Introduction

The legendary rock band, Pink Floyd, released their eighth studio album, and final project as a quartet, The Wall, on November 30th, 1979. Consisting of two “discs,” this project was conceived when guitarist and vocalist, Roger Waters, created the character, Pink. This 26-song project follows this character as he forgoes a difficult journey in his life, particularly mentally. Desperate, as the band was falling into personal and financial problems, the album was written, recorded, and produced in only a year and grew to fame immediately. The Wall has since been dubbed as one of the greatest albums of all time and is the second highest grossing album in Pink Floyd’s discography. In their final push as a group, does Pink Floyd successfully convey the story of Pink through their music in this all-time classic rock album?

Background

In July of 1978, Roger Waters had come up with an idea for a new project. Pitching the concept to the rest of the members, Waters had initially taken the plot a different way and was pitched under a different testing title. Since the band was overflowing with financial issues and conflicts amongst members, the quartet decided on expediting the project. Aligning only one year to completion, Pink Floyd got to work immediately. As the pressure was building, the band split in an effort to finish the project solo, spreading across countries in Europe to record it independently. Once the recordings were done, production started with the likes of many giving their input, leaving the listener with the finished project as it is today.

Once finished, the album was presented to numerous executives, with many of them being left unimpressed. Again, crunched for time, the band released the project, and the rest was history. The Wall laid atop the Billboard charts for 15 weeks. In the following year, the album sold over 19 million copies and was nominated for a plethora of awards and accolades. Due to the major commercial success, the album was bound to follow with some more publicity, but Waters was left with the question of what. Desiring a movie adaptation of the project, Waters wrote the script, and the film was released in 1982. Multiple other adaptations, such as a live version and even an opera, were also put forward in the following decades. While the band personally collapsed, the album gave them the traction needed to regain control of the music world.

Production

Production was headed by Waters and vocals, David Gilmour, but also featured Bob Ezrin and James Gutherie heavily. Since the album is split into two discs, both sides feature two different styles of production, both representing a different part of the story.

Disc One

Disc one features a constant flip between a mellower song to a heavier, louder song. The first track of the album, “In The Flesh?”, starts the project off in a very rock-like manner, featuring the wonderful drum speed brought by Nick Mason and an electric guitar played by Waters. The following track, and a handful of others on this disc, feature a quieter feel, often disrupted by instrument solos, mainly headlined by Waters’s guitar. These tracks feature many different instrumental choices, but mainly feature the organ and piano, both of which are played by Richard Wright, and an excellent acoustic guitar, which was used more scarcely on this side of The Wall.

One of the main highlights of this side is the breaks in pattern, which are utilized quite effectively. As stated prior, many of the mellower songs are broken up with a rock-like feel, while many of them also end in a similar style. Some songs, however, bring more to the table in production style. Tracks, such as “Don’t Leave Me Now,” represent a major depressive feel to the story, yet bring a more horrorish identity with the music. “Don’t Leave Me Now” features an organ, with synthesizers, that effectively creates an eerie tone throughout the song. Eventually, the story builds to its climax on the final track, which strictly uses a piano to emphasize the depressive manner of the character Pink and the conclusion to this half of his story.

Disc Two

Disc two opens with a very mysterious feel, whether brough by the occasional acoustic guitar riff or the different vocal patterns brought by Gilmour in “Hey You.” Commonly used throughout this side, the acoustic guitar brings a quieter side, which is much more predominant here. This side, however, features much more story-based styles, often settling for just words instead of music, such as “Bring the Boys Back Home” and “The Trial.” While this side features much less rock, it is still there, but appears again more in spurts than anything. All in all, there was much more effort in the production on the first half, while this half provides more story than any real substance for the actual musical side of the project.

Story

The focal point of The Wall is undoubtedly the story told throughout the project. As stated before, The Wall‘s two parts have two different sides of this story being told. The overall concept of Pink’s storyline is his rise to stardom and his fall into his desire to be secluded from society. The first 13 tracks are his downfall of his mental wellbeing, eventually building to the point where Pink constructed his own “wall” from society. The second half shows Pink regretting this decision and ultimately has himself overcoming with mental instability, showing a dictatorship side of himself. The story concept is certainly the most interesting aspect of this album, and it is guaranteed to keep the listener engaged, even throughout the long hour runtime.

Disc One

The album opens discussing the trauma Pink was exposed to as a child. Hinted at through the usage of helicopter sounds and crying children, it is assumed that Pink’s father was killed during World War II, leaving himself and his mother at home. Due to this horrific childhood, Pink begins to construct a mental wall to seclude himself from the possible harm life can give him. Building on his childhood trauma, “The Happiest Days of Our Lives” talks about teachers who used to abuse their students, just adding to the weight on Pink’s childhood. Pink is left with asking his mother for advice, in which she prompts him to build his wall. Apart from his father’s death, “Goodbye Blue Sky” talks about the simple trauma coming from wartimes for children, who are left questioning why they cannot go out and see the blue sky.

Pink ends up falling into sex, drugs, and rock and roll, leading him to lose his mental abilities and eventually lash out at his wife. This lashing out leads to Pink to fully isolate himself from society and put the final brick in his wall, leading to his metaphoric suicide in the final track of disc one, “Goodbye Cruel World.”

Disc Two

Immediately after locking himself in his hotel room, Pink begins to question his decision of isolation. Questioning himself and those around him, “Hey You” and “Is There Anybody Out There” features Pink’s realization of the expansiveness of his wall and the consequences of his actions. Realizing he was too deep in this decision, he decides that no one is out there to help him, leaving him to yearn for ideas of his home and personal roots. This concept of being fully secluded with no chance of escape is broken when a doctor comes into his room and drugs him to help him complete his concert that night. He does perform in his concert but not without featuring a dictator-like side of himself, threatening the audience with physical violence. This all shows that Pink eventually starts to become the type of evil that killed his father.

The final three tracks show Pink breaking out of this insanity period. Being put ahead of a trial, Pink is shown through the eyes of all the characters he has encountered on this journey. The final track of The Wall, “Outside the Wall,” gives a final meaning to the thought of “the wall”: though there will always be personal and social barriers, every individual is tasked with tearing down the walls that separate society.

Conclusion

While The Wall is a longer project, it does everything in its power to succeed as not only a musical project, but a story as well. Pink Floyd’s desperation certainly led them in the right direction and led to great success in their discography. While the band does lose a member after its release, the rest of the personal and financial problems left were heaved behind, leaving the band as a household name once again. While this album is arguably the best or second best in Pink Floyd’s discography, one thing is for certain: this album is one of the best classic albums in the history of the music industry.

Song Rankings

1. “Comfortably Numb”
2. “Goodbye Blue Sky”
3. “Hey You”
4. “Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2”
5. “Mother”
6. “Young Lust”
7. “The Thin Ice”
8. “In the Flesh”
9. “Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 1”
10. “In the Flesh?”
11. “One of My Turns”
12. “Empty Spaces”
13. “Nobody Home”
14. “The Happiest Days of Our Lives”
15. “Run Like Hell”
16. “Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 3”
17. “Vera”
18. “Waiting for the Worms”
19. “The Show Must Go On”
20. “Don’t Leave Me Now”
21. “Is There Anybody Out There?”
22. “Goodbye Cruel World”
23. “Outside the Wall”
24. “Bring the Boys Back Home”
25. “Stop”
26. “The Trial”

Final Notes

Song rankings are always subject to change over time, so don’t take these too to heart. They also are just our opinion. We would love to hear your opinions, so leave them in the comment section below. We also suggest subscribing to our blog. To do so, go under the tab “Contact” and fill out the form. That will allow you to receive emails of new blogs and maybe get them ahead of time. Finally, go give The Wall a listen for yourself.