Fictionalised Interview, by Rolling Stone Magazine: Roger Waters on the Social Issues/commentary of Pink Floyd

Note: This interview is set in modern day

            Pink Floyd’s albums, “Dark Side of the Moon”, “Wish You Were Here”, “Animals”, and “The Wall”, all contain references to social issues. While perhaps most known for their unique and psychedelic instrumental aspects of their songs, Pink Floyd was never a band that shied away from social issues, mainly referencing aspects of the human condition that we’d rather forget, such as greed/income inequality, war (only present in some of their songs/albums), and insanity/mental health issues. Their 1977 album, “Animals” is the most overtly political album in their collection, with lyricist Roger Waters painting a picture of a dark and dystopian society; inspired by George Orwell’s dystopian novel “Animal Farm”. Overall, Pink Floyd’s most often detailed social issue seems to be greed/inequality. One of their most famous songs, “Money”, is about greed/the relentless pursuit of money (here’s a link to the lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pinkfloyd/money.html and if you’re interested, here’s the video as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkhX5W7JoWI ). As Roger Waters, was more often than not, the main lyricist of the band (not in all of their songs, as the other band members will certainly tell you, but he was at least credited in almost all of them) “I made the verses of the song as a sort of sarcastic and satirical take on the massive greed often exhibited by fellow members of society. At face value, the lyrics can come across as glorifying greed and living life for money, I admit, but trust me, I meant it in a sarcastic way. Ironically, this album sure got us a lot of money.” Roger Waters says, laughing as he added that last line in, showing us his wittier side. The song has a very catchy and rhymed verse that clearly states Waters’ point. His unconventional voice cuts right through the mix and delivers his message to the audience, with no room for misunderstanding. 

            
            We asked Roger Waters what inspired him and the band to write about issues prevalent in our society, instead of going for simpler subjects to write about, such as love (look at the Billboard top 20 and you’ll understand). “We wanted to be different, we wanted to talk about the things facing the average person, the things we all face in our lives. We’ve all seen the destruction things like greed and lack of mental health can do to our fellow man. Mental health especially is a dear thing to me. As you probably know, my friend, and founding member of Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, had to leave the band just after our first album was released, due to his mental health. It’s just a tragedy what happened to man.” Waters says, with sad and wistful look in his eyes. “With war, it is also a subject quite close to me as well, with my father in fact, having died in the Second World War. In ‘The Wall’ it’s pretty central to the forming of the character of Pink, with the death of the character’s father during the war ‘another brick in his wall’ so to say.” Looking at what Waters told us, it is hard to disagree, in fact the character of Pink (the main character in “The Wall”) is loosely based on Roger Waters, autobiographically. The language that Pink Floyd used in their songs could often so accurately capture that feeling or emotion that they were trying to express. They used a lot of metaphor in their song that contributed to the sort of surreal/psychedelic atmosphere of their music. 

            We also asked Roger Waters what him and the band intended wanted to influence or tell the world with their songs. “I think that, you know, we just wanted to, I guess, express ourselves. We saw how ideas could be taken too far, how individuals can end up leading unhappy lives, because they spent their youth chasing money or being idle, watching time pass by. I guess at the core, we want people to enjoy life, and at the end of the day, not feel that they’ve wasted their life and done nothing of worth. I guess we also wanted people to empathise with one another and not divide themselves, you know? Of course at the same time, there was also this desire to make ‘meaningful’ and unconventional music, which I think we have done very well, to say the least. Whether or not we actually changed society, is a different society. I’d say we were more like the scribes of society, rather than agents of change. We chronicled the struggles of the person and did a bit of philosophising. Whether or not people actually listened, however, I cannot say. All I can say is that at least people liked us and our lyrics in the end, which is quite a lot a musician can ask for, really. Looking back on our run in the 70s', I can at least say there is little I regret, as far as music is concerned."