Pink Floyd, the classic British space rock band. Known for releasing albums that have sold better than sliced bread, generally having their heads up their arses (talking to you, Waters), making awesome music, providing some classic solo moments (Comfortably Numb, anyone), and lyrically biting pieces of text that leaves the punk movement's garbling in the dust everytime. Oh, and their album The Wall, a masterpiece of angst, distrust of society, proclaiming the famous notion that fame isn't everything, a pompous concept album about the life of a depraved rock star based on Roger Waters's personal life.
Dealing with everything in the cycle of rock stars, ranging from groupies, not wanting to show up for gigs, a general hate of education and society, overprotective mother and dead father, and so on and so on (we all know the story by now), back when it was released it had a massive impact on the youth of the day,. Everybody could relate to Mr. Pink and the wall he was building to isolate him from society and his mind. Everyone went through a phase at some point where Mr. Pink's angst would feel so familiar to their own, propelling it to a classic progressive rock album and the status of godly for many people.
The question is... is this album still relevant today? Is the meaning, the ulterior message, the emotion that Waters lyrically and musically tries to convey of importance on today's youth, today's rock stars, in short: has this album stood the test of time as the classic it has been proclaimed to be by so many music lovers?
Well, musically speaking the answer would be a resounding yes. Although Pink Floyd did nothing absolutely groundbreaking on the album, and Rick Wright was fired from the band, the musical tandem of Waters and Gilmour still grinded out the tunes and musical themes the band was so famous for. Nick Mason did as he was told (as usual), complimenting the bass lines and reverberating guitars. In particular, although Gilmour did not write much of the music, and had to content himself with some nice lead vocals and a couple of solos, he ended up stealing Waters' ego trip show anyway. Comfortably Numb, one of the centrepiece songs of the album, features perhaps the most famous guitar solo of all time, and indeed, what Gilmour manages to chop out on that song will leave any guitar virtuoso's jaw dropping to the floor in sheer awe and beg for more.
Elsewhere Run Like Hell, a live fan favourite, speeds up the tempo with its reverberating guitar chords and Roger Waters singing some maniacally haunting lines over the music. Goodbye Blue Sky features the trademark Pink Floyd spoken word samples, some nice acoustic guitar work, and a brilliant reference to Mr Huxley's famous literary work, Brave New World. Not only do Waters' lyrics reflect the state of Pink's mind, he uses the depraved rock star for more than the tale of one man.
The vicious criticism towards society that he had already uttered on the band's previous work, Animals, is taken to a completely new level on this record. Controversial topics like war (Bring The Boys Back Home), the necessity of education (Another Brick In The Wall Part 2), brainwashing (Happiest Days of Our Lives), and the crowd looking up like a mob to the famous rock stars like chameleons in the woods (One of My Turns, In The Flesh), and racism (Waiting for the Worms) all get their fare share of derision, disgust and an acidic spat of venom from Waters. Indeed it is not so much the story of Pink Floyd but the underlying bleak painting of the world the band lived in that is in fact the most remarkable about the album.
After this last magnum opus the band began to fall apart and dissolve just like The Wall had predicted. Roger Waters' lyrics proved to be clairvoyant as the wall he built around himself locked him out of the band and led him to pursue a solo career of his own. But even despite that breakup (and the later reconciliation at Live 8), this album shall always be remembered for its political views, its everlasting impact on society and today's youth, and at the time of writing, twenty-eight years since the release of this work, its message remains as important as ever. Therefore, this album deserves no less than a classic rating, and it belongs in every cd collection for everyone to hear.
