He created a series of 50 paintings that would later come to life in the album’s iconic adaptation – Scarfe himself would personally animated the sequences. The warped animations characterising many of the film’s most mind-bending sequences began as paintings by political cartoonist Gerald Scarfe. These rare, behind-the-scene photos pretty much summarise some of weirdness you can expect from the film, a piece of art which ultimately conveys the message that isolation is not the answer. Bob Geldof played the main character, Pink, a young boy who struggles with an isolated childhood after suffering a lost father. Written by Waters and directed by Alan Parker, the film is rich with metaphor and symbolism a twisted storyline driven entirely by music. Pink Floyd – The Wall was a psychedelic concoction of animation, musical drama, and live action that was named after the album. In assembling a metaphorical, sonic wall between him and his audience, Waters severed his connection to his bandmates, ending the reign of one of rock’s most adventurous bands. Within two years Waters was gone for good. In 1983, Pink Floyd released the Final Cut, a sequel of sorts to the wall and more or less a Waters solo album. It also produced the band’s only number one single with Another Brick In The Wall Part II, topping the charts for four weeks.ĭue to Waters’ increasing distaste for live touring and the fact that they built a literal, massive wall on stage brick-by-brick, their subsequent album tour was only limited to a few cities. Also due to it being a double record, it technically outsold The Dark Side of the Moon, with both records being counted to a total 23 million sold against Moon’s 18 million. When The Wall was released it shot straight to the top of the charts and stayed there for 15 weeks, the longest number one the band ever had. Throughout the month-long recording sessions the musicians were rarely in the studio together, but it never mattered to fans. Of the 26 songs on the double album, only four of them feature co-writing credits: Young Lust, Comfortably Numb, Run Like Hell ( David Gilmour had a hand in these, the most accessible and successful tracks on the album, taking lead vocals on two), and The Trial, giving credit to Bob Ezrin. Halfway through recording, keyboardist Richard Wright was fired from the band for a lack of creative input. It’s an expansive concept to say the least and – much like Pete Townshend’s rock opera Tommy from 10 years prior – it was a self-exorcism that tormented its creators for decades.īehind the scenes Waters took control of the project, creating widening cracks in his already fractured relationships with bandmates. At the album’s end an increasingly fascist audience watch on as Pink tears down the wall of grief, becoming a normal, caring person once more. Pink later became a drug addict, depressed by the music industry, evolving into a megalomaniac loosely inspired by the mental decline of Floyd progenitor Syd Barrett. This was the first metaphorical brick in the wall, and the problems spiralled from there.