
". His duties complete, Mason left the final mix to Waters, Gilmour, Ezrin and Guthrie, and travelled to New York to record his début solo album, Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports. In advance of its release, technical constraints led to some changes being made to the running order and content of The Wall, with "What Shall We Do Now?
" being replaced by the similar but shorter "Empty Spaces
", and "Hey You" being moved from its original place at the end of side three, to the beginning. With the November 1979 deadline approaching, the band left the now-incorrect inner sleeves of the album unchanged.
. The 16-track recordings from these sessions were mixed down and copied onto a 24-track master, as guide tracks for the rest of the band to play to. This gave the engineers greater flexibility, but also improved the audio quality of the final mix as the original 16-track drum recordings were finally synced to the 24-track master, and the duplicated guide tracks removed. Ezrin later related the band's alarm at this method of working—they apparently viewed the erasure of material from the 24-track master as "witchcraft".
While at Super Bear studios Waters had agreed to Ezrin's suggestion that several tracks, including "Nobody Home", "The Trial" and "Comfortably Numb", should have an orchestral accompaniment. Michael Kamen
, who had previously worked with David Bowie
, was booked to oversee these arrangements, which were performed by musicians from the New York Philharmonic
and New York Symphony Orchestras, and a choir from the New York City Opera
. Their sessions were recorded at CBS Studios in New York, although Pink Floyd were not present. Kamen eventually met the band once recording was complete.
"Comfortably Numb
" has its origins in Gilmour's debut solo album, and was the source of much argument between Waters and Gilmour. Ezrin claimed that the song initially started life as "…Roger's record, about Roger, for Roger", although he thought that it needed further work. Waters re-wrote the song and added more lyrics for the chorus, but his "stripped-down and harder" recording was not to Gilmour's liking. The guitarist preferred Ezrin's "…grander Technicolor, orchestral version", although Ezrin preferred Waters's version. Following a full-scale argument in a North Hollywood restaurant, the two compromised; the song's body eventually included the orchestral arrangement, with Gilmour's second and final guitar solo standing alone.
", but neglected to inform its recipient; Mason assumed it was a prank call and replaced the receiver in anger. The call is a direct reference to an incident on the band's In The Flesh Tour, when Waters's call to his wife Judy was answered by a man's voice. Waters also recorded ambient sounds along Hollywood Boulevard
, by hanging a microphone from a studio window. Engineer Phil Taylor recorded some of the screeching tyre noises on "Run Like Hell" from a studio car park, and a television set being destroyed was used on "One of My Turns
". Back in the UK at Britannia Row Studios, Nick Griffiths recorded the smashing of crockery for the same song. Various television broadcasts were used on the album and one actor, recognising his own voice, accepted a financial settlement from the group in lieu of legal action against them.
The maniacal schoolmaster present throughout the album was voiced by Waters, and actress Trudy Young supplied the groupie
's voice. Backing vocals were performed by a range of artists, although a planned appearance by the Beach Boys on "The Show Must Go On" and "Waiting for the Worms" was cancelled by Waters, who instead settled for Bruce Johnston
and Toni Tennille
. Ezrin's suggestion of releasing "Another Brick in the Wall part II" as a single with a disco-style beat did not initially find favour with Gilmour, although Mason and Waters were more enthusiastic. The bassist was originally opposed to the idea of releasing a single at all, but became more receptive once he listened to Ezrin and Guthrie's mix of the song. With two identical verses the song was felt to be lacking, and so a copy was sent to Griffiths in London, along with a request for him to find groups of children to perform several versions of the lyrics. Griffiths contacted Alun Renshaw, head of music at the nearby Islington Green school, who was more than enthusiastic about the idea:
Griffiths at first recorded small groups of pupils and then invited more in, telling them to affect a Cockney
accent, and to shout rather than sing. He multitracked the voices, making the groups sound much larger than they were, before sending his recordings back to Los Angeles. The result was that Waters was "beaming", and the song was released, becoming a Christmas number one hit. There was some controversy when the British press reported that the children hadn't been paid for their efforts; they were eventually given copies of the album, and the school received a £1,000 donation (£ in contemporary value).
designer Storm Thorgerson
several years earlier, when the latter had included the cover of Animals in his book Walk Away Rene, and The Wall is therefore the first Pink Floyd album cover since The Piper at the Gates of Dawn not created by the design group. The LP's sleeve art and custom picture labels by cartoonist Gerald Scarfe
tied in with the album's concept, with each of the four sides showing the eponymous wall in various stages of construction, accompanied by characters from the story.
offered Waters smaller publishing rights on the grounds that The Wall was a double album, a position he did not accept. When one executive offered to settle the dispute with a coin toss, Waters asked why he should gamble on something he owned. He eventually prevailed. The record company's concerns were alleviated when "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" reached number one in the UK, US, Norway, Portugal, Israel, West Germany and South Africa. It was certified
platinum in the UK in December 1979, and platinum in the US three months later.
The Wall was released in the UK on 30 November 1979, and about a week later in the US. Coinciding with its release Waters was interviewed by veteran DJ Tommy Vance
, who played the album in its entirety on BBC Radio 1
. Critical opinion of its content ranged from Robert Christgau
's "too-kitschy minimal maximalism with sound effects and speech fragments" and Rolling Stone writer Kurt Loder
's "a stunning synthesis of Waters's by now familiar thematic obsessions", to Melody Maker' s "I'm not sure whether it's brilliant or terrible, but I find it utterly compelling." Nevertheless the album topped the Billboard charts for 15 weeks, and in 1999 was certified 23x platinum. It remains one of the best-selling albums of all time in the US, between 1979 and 1990 selling over 19 million copies worldwide. In this sense The Wall is second only to 1973's The Dark Side of the Moon
. Engineer James Guthrie's efforts were rewarded in 1980 with a Grammy award for Best Engineered Recording (non-classical). Rolling Stone Magazine placed The Wall 87th on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.
released the album on their Ultradisc format in 1990. The album was re-issued as a double-CD for its 20th anniversary by Columbia in 1997, and reissued by Columbia in 2000.
Following the end of SonyBMG's rights to most of the band's catalog, EMI
released its own version in 2000. The album was reissued in three versions as part of the Why Pink Floyd...?
campaign, which featured a massive restoration of the band's catalog with remasterings by producer James Guthrie
: in 2011, a "Discovery" edition, featuring the remastered version with no extras; and in 2012, both the "Experience" edition, which adds a bonus disc of unreleased material and other supplementary items, and the "Immersion" version, a seven-disc collection that also adds video materials.
, who recorded a bluegrass
cover of the entire album titled Rebuild the Wall
. Celebrating The Walls 20th anniversary, as part of his "Out of Phase" project producer and artist Peter Mossman released The Wall 2000, an ambient electronic
version of the album.
on 7 February 1980. One of its more notable elements was the band's performance of "Comfortably Numb". While Waters sang his opening verse in front of the wall, Gilmour waited in darkness at the top of the wall, for his cue. When it came, bright blue and white lights would suddenly illuminate him, astonishing the audience. Gilmour stood on a flight case on castors, held steady by a technician, both precariously balanced atop a tall hydraulic platform. At the end of the concert, the wall was made to collapse, once again revealing the band. Along with the songs in the album, the tour featured an instrumental medley, "The Last Few Bricks
", which was played before "Goodbye Cruel World" to allow the construction crew to complete the scenographic wall.
Scarfe was employed to produce a series of animations for The Wall. At his studio in London he employed a team of 40 animators to create a series of nightmarish visions of the future, including a dove of peace exploding to reveal an eagle, a schoolmaster, and Pink's mother. During the tour relationships within the band were at an all-time low; four Winnebago
s were parked in a circle, with the doors facing away from the centre. Waters remained isolated, using his own vehicle to arrive at the venue, and stayed in separate hotels from the rest of the band. Wright, returning to perform his duties as a salaried musician, was the only member of the band to profit from the venture, which lost about £400,000.
Scarfe's animations were also to have been used in the film based on the album, accompanied by live concert footage, but the latter proved too impractical to film. Alan Parker
agreed to direct the film, which kept the animated sequences but also used professional actors in each scene, with no dialogue. Bob Geldof
took the role of Pink. A modified soundtrack was also created for some of the film's songs. Pink Floyd The Wall was released in July 1982.
In 1990 Waters and producer Tony Hollingsworth created The Wall – Live in Berlin, staged for charity at a site once occupied by part of the Berlin Wall
. Between 2010 and 2012, Waters did a worldwide concert tour of the album, The Wall Live, which even counted with Gilmour and Mason in a London presentation.
Additional musicians (credited)
Additional musicians (uncredited)
Production
Singles
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
group Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
. Released as a double album
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
on 30 November 1979, it was subsequently performed live with elaborate theatrical effects, and adapted into a feature film, Pink Floyd—The Wall.
As with the band's previous three studio albums The Wall is a concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
, and deals largely with themes of abandonment and personal isolation. It was first conceived during the band's 1977 In the Flesh Tour, when bassist and lyricist Roger Waters
Roger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
's frustration with the spectators' perceived boorishness became so acute that he imagined building a wall between the performers and audience. The album is a rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
that centres on Pink
Pink Floyd (fictional character)
Floyd Pinkerton, more commonly known as Pink Floyd, is the fictional central character of Pink Floyd's album/rock opera The Wall and the accompanying film Pink Floyd The Wall , in which he is portrayed by Bob Geldof. He is also mentioned in The Final Cut...
, a character based on Waters or maybe Syd Barrett. Pink's life experiences begin with the loss of his father during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and continue with ridicule and abuse
Abuse
Abuse is the improper usage or treatment for a bad purpose, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, sexual assault, violation, rape, unjust practices; wrongful practice or custom; offense; crime, or otherwise...
from his schoolteachers, an overprotective mother and finally, the breakdown of his marriage. All contribute to his eventual self-imposed isolation from society, represented by a metaphorical wall.
The Wall features a notably harsher and more theatrical style than Pink Floyd's previous releases. Keyboardist Richard Wright
Richard Wright (musician)
Richard William Wright was an English pianist, keyboardist and songwriter, best known for his career with Pink Floyd. Wright's richly textured keyboard layers were a vital ingredient and a distinctive characteristic of Pink Floyd's sound...
left the band during the album's production but remained as a salaried musician, performing with Pink Floyd during The Wall Tour. Commercially successful upon its release, the album was one of the best selling of 1980, and as of 1999, it had sold over 23 million RIAA certified units (11.5 million albums) in the United States. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine placed The Wall at number 87 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
.
Background
Pink Floyd's In the Flesh Tour was their first playing in large stadiums, and in July 1977—on the final date at the Montreal Olympic StadiumOlympic Stadium (Montreal)
The Olympic Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada built as the main venue for the 1976 Summer Olympics...
—a small group of noisy and excited fans near the stage irritated Waters to such an extent that he spat at one of them. He was not the only band member who felt disaffected at the show, as guitarist David Gilmour
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
refused to perform the band's usual twelve-bar blues encore. Later that night, while returning from hospital to treat an injury sustained to his foot while playfighting backstage with manager Steve O'Rourke
Steve O'Rourke
Steve O'Rourke was born in Willesden, London, England. He was well known for being manager of the highly influential rock band Pink Floyd after the departure of Syd Barrett in 1968 until his death. He also had to weather the band's falling-out with member Roger Waters.He first managed Pink Floyd...
, Waters spoke with music producer Bob Ezrin
Bob Ezrin
Robert Alan "Bob" Ezrin is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, known for his work with artists including Alice Cooper, Kiss and Pink Floyd. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2004.-Biography:...
, and a friend of Ezrin's, a psychiatrist sharing their car, about the feelings of alienation he was experiencing on the tour. He articulated his desire to isolate himself by constructing a wall across the stage between the performers and the audience. He later said, "I loathed playing in stadiums ... I kept saying to people on that tour, 'I'm not really enjoying this ... there is something very wrong with this.'" While Gilmour and Wright were in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
recording solo albums, and Nick Mason
Nick Mason
Nicholas Berkeley "Nick" Mason is an English drummer and songwriter, best known for his work with Pink Floyd. He was the only constant member of the band since its formation in 1965...
was busy producing Steve Hillage
Steve Hillage
Steve Hillage is an English musician, best known as a guitarist. He is associated with the Canterbury scene and has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s...
's Green, Waters began to write new material. The spitting incident became the starting point for a new concept, which explored the protagonist's self-imposed isolation after years of traumatic interactions with authority figures and the loss of his father as a young child. To execute The Wall concept was to attempt to analyze the performer's psychological separation from the audience, using a physical structure as a metaphoric and theatrical device.
In July 1977 the band reconvened at Britannia Row Studios
Britannia Row Studios
Britannia Row Studios is a recording studio in Fulham, London SW6, England.Pink Floyd built the original Britannia Row Studios, located in the street Britannia Row, Islington, London N1, after their 1975 album Wish You Were Here was released...
, where Waters presented two new ideas for concept albums, the first was a 90-minute demo with the working title Bricks in the Wall. The second, a project about a man's dreams across one night that dealt with marriage, sex, and the pros and cons of monogamy and family life versus promiscuity. The first option was chosen by the group for the new Pink Floyd project and the second idea eventually became Waters's first solo effort, a concept album titled, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking
The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking
The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking is a 1984 concept album and the first solo album by English musician Roger Waters. The album was certified gold in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 1995.-Concept history:...
.
By September, the band were experiencing financial difficulties. Financial planners Norton Warburg Group (NWG) had invested £1.3–3.3 million (up to £ in contemporary value) of the group's money in high-risk venture capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
to reduce their tax liabilities
Taxation in the United Kingdom
Taxation in the United Kingdom may involve payments to a minimum of two different levels of government: The central government and local government. Central government revenues come primarily from income tax, National Insurance contributions, value added tax, corporation tax and fuel duty...
. The strategy failed as many of the businesses NWG invested in lost money, leaving the band facing tax rates potentially as high as 83 per cent. Pink Floyd terminated their relationship with NWG, demanding the return of uninvested funds. The band thus urgently needed to produce an album to make money. Because the project's 26 tracks presented a challenge greater than the band's previous albums, "Waters decided to bring in an outside producer and collaborator." He later said, "I needed a collaborator who was musically and intellectually in a similar place to where I was."
At the suggestion of Waters's then girlfriend, Carolyne Christie, who had worked as Ezrin's secretary, the band hired him to co-produce the album. He had worked with Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
, Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
and Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
and he produced Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
's debut solo album. From the start, Waters left Ezrin in no doubt as to who was in charge: "You can write anything you want. Just don't expect any credit". Ezrin, Waters, and Gilmour read Waters's concept, keeping what they liked, and discarding what they thought was not good enough. Waters and Ezrin worked mostly on the story, improving the concept. His 40-page script was presented to the rest of the band, with positive results: "The next day at the studio, we had a table read, like you would with a play, but with the whole of the band, and their eyes all twinkled, because then they could see the album." He broadened the storyline, distancing it from the autobiographical work Waters had written, and instead basing it on a composite, or gestalt character named Pink. Engineer Nick Griffiths later said of the Canadian producer: "Ezrin was very good in The Wall, because he did manage to pull the whole thing together. He's a very forceful guy. There was a lot of argument about how it should sound between Roger and Dave, and he bridged the gap between them." Waters wrote most of the album's material, with Gilmour sharing credit on "Comfortably Numb", "Run Like Hell", and "Young Lust", and Ezrin co-wrote "The Trial".
Concept and storyline
The Wall is a rock opera that explores abandonment and isolation, symbolised by a metaphorical wall. The songs create an approximate storyline of events in the life of the protagonist, Pink, a character based on Waters, whose father was killed during the Second World War. Pink is oppressed by his overprotective mother, and tormented at school by tyrannical, abusive teachers. Each of these traumasPsychological trauma
Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
become metaphoric "bricks in the wall". The protagonist eventually becomes a rock star, his relationships marred by infidelity, drug use, and outbursts of violence. As his marriage crumbles, he finishes building his wall, completing his isolation from human contact.
Hidden behind his wall, Pink's crisis escalates, culminating in an hallucinatory on-stage performance where he believes that he is a fascist dictator
Dictator
A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
performing at concerts similar to Neo-Nazi
Neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism or some variant thereof.The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements....
rallies, at which he sets men on fans he considers unworthy. Tormented with guilt, he places himself on trial, his inner judge ordering him to "tear down the wall", opening Pink to the outside world. The album turns full circle with its closing words "Isn't this where...", the first words of the phrase that begins the album, "...we came in?", with a continuation of the melody of the last song hinting at the cyclical nature of Waters' theme.
The album includes several references to former band member Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...
, including "Nobody Home
Nobody Home
"Nobody Home" is a song from the Pink Floyd album The Wall.-Overview:In the song, the character Pink describes his lonely life of isolation behind his self-created mental wall. He has no one to talk to, and all he has are his possessions. The song describes what Roger Waters says he experienced...
", which hints at his condition during Pink Floyd's abortive US tour of 1967, with lyrics such as "wild, staring eyes", "Hendrix perm" and "Gohills Boots". "Comfortably Numb
Comfortably Numb
"Comfortably Numb" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, which first appears on the 1979 double album, The Wall. It was also released as a single in the same year with "Hey You" as the B-side. It is one of only three songs on the album for which writing credits are shared between Roger...
" was inspired by Waters's injection with a muscle relaxant
Muscle relaxant
A muscle relaxant is a drug which affects skeletal muscle function and decreases the muscle tone. It may be used to alleviate symptoms such as muscle spasms, pain, and hyperreflexia. The term "muscle relaxant" is used to refer to two major therapeutic groups: neuromuscular blockers and spasmolytics...
to combat the effects of hepatitis
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation"...
during the In the Flesh Tour.
Recording
The album was recorded in several locations. In France, Super Bear Studios was used between January and July 1979, with Waters recording his vocals at the nearby Studio MiravalStudio Miraval
Studio Miraval is a recording studio in Le Val in southern France, situated in the heart of the department of Var near the French Riviera. Many famous musicians have recorded there, including Rammstein, Sade, AC/DC, and Shirley Bassey. It is a residential studio, much like Château d'Hérouville,...
. Michael Kamen
Michael Kamen
Michael Arnold Kamen was an American composer , orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, song writer, and session musician.-Background:...
supervised the orchestral arrangements at CBS Studios
CBS 30th Street Studio
CBS 30th Street Studio, also known as Columbia 30th Street Studio, and nicknamed "The Church", was an American recording studio operated by Columbia Records from 1949 to 1981 located at 207 East 30th Street, between Second and Third Avenues in Manhattan, New York City...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, in September. Over the next two months the band used Cherokee Studios
Cherokee Studios
Cherokee Studios was a recording facility in Hollywood, founded in 1972 and closed in August 2007 to make way for a new building, after 35 years of operation under the Cherokee name as a well-renowned studio...
and The Village Recorder
The Village (studio)
The Village is a famous recording studio in Los Angeles, California.Since the 1960s, The Village has been the home to recordings by artists such as Aerosmith, The Allman Brothers, The Beach Boys, Mariah Carey, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Alice Cooper, Elvis Costello, The Doors, Bob...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. A plan to work with the Beach Boys at the Sundance Productions studio in Los Angeles was cancelled. For a week in November they worked at the Producers Workshop, also in Los Angeles.
James Guthrie
James Guthrie (record producer)
James K.A. Guthrie is a British recording engineer and record producer best known for his work with the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, having served as a producer and engineer for the band since 1978...
, recommended by previous Floyd collaborator Alan Parsons
Alan Parsons
Alan Parsons is a British audio engineer, musician, and record producer. He was involved with the production of several significant albums, including The Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be, as well as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon for which Pink Floyd credit him as an important contributor...
, arrived early in the production process. He replaced engineer
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
Brian Humphries, emotionally drained by his five years with the band. Guthrie was hired as a co-producer, but was initially unaware of Ezrin's role: "I saw myself as a hot young producer ... When we arrived, I think we both felt we'd been booked to do the same job." The early sessions at Britannia Row were emotionally charged, as Ezrin, Guthrie and Waters each had strong ideas about the direction the album would take. Relations within the band were at a low ebb, and Ezrin's role expanded to that of an intermediary between Waters and the rest of the band. As Britannia Row was initially regarded as inadequate for The Wall the band upgraded much of its equipment, and by March another set of demos were complete. However, their former relationship with NWG placed them at risk of bankruptcy, and they were advised to leave the UK by no later than 6 April 1979, for a minimum of one year. As non-residents they would pay no UK taxes
Tax exile
A tax exile is one who chooses to leave a country with a high tax burden and instead to reside in a foreign nation or jurisdiction which takes a lower portion of earnings. Going into tax exile is a means of tax mitigation or avoidance.-Legal status:...
during that time, and within a month all four members and their families had left. Waters moved to Switzerland, Mason to France, and Gilmour and Wright to the Greek Islands. Some equipment from Britannia Row was relocated in Super Bear Studios near Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
. Gilmour and Wright were each familiar with the studio and enjoyed its atmosphere, having recorded there during the production of their solo albums. While Wright and Mason lived at the studio, Waters and Gilmour stayed in nearby houses. Mason later moved into Waters's villa near Vence
Vence
Vence is a commune set in the hills of the Alpes Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France between Nice and Antibes.-Population:-Sights:...
, while Ezrin stayed in Nice.
Ezrin's poor punctuality caused problems with the tight schedule dictated by Waters. Mason found the producer's behaviour "erratic", but used his elaborate and unlikely excuses for his lateness as ammunition for "tongue-in-cheek resentment". Ezrin's share of the royalties was less than the rest of the band and he viewed Waters as a "bully", especially when the bassist mocked him by having badges made that read NOPE (No Points Ezrin), alluding to his lesser share of the album's royalties. Ezrin later admitted that he had marital problems and was not "in the best shape emotionally".
More problems became apparent when Waters's relationship with Wright broke down. The band were rarely in the studio together. Ezrin and Guthrie spliced Mason's previously recorded drum tracks together, and Guthrie also worked with Waters and Gilmour during the day, returning at night to record Wright's contributions. Wright, worried about the effect that the introduction of Ezrin would have on the band's internal relationships, was keen to have a producer's credit on the album (their albums up to that point had always stated "Produced by Pink Floyd"). Waters agreed to a trial period with Wright producing, after which he was to be given a producer's credit, but after a few weeks he and Ezrin expressed dissatisfaction with the keyboardist's methods. A confrontation with Ezrin led to Wright working only at nights. Gilmour also expressed his annoyance, complaining that Wright's lack of input was "driving us all mad", and Ezrin later reflected "… it sometimes felt that Roger was setting him up to fail. Rick gets performance anxiety. You have to leave him alone to freeform, to create …" Wright had his own problems, a failing marriage and the onset of depression, exacerbated by his non-residency. The band's holidays were booked for August, after which they were to reconvene at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, but Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
offered the band a better deal in exchange for a Christmas release of the album. Waters therefore increased the band's workload accordingly; booking time at the nearby Studio Miraval. He also suggested recording in Los Angeles ten days earlier than agreed, and hiring another keyboardist to work alongside Wright, whose keyboard parts had not yet been recorded. Wright, however, refused to cut short his family holiday in Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
.
Accounts of Wright's subsequent departure from the band differ. In his autobiography, Inside Out
Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd
Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd is Nick Mason's personal memoir of Pink Floyd published on 7 October 2004 in the United Kingdom. Initially a hardback release, it has since appeared in at least two different paperback editions. The book marks the first time that a group member has...
, Mason says that Waters called O'Rourke, who was travelling to the US on the QE2, and told him to have Wright out of the band by the time Waters arrived in LA to mix the album. In another version recorded by a later historian of the band, Waters called O'Rourke and asked him to tell Wright about the new recording arrangements, to which Wright allegedly responded "Tell Roger to fuck off …". Wright disagreed with this recollection, stating that the band had agreed to record only through the spring and early summer, and that he had no idea they were so far behind schedule. Mason later wrote that Waters was "stunned and furious", and felt that Wright was not doing enough to help complete the album. Gilmour was on holiday in Dublin when he learnt of Waters's ultimatum, and tried to calm the situation. He later spoke with Wright and gave him his support, but reminded him about his minimal contribution to the album. Waters, however, insisted that Wright leave, else he would refuse to release The Wall. Several days later, worried about their financial situation, and the failing interpersonal relationships within the band, Wright quit. News of his departure was kept from the music press. Although his name did not appear anywhere on the original album, he was employed as a session musician on the band's subsequent The Wall tour.
By August 1979 the running order was largely complete. Wright completed his duties at Cherokee Studios aided by session musicians Peter Wood and Fred Mandel
Fred Mandel
Fred Mandel is a keyboard player and guitarist.Mandel became involved in music from an early age. He started playing the piano and age 4 and picked up the guitar aged 8...
, and Jeff Porcaro
Jeff Porcaro
Jeffrey Thomas "Jeff" Porcaro was an American session drummer and a founding member of the Grammy Award winning band Toto. Porcaro was one of the most recorded drummers in history, working on hundreds of albums and thousands of sessions...
played drums in Mason's stead on "Mother
Mother (Pink Floyd song)
"Mother" is a song by Pink Floyd. It appeared on The Wall album in 1979. The song is notable for its varied use of time signatures.-Composition:...
". His duties complete, Mason left the final mix to Waters, Gilmour, Ezrin and Guthrie, and travelled to New York to record his début solo album, Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports. In advance of its release, technical constraints led to some changes being made to the running order and content of The Wall, with "What Shall We Do Now?
What Shall We Do Now?
"What Shall We Do Now?" is a song by Pink Floyd, written by Roger Waters.It was originally intended to be on their 1979 album The Wall, and appeared in demo versions of The Wall, but was omitted due to the time restraints of the vinyl format...
" being replaced by the similar but shorter "Empty Spaces
Empty Spaces
"Empty Spaces" is a song by Pink Floyd. It appeared on The Wall album in 1979.-Composition:The song is 2 minutes and 10 seconds in length and features a long introductory section, which includes an airport announcement, a reference to Pink heading for an American tour. At approximately 48 seconds...
", and "Hey You" being moved from its original place at the end of side three, to the beginning. With the November 1979 deadline approaching, the band left the now-incorrect inner sleeves of the album unchanged.
Instrumentation
Mason's early drum sessions were performed in an open space on the top floor of Britannia Row StudiosBritannia Row Studios
Britannia Row Studios is a recording studio in Fulham, London SW6, England.Pink Floyd built the original Britannia Row Studios, located in the street Britannia Row, Islington, London N1, after their 1975 album Wish You Were Here was released...
. The 16-track recordings from these sessions were mixed down and copied onto a 24-track master, as guide tracks for the rest of the band to play to. This gave the engineers greater flexibility, but also improved the audio quality of the final mix as the original 16-track drum recordings were finally synced to the 24-track master, and the duplicated guide tracks removed. Ezrin later related the band's alarm at this method of working—they apparently viewed the erasure of material from the 24-track master as "witchcraft".
While at Super Bear studios Waters had agreed to Ezrin's suggestion that several tracks, including "Nobody Home", "The Trial" and "Comfortably Numb", should have an orchestral accompaniment. Michael Kamen
Michael Kamen
Michael Arnold Kamen was an American composer , orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, song writer, and session musician.-Background:...
, who had previously worked with David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, was booked to oversee these arrangements, which were performed by musicians from the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
and New York Symphony Orchestras, and a choir from the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
. Their sessions were recorded at CBS Studios in New York, although Pink Floyd were not present. Kamen eventually met the band once recording was complete.
"Comfortably Numb
Comfortably Numb
"Comfortably Numb" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, which first appears on the 1979 double album, The Wall. It was also released as a single in the same year with "Hey You" as the B-side. It is one of only three songs on the album for which writing credits are shared between Roger...
" has its origins in Gilmour's debut solo album, and was the source of much argument between Waters and Gilmour. Ezrin claimed that the song initially started life as "…Roger's record, about Roger, for Roger", although he thought that it needed further work. Waters re-wrote the song and added more lyrics for the chorus, but his "stripped-down and harder" recording was not to Gilmour's liking. The guitarist preferred Ezrin's "…grander Technicolor, orchestral version", although Ezrin preferred Waters's version. Following a full-scale argument in a North Hollywood restaurant, the two compromised; the song's body eventually included the orchestral arrangement, with Gilmour's second and final guitar solo standing alone.
Sound effects and voices
Ezrin and Waters oversaw the capture of the various sound effects used on the album. Waters recorded the phone call used on the original demo for "Young LustYoung Lust (song)
"Young Lust" is a song by Pink Floyd. It appeared on The Wall album in 1979.-Composition:"Young Lust" is approximately 3 minutes, 25 seconds in length...
", but neglected to inform its recipient; Mason assumed it was a prank call and replaced the receiver in anger. The call is a direct reference to an incident on the band's In The Flesh Tour, when Waters's call to his wife Judy was answered by a man's voice. Waters also recorded ambient sounds along Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard
-Revitalization:In recent years successful efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001...
, by hanging a microphone from a studio window. Engineer Phil Taylor recorded some of the screeching tyre noises on "Run Like Hell" from a studio car park, and a television set being destroyed was used on "One of My Turns
One of My Turns
"One of My Turns" is a song by Pink Floyd. It appears on The Wall album in 1979, and was released as a B-side on the single of "Another Brick in the Wall ".-Composition:...
". Back in the UK at Britannia Row Studios, Nick Griffiths recorded the smashing of crockery for the same song. Various television broadcasts were used on the album and one actor, recognising his own voice, accepted a financial settlement from the group in lieu of legal action against them.
The maniacal schoolmaster present throughout the album was voiced by Waters, and actress Trudy Young supplied the groupie
Groupie
A groupie is a person who seeks emotional and sexual intimacy with a musician or other celebrity. "Groupie" is derived from group in reference to a musical group, but the word is also used in a more general sense, especially in casual conversation....
's voice. Backing vocals were performed by a range of artists, although a planned appearance by the Beach Boys on "The Show Must Go On" and "Waiting for the Worms" was cancelled by Waters, who instead settled for Bruce Johnston
Bruce Johnston
Bruce Arthur Johnston is a member of The Beach Boys and a songwriter, remembered especially for composing "I Write the Songs". Johnston was not one of the original members of the band...
and Toni Tennille
Toni Tennille
Cathryn Antoinette "Toni" Tennille is one-half of the 1970s Grammy Award-winning duo Captain & Tennille. Tennille has also done musical work independently of her husband Daryl Dragon. Tennille has a contralto vocal range.-Biography:...
. Ezrin's suggestion of releasing "Another Brick in the Wall part II" as a single with a disco-style beat did not initially find favour with Gilmour, although Mason and Waters were more enthusiastic. The bassist was originally opposed to the idea of releasing a single at all, but became more receptive once he listened to Ezrin and Guthrie's mix of the song. With two identical verses the song was felt to be lacking, and so a copy was sent to Griffiths in London, along with a request for him to find groups of children to perform several versions of the lyrics. Griffiths contacted Alun Renshaw, head of music at the nearby Islington Green school, who was more than enthusiastic about the idea:
Griffiths at first recorded small groups of pupils and then invited more in, telling them to affect a Cockney
Cockney
The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
accent, and to shout rather than sing. He multitracked the voices, making the groups sound much larger than they were, before sending his recordings back to Los Angeles. The result was that Waters was "beaming", and the song was released, becoming a Christmas number one hit. There was some controversy when the British press reported that the children hadn't been paid for their efforts; they were eventually given copies of the album, and the school received a £1,000 donation (£ in contemporary value).
Packaging
The cover design is one of Pink Floyd's most minimal—a white brick wall and no text (the logo and band name is presented on a sticker). Waters had fallen out with HipgnosisHipgnosis
Hipgnosis was a British art design group that specialized in creating cover art for the albums of rock musicians and bands, most notably Pink Floyd, T.Rex, The Pretty Things, UFO, 10cc, Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Scorpions, Yes, The Alan Parsons Project, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, ELO and XTC...
designer Storm Thorgerson
Storm Thorgerson
Storm Thorgerson is an English graphic designer, known for his work for rock bands such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, 10cc, Dream Theater, The Mars Volta, Muse, The Cranberries, and Biffy Clyro.-Biography:...
several years earlier, when the latter had included the cover of Animals in his book Walk Away Rene, and The Wall is therefore the first Pink Floyd album cover since The Piper at the Gates of Dawn not created by the design group. The LP's sleeve art and custom picture labels by cartoonist Gerald Scarfe
Gerald Scarfe
Gerald Anthony Scarfe, CBE, RDI, is an English cartoonist and illustrator. He worked as editorial cartoonist for The Sunday Times and illustrator for The New Yorker...
tied in with the album's concept, with each of the four sides showing the eponymous wall in various stages of construction, accompanied by characters from the story.
Release
When the completed album was played for an assembled group of executives at Columbia's headquarters in California, several were reportedly unimpressed by what they heard. Matters had not been helped when Columbia RecordsColumbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
offered Waters smaller publishing rights on the grounds that The Wall was a double album, a position he did not accept. When one executive offered to settle the dispute with a coin toss, Waters asked why he should gamble on something he owned. He eventually prevailed. The record company's concerns were alleviated when "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" reached number one in the UK, US, Norway, Portugal, Israel, West Germany and South Africa. It was certified
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
platinum in the UK in December 1979, and platinum in the US three months later.
The Wall was released in the UK on 30 November 1979, and about a week later in the US. Coinciding with its release Waters was interviewed by veteran DJ Tommy Vance
Tommy Vance
Tommy Vance was a British pop radio broadcaster, born in Eynsham, Oxfordshire. He was one of the few music broadcasters in the United Kingdom to champion hard rock and heavy metal in the early 1980s, providing the only national radio forum for both bands and fans...
, who played the album in its entirety on BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
. Critical opinion of its content ranged from Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
's "too-kitschy minimal maximalism with sound effects and speech fragments" and Rolling Stone writer Kurt Loder
Kurt Loder
Kurt Loder is an American film critic, author, columnist, and television personality. He served in the 1980s as editor at Rolling Stone, during a tenure that Reason later called "legendary". He has contributed to articles in Reason, Esquire, Details, New York, and Time. He has also made cameos on...
's "a stunning synthesis of Waters's by now familiar thematic obsessions", to Melody Maker
The Dark Side of the Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in March 1973. It built on ideas explored in the band's earlier recordings and live shows, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their work following the departure...
. Engineer James Guthrie's efforts were rewarded in 1980 with a Grammy award for Best Engineered Recording (non-classical). Rolling Stone Magazine placed The Wall 87th on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.
Reissues
The album was originally released as a double LP, but was re-issued in the UK as a double CD in 1985. A remastered version with new artwork was issued in 1994, followed in 1997 by a digitally remastered double-LP. A half-speed master vinyl double-LP was released in the US in 1981, and a double-CD followed in 1983. Mobile Fidelity Sound LabMobile Fidelity Sound Lab
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is a company known as an innovator in the production of audiophile-quality sound recordings. All releases are advertised as being produced from the first-generation analog master recordings, and using proprietary technology, which MFSL claims allows for improved sound...
released the album on their Ultradisc format in 1990. The album was re-issued as a double-CD for its 20th anniversary by Columbia in 1997, and reissued by Columbia in 2000.
Following the end of SonyBMG's rights to most of the band's catalog, EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
released its own version in 2000. The album was reissued in three versions as part of the Why Pink Floyd...?
Why Pink Floyd...?
Why Pink Floyd...? is an exhaustive re-release campaign of the entire back catalogue of the English rock group Pink Floyd scheduled for 2011–12. It will entail various incarnations of the band's material in multiple formats. The music will be presented newly remastered, featuring unreleased tracks...
campaign, which featured a massive restoration of the band's catalog with remasterings by producer James Guthrie
James Guthrie
James Guthrie was a U.S. Senator from Kentucky and served as Secretary of the Treasury in the administration of President Franklin Pierce.- Early life :...
: in 2011, a "Discovery" edition, featuring the remastered version with no extras; and in 2012, both the "Experience" edition, which adds a bonus disc of unreleased material and other supplementary items, and the "Immersion" version, a seven-disc collection that also adds video materials.
Covers
The Wall has been covered by several acts, including Canadian alternative country band Luther Wright and the WrongsLuther Wright and the Wrongs
-History:The band began as a side project for Wright when he was a member of Weeping Tile. When that band amicably parted ways following their 1998 recording This Great Black Night, the Wrongs became Wright's primary band. The band membership has shifted a number of times since its inception...
, who recorded a bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
cover of the entire album titled Rebuild the Wall
Rebuild the Wall
Rebuild the Wall is a 2001 album by Canadian alternative country band Luther Wright and the Wrongs. The album is a cover of Pink Floyd's progressive rock classic The Wall, reimagining each track as a bluegrass country song.-Track listing:...
. Celebrating The Walls 20th anniversary, as part of his "Out of Phase" project producer and artist Peter Mossman released The Wall 2000, an ambient electronic
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
version of the album.
Tour
During each performance of the band's subsequent The Wall Tour, a 40 feet (12.2 m) high wall of cardboard bricks was gradually built between the band and audience. Gaps allowed the spectators to view various scenes in the story, as Scarfe's animations were projected onto the completed parts of the wall. Several characters from the story were realised as giant inflatables, including a pig, replete with a crossed hammers logo. The tour opened at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports ArenaLos Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena is a multi-purpose arena, in the University Park neighborhood, of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park. It is located next to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, just south of the campus of the University of Southern California.-History:The Los Angeles...
on 7 February 1980. One of its more notable elements was the band's performance of "Comfortably Numb". While Waters sang his opening verse in front of the wall, Gilmour waited in darkness at the top of the wall, for his cue. When it came, bright blue and white lights would suddenly illuminate him, astonishing the audience. Gilmour stood on a flight case on castors, held steady by a technician, both precariously balanced atop a tall hydraulic platform. At the end of the concert, the wall was made to collapse, once again revealing the band. Along with the songs in the album, the tour featured an instrumental medley, "The Last Few Bricks
The Last Few Bricks
"The Last Few Bricks" is an instrumental bridge/medley used by Pink Floyd and Roger Waters at The Wall live shows, between "Another Brick in the Wall " and "Goodbye Cruel World"...
", which was played before "Goodbye Cruel World" to allow the construction crew to complete the scenographic wall.
Scarfe was employed to produce a series of animations for The Wall. At his studio in London he employed a team of 40 animators to create a series of nightmarish visions of the future, including a dove of peace exploding to reveal an eagle, a schoolmaster, and Pink's mother. During the tour relationships within the band were at an all-time low; four Winnebago
Winnebago Industries
Winnebago Industries Inc., , is a manufacturer of motor homes, a type of recreational vehicle or RV, in the United States. It is based in Forest City, Iowa.-Corporate history:...
s were parked in a circle, with the doors facing away from the centre. Waters remained isolated, using his own vehicle to arrive at the venue, and stayed in separate hotels from the rest of the band. Wright, returning to perform his duties as a salaried musician, was the only member of the band to profit from the venture, which lost about £400,000.
Scarfe's animations were also to have been used in the film based on the album, accompanied by live concert footage, but the latter proved too impractical to film. Alan Parker
Alan Parker
Sir Alan William Parker, CBE is an English film director, producer, writer and actor. He has been active in both the British cinema and American cinema and was a founding member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain.-Life and career:...
agreed to direct the film, which kept the animated sequences but also used professional actors in each scene, with no dialogue. Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
took the role of Pink. A modified soundtrack was also created for some of the film's songs. Pink Floyd The Wall was released in July 1982.
In 1990 Waters and producer Tony Hollingsworth created The Wall – Live in Berlin, staged for charity at a site once occupied by part of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
. Between 2010 and 2012, Waters did a worldwide concert tour of the album, The Wall Live, which even counted with Gilmour and Mason in a London presentation.
Track listing
Personnel
Pink Floyd- David GilmourDavid GilmourDavid Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
– guitars, vocals, synthesisers, clavinet, sound effects - Nick MasonNick MasonNicholas Berkeley "Nick" Mason is an English drummer and songwriter, best known for his work with Pink Floyd. He was the only constant member of the band since its formation in 1965...
– percussion - Roger WatersRoger WatersGeorge Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
– vocals, guitars, synthesiser, sound effects - Richard WrightRichard Wright (musician)Richard William Wright was an English pianist, keyboardist and songwriter, best known for his career with Pink Floyd. Wright's richly textured keyboard layers were a vital ingredient and a distinctive characteristic of Pink Floyd's sound...
– organ, piano, Rhodes electric piano, synthesisers, bass pedals
Additional musicians (credited)
- Bruce JohnstonBruce JohnstonBruce Arthur Johnston is a member of The Beach Boys and a songwriter, remembered especially for composing "I Write the Songs". Johnston was not one of the original members of the band...
– backing vocals - Toni TennilleToni TennilleCathryn Antoinette "Toni" Tennille is one-half of the 1970s Grammy Award-winning duo Captain & Tennille. Tennille has also done musical work independently of her husband Daryl Dragon. Tennille has a contralto vocal range.-Biography:...
– backing vocals - Joe Chemay – backing vocals
- Jon Joyce – backing vocals
- Islington Green School – children’s choir
- Michael KamenMichael KamenMichael Arnold Kamen was an American composer , orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, song writer, and session musician.-Background:...
– orchestral arrangement - Bob EzrinBob EzrinRobert Alan "Bob" Ezrin is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, known for his work with artists including Alice Cooper, Kiss and Pink Floyd. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2004.-Biography:...
– orchestral arrangement
Additional musicians (uncredited)
- Bob Ezrin – organ, piano, synthesiser, backing vocals
- James GuthrieJames Guthrie (record producer)James K.A. Guthrie is a British recording engineer and record producer best known for his work with the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, having served as a producer and engineer for the band since 1978...
– percussion, synthesiser, sound effects - Jeff PorcaroJeff PorcaroJeffrey Thomas "Jeff" Porcaro was an American session drummer and a founding member of the Grammy Award winning band Toto. Porcaro was one of the most recorded drummers in history, working on hundreds of albums and thousands of sessions...
– drums - Joe PorcaroJoe PorcaroJoseph Porcaro is an American jazz drummer, percussionist and educator....
, Blue Ocean & 5 others – snare drums - Lee RitenourLee RitenourLee Mack Ritenour is an American jazz guitarist who has recorded over 42 albums, appeared on over 3000 sessions, and has charted over 30 instrumental and vocal contemporary jazz hits since 1976. One of his most popular songs was the smash hit, “Is It You” in 1981. Ritenour is considered to be a...
– guitars - Ron di Blasi – classical guitar
- Fred MandelFred MandelFred Mandel is a keyboard player and guitarist.Mandel became involved in music from an early age. He started playing the piano and age 4 and picked up the guitar aged 8...
– Hammond organ - Bobbye HallBobbye HallBobbye Jean Hall Porter is an American percussionist who has recorded with a variety of rock, soul, blues and jazz artists, and has appeared on 22 songs that reached the top ten in the Billboard Hot 100, six of those reaching #1.-Early career:...
– congas, bongos - Frank Marrocco – concertina
- Larry Williams – clarinet
- Trevor Veitch – mandolin
- New York Orchestra – orchestra
- New York Opera – choral vocals
- Unnamed children's choir from New York – children’s choral vocals
- "Vicki & Clare" – backing vocals
- Harry WatersHarry WatersHarry Waters is a British piano and Hammond organ player. He is the son of former Pink Floyd's bass player and lyricist Roger Waters and has played on tour with his father since 2002, replacing keyboardist Andy Wallace on the In the Flesh tour. In 2004, he toured with Marianne Faithfull and the...
– child's voice, "Goodbye Blue SkyGoodbye Blue Sky"Goodbye Blue Sky" is a song by Pink Floyd. It appeared on The Wall album in 1979.-Plot:In a brief prologue, birds are heard chirping peacefully...
" - Chris Fitzmorris – male telephone voice
- Trudy Young – voice of the groupie
- Phil Taylor – sound effects
Production
- Bob Ezrin – co-producer
- David Gilmour – co-producer
- Roger Waters – co-producer
- James Guthrie – co-producer and engineer, remastering supervisor
- Krieg Wunderlich – digital remastering (MFSL issue)
- Doug Sax – mastering (original LP) and digital remastering (EMI/Sony re-issues)
- Nick Griffiths – engineer
- Patrice Quef – engineer
- Brian Christian – engineer
- Rick Hart – engineer
- Phil Taylor – sound equipment
- Gerald Scarfe – sleeve design
- Roger Waters – sleeve design
Sales chart performance
Album| Year | Chart | Peakposition | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
3 | |
| Norwegian Albums Chart | 1 | ||
| Spanish Albums Chart | 9 | ||
| Swedish Albums Chart | 1 | ||
| Swiss Albums Chart | 29 | ||
| German Albums Chart | 1 | ||
| Danish Albums Chart | 19 | ||
| New Zealand Albums Chart | 1 | ||
| Italian Albums Chart | 13 | ||
| Finnish Albums Chart | 21 | ||
| Austrian Albums Chart | 1 | ||
| 1980 | U.S. Billboard Top LPs & Tapes Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
1 | |
| French Albums Charts | 1 |
Singles
| Date | Single | Chart | Position | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 November 1979 | "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" | UK Top 40 | 1 | |
| 7 January 1980 | "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" | US Billboard Pop Singles | 1 | |
| 9 June 1980 | "Run Like Hell" | US Billboard Pop Singles | 53 | |
| March 1980 | "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" | Norway's single chart | 1 |
Selected album sales
| Country | Certification | Sales | Last certification date | Comment | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | Platinum | 200,000 | 23 August 1999 | ||
| Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
11× Platinum | 770,000 | |||
| Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... |
2× Diamond | 2,000,000 | 31 August 1995 | ||
| France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
Diamond | 1,340,100 | 1991 | ||
| Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
4× Platinum | 1,750,000 | 1994 | ||
| Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe.... |
Gold | 100,000 | |||
| Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north... |
Platinum | 29 October 2003 | |||
| United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... RIAA |
23× Platinum | 11,500,000 | 29 January 1999 | 8× Platinum on 28 May 1991 | |
| United States Soundscan | 5,381,000 | 16 February 2008 | Since 1991 – February 2007 |