Understandably, Roger Waters has a complicated relationship with his old Pink Floyd bandmates, his time in the band, and what actually occurred during their iconic run. Waters assumed leadership of the group after original frontman Syd Barrett departed under a storm of mental health issues in 1968.
It was thanks to his creative direction, his desire to achieve true artistic greatness, and the creative bond he formed with Barrett’s replacement, David Gilmour, that the quartet rose out of the ashes of the psychedelic movement to create refined, otherworldly music, ballasted by some of the most profound lyricism of all time, penned by Waters himself. He was in the right place at the right time, grappling with his position in the world, ageing, the tragedy of Barrett, and what it actually meant to be a successful musician.
Gradually, though, Pink Floyd’s groundbreaking concept-album run of the 1970s came to an end, and just as listener tastes were changing, so were the tectonic plates of the band. According to those who aren’t Waters, his grip on the Floyd became increasingly dictatorial, as the miserable making of 1979’s The Wall confirmed, with the rest of the group reduced to session musicians as the increasingly isolated Waters crafted his masterpiece. This was the beginning of the end: after the follow-up, 1983’s The Final Cut, Waters knew his race was run with the band. He quit in 1985, and after launching failed legal proceedings against them, has been widely regarded as their antithesis ever since.
Despite The Wall and The Final Cut being two miserable experiences that pushed Pink Floyd within an inch of a monumental schism, neither is the album Waters believes truly “finished” the classic iteration of the band. In a 1987 interview, when the wounds of his departure were still fresh, he gave a startlingly sobering take on the record that signalled the end.
Surprisingly, he chose 1973’s magnum opus, The Dark Side of the Moon, the release that made the band a household name, as the title that finished the group off, once and for all.
Explaining what made the album so “colossally successful”, Waters said: “It’s very well-balanced and well-constructed, dynamically and musically, and I think the humanity of its approach is appealing. It’s satisfying. I think also that it was the first album of that kind. People often quote S. F. Sorrow by The Pretty Things as being from a similar mould – they were both done in the same studio at about the same time – but I think it was probably the first completely cohesive album that was made.”
Turning to how such a legendary body of work could have “finished” the quartet, Waters said: “But of course, Dark Side of the Moon finished the Pink Floyd off once and for all. To be that successful is the aim of every group. And once you’ve cracked it, it’s all over. In hindsight, I think the Pink Floyd was finished as long ago as that.”
In other words, The Dark Side of the Moon was so successful that it saw Pink Floyd realise their wildest dreams and reach the very summit of both artistic endeavour and commercial gain. According to Waters, despite the successes of later releases such as Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall, it was all downhill after their 1973 masterpiece.
