The Wall

The Wall is an iconic 1979 rock opera concept album by Pink Floyd. The majority of the album was written by Roger Waters. Hailed by critics and fans as one of Pink Floyd's best albums (along with Animals, The Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn), the album is known as a rock and roll classic, and its morbid, depressing anthems have inspired many contemporary rock musicians. This was also the last studio Pink Floyd album to feature Rick Wright until his return in 1987.

Concept
The storyline portrays the fictional life of an anti-hero named Pink, who is hammered and beaten down by society from the earliest days of his life: having lost his father (killed in Anzio during World War II, as was Roger Waters' own), smothered by his over-protective mother, and oppressed at school by tyrannical, abusive teachers who tried to mould him and the other pupils into the "right" shape for society (hence the recurring image of the shredder). Pink withdraws into his own fantasy world, building an imaginary wall to isolate himself from the rest of the world. Every bad experience in his life is "another brick in the wall". After heavily contemplating how to fill in the last few empty spaces in the wall, Pink puts off its construction for a while. He becomes a rock star and gets married (although not to Vera Lynn, as some may think — she was an entertainer in the Second World War), only to be cheated on by his wife due to his distance and coldness, as well as the life as a rock star. After this he resumes building the wall and it is completed.

Pink slowly goes insane behind his freshly completed wall. He is lost on the inside, but is forced to surface by his demanding lifestyle, and I.V. drug use distributed by his crew to "Keep him going through the show". Hallucinating, Pink believes that he is a fascist dictator, and his concerts are like Neo-Nazi rallies where he sets his men on fans he considers unworthy, only to have his conscience rebel at this and put himself on trial, his inner judge ordering him to tear down his wall in order to open himself to the outside world. At this point the album's end runs into its beginning with the closing words "Isn't this where..."; the first song on the album, "In the Flesh?", begins with the words "...we came in?" hinting at the repetitiveness of Waters' theme.

Recorded Version
Roger Waters was inspired to create the album during a concert on 6 July, 1977 on the final night of the tour to promote Animals, dubbed Pink Floyd — In the Flesh. In Montreal, a fan's disruptive behaviour resulted in Waters spitting in the fan's face. Waters was immediately disgusted with himself, and his alienation from his fans urged him to build a wall between himself and the audience, an idea which later evolved into the album.

During recording, frontman Roger Waters felt that Richard Wright's contribution to the band was small, and ordered him to leave after The Wall was finished, or it would never be released (Wright confirmed this on the US rock radio album premiere of Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81 in 2000). During this time, Wright had a cocaine addiction that might have played a part in his dismissal. Waters claimed that David Gilmour and Nick Mason supported Waters' decision to fire Wright. Gilmour and Mason, on the other hand, have repeatingly stated that they were against Wright's dismissal (Gilmour confirmed that he was against Wright's dismissal on the US rock radio album premiere of Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81 in 2000). Wright was fired from the band but stayed on to finish the album and perform the live concerts as a paid musician. Ironically, the huge startup costs for the tour, coupled with Waters' refusal to play large venues, meant that Wright was the only member to make a profit on the tour. In an interview with Mojo Magazine from December, 1999 on the 20th anniversary of Pink Floyd's The Wall, David Gilmour remarked that many of the keyboard parts were played by him, Roger Waters, Bob Ezrin, Michael Kamen and Freddie Mandell. Co-producer/engineer James Guthrie remembers Wright's contribution as being slightly more significant: "Rick did some great playing on that album, whether or not people remember it - some fantastic Hammond parts."

The album was recorded at four studios in an eight month span. One in New York (CBS Studios), one in Los Angeles (Producers Workshop, which was also where the album was mixed) and two in the south of France (Super Bear and Miravel). It was revealed on the US radio show In the Studio with Redbeard, which spotlighted the making of The Wall (in a 2-part episode), that the jumping around from studio to studio were the results of English tax laws and in fact financial considerations dictated the way the album was made. According to Roger Waters on that episode, "we were going to record it in London then we had an extraordinary reverse and we had channeled a lot of money into a company (Norton Warburg) in London who was supposed to be investing it and so forth but unfortunately they stole it all instead. They stole it in a way that the revenue in England still wanted us to pay tax on it. So five years after Dark Side of the Moon, we were completely skint. Having got this piece of work, looked as it might be a good one, we decided reluctantly to go make the record in the South of France. I confessed the reasons for making the record in the South of France was purely for the fear of being broke".

For "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)", Pink Floyd needed a school choir, and approached music teacher Alun Renshaw of Islington Green School, around the corner from their Britannia Row Studios, in the middle of a lesson. The choir were not allowed to hear the rest of the song after singing the chorus, and were let down, as they wanted to hear Gilmour's solo. The chorus was overdubbed 12 times to give the impression that the choir was larger. Though the school received a lump sum payment of £1000, there was no contractual arrangement for royalties. Under 1996 UK copyright law, they became eligible, and after choir members were tracked down by royalties agent Peter Rowan of RBL Music, through the website Friends Reunited, they sued. Music industry professionals estimated that each student would be owed around £500.

Originally released on Columbia Records in the US and Harvest Records in the UK, The Wall was then re-released as a digitally remastered CD in 1994 in the UK on EMI. Columbia issued an updated remastered CD in 1997 in the United States, Canada, Australia, South America and Japan. For The Wall's 20th Anniversary in April 2000, Capitol Records in the US and EMI in Canada, Australia, South America and Japan re-released the 1997 remastered CD with the 1994 European remaster artwork.

Around the world, the album produced a number of hit singles for Pink Floyd, including "Another Brick In The Wall (Part II)", "Young Lust", "Hey You", "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell".

Concert Version
Rehearsals for The Wall concerts began shortly after the album's release in December of 1979 in Los Angeles at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles and rehearsals would run until January of 1980 when it moved to The Los Angeles Sports Arena for the first performance.

Pink Floyd performed the concert version of The Wall only in a handful of cities. This was due to the grandiosity of the performance, which involved constructing a giant wall across the stage between band and audience, not to mention staple Pink Floyd props such as giant screens, flying pigs and pyrotechnics. First in Los Angeles from February 7-14, 1980. Then in New York from February 24 to 28, 1980 at Nassau Coliseum. It was followed by performances at Earl's Court in London from August 4-8, 1980. Then again in Dortmund, Germany at Westfalenhalle from February 21-28, 1981. Finally, the band did one more week at Earl's Court in London from June 13-17, 1981. Roger Waters would later perform it in 1990 in Berlin.

The performances began with an MC reading a list of do's and don'ts (Jim Ladd and Cynthia Fox were the emcees for the Los Angeles shows. Gary Yudman handled the MC duties in New York and London shows. A German actor did the Dortmund shows). Then a "surrogate band" performing "In the Flesh?" composed of Andy Bown on bass (and miming Roger Waters who was singing on main stage), Snowy White on guitar(Andy Roberts would replace Snowy for the 1981 performances), Willie Wilson on drums and Peter Wood on keyboards. The surrogate band wore life masks of the faces of their counterparts in the real band whilst the real band were on the main stage in the dark. Then, a plane crashes and the "surrogate band" stops and freezes and the small stage sinks and the real Pink Floyd come in full view, and a giant wall is constructed by roadies out of 420 cardboard bricks throughout the first half of the performance augmented by appearances by an inflatable teacher, wife and mother. In the second half, the band would be completely obscured from view behind the wall, but still playing. A few bricks revealed David Gilmour playing classical guitar on "Is There Anybody Out There?". Roger Waters sang from an open hotel room on "Nobody Home" and "Vera". Then on "Comfortably Numb", Roger Waters sang his parts dressed as the doctor wearing a white coat in front of the wall while guitarist David Gilmour was hoisted hydraulically on to the top of the wall singing his parts and playing his famous guitar solos in full view of the crowd. Then, the surrogate band wore deathmasks of the four band members and the four Pink Floyd members all wore Hammer guard T-shirts, jeans and shoes (Gilmour, Mason and Wright) except for Roger Waters who wore a long leather trenchcoat with hammer logos and storm-trooper boots. The wall was eventually torn down during "The Trial", and Pink Floyd themselves joined the surrogate band in front of the wreckage of the wall to perform the finale, "Outside The Wall".

During the performance, giant puppets of the Teacher, Wife, and Mother, designed by Gerald Scarfe, were used, and animations by Scarfe were projected onto a circular area and onto the wall itself. Added to this, a hotel room (where much of the story is set) emerges from the wall midway through the second half for the song "Nobody Home".

The large stage shows required huge equipment (including full sized cranes), and cost an extraordinary amount of money to realize. As such, the band lost money from them, with the exception of Rick Wright, who was retained on a fixed salary for the concerts after being fired during the mixing sessions of the album in Los Angeles.

The intent of the band for these concerts was to give the audience a truly theatrical experience instead of just a show where the band played the songs. As such, during many songs, Waters assumed the role of the anti-hero, "Pink", singing despondently from a hotel room (a set on the stage). To this day, these performances are considered some of the greatest rock concerts ever.

In 2000, the best performances from these concerts were compiled into a live version of the album called Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81. The release includes two tracks not on the studio album ("What Shall We Do Now?" and "The Last Few Bricks"). The former was left off the studio release due to space constraints, and the latter was a medley of the first half of the show to let the roadies finish building the wall.

Film Version
A film version of The Wall was released in 1982 entitled Pink Floyd The Wall, directed by Alan Parker and starring Bob Geldof. The screenplay was written by Roger Waters. The film features music from the original album, much of which was re-recorded by the band with additional orchestration, some with minor lyrical and musical changes. It also includes the two part song "When the Tigers Broke Free", written for the movie. It also includes the song "What Shall We Do Now?", which was originally recorded for intended use in disc one of the album, but never made the final cut.

There were a couple of non-Pink Floyd songs featured in the film. The classic Vera Lynn song "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" opened the film, while Pink sang the words to the then-unreleased Roger Waters solo song "5:11AM (The Moment of Clarity)" (which would eventually see release on Waters' 1984 solo album The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking) in a restroom stall before singing the Pink Floyd song "Stop".

When the teacher finds Pink's poetry and reads it aloud, the lyrics are from the song "Money," from the Dark Side of the Moon album.

During the scene where Pink finds his father's items during the second part of "When the Tigers Broke Free", Pink stumbled on his father's certificate of appreciation. The name on the certificate says "J.A. Pinkerton". It is assumed that Pink's real name is Floyd Pinkerton, and that Pink legally changed his name to Pink Floyd because he didn't like the name Floyd Pinkerton.

Stage Version
Waters has licensed the story and music for a number of amateur dramatic versions performed by schools and youth groups.

In 2004, it was announced that contracts had been signed for a Broadway musical version, with extra music to be written by Waters. The Broadway version will feature all of the music written by Waters. It is, however, unknown what will be done with the songs co-written by Gilmour ("Young Lust", "Comfortably Numb", and "Run Like Hell"). The show is estimated to be complete by summer 2006 and will be of a slightly "lighter tone" than Pink Floyd: The Wall was. Additionally, there are rumours that other Pink Floyd songs, possibly "Money" from the album Dark Side of the Moon, among others, will be included in the stage show.

Post-Split
After Waters left the band, a legal battle ensued over the rights to the name "Pink Floyd" and its material. In the end, Waters retained the right to use The Wall and its material, as his name has been most closely associated with the album. This meant the use of various Wall tracks and images on the later 1987-1990 and 1994 tours by the three-man Pink Floyd required payments to Waters, including a $400 fee for using the inflatable pig (which Waters had called Algie, and asserted was a sow), although Gilmour narrowly dodged the pig fee by adding testicles to the pig used on these tours. Waters staged a gigantic concert performance of The Wall (with the addition of the song "The Tide Is Turning (After Live Aid)" from Waters' solo album Radio K.A.O.S.) at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin on 21 July 1990, with guest artists including Ute Lemper, The Band, Van Morrison, Sinéad O'Connor, Cyndi Lauper, Marianne Faithfull, Scorpions, Joni Mitchell, Jerry Hall, and Bryan Adams, to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall and as a fundraising effort for World War Memorial Fund for Disaster Relief. This performance has several differences to the original Wall show. 'Another Brick In The Wall, Part II' is extended with solos by various instruments and has a cold ending. 'Mother' has the extended intro but a shorter guitar solo. 'Comfortably Numb' features longer duelling solos by the two guitarists as well as an additional chorus at the end of the song. 'The Show Must Go On' and 'Outside the Wall' are omitted completely, while both 'The Last Few Bricks' and 'What Shall We Do Now?' are included.

At the UK Live 8 benefit concert on 2 July 2005, despite continued enmity between the former band members, Waters performed on stage with Gilmour, Mason and Wright for the first time in 24 years, their last performance together being at The Wall concerts in June 1981. Their set included "Speak to Me", "Breathe" segued with "Breathe (reprise)", "Money", "Wish You Were Here" and "Comfortably Numb".

Album Version
All songs are by Roger Waters except as noted.

Disc 1

 * 1) "In the Flesh?" – 3:16
 * 2) "The Thin Ice" – 2:27
 * 3) "Another Brick in the Wall (Part I)" – 3:21
 * 4) "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" – 1:46
 * 5) "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" – 4:00
 * 6) "Mother" – 5:32
 * 7) "Goodbye Blue Sky" – 2:45
 * 8) "Empty Spaces" – 2:10
 * 9) "Young Lust" – 3:25 (Waters/Gilmour)
 * 10) "One of My Turns" – 3:35
 * 11) "Don't Leave Me Now" – 4:16
 * 12) "Another Brick in the Wall (Part III)" – 1:48
 * 13) "Goodbye Cruel World" – 0:48

Disc 2

 * 1) "Hey You" – 4:40
 * 2) "Is There Anybody Out There?" – 2:44
 * 3) "Nobody Home" – 3:26
 * 4) "Vera" – 1:35
 * 5) "Bring the Boys Back Home" – 1:21
 * 6) "Comfortably Numb" – 6:24 (Gilmour/Waters)
 * 7) "The Show Must Go On" – 1:36
 * 8) "In the Flesh" – 4:13
 * 9) "Run Like Hell" – 4:19 (Gilmour/Waters)
 * 10) "Waiting For the Worms" – 4:04
 * 11) "Stop" – 0:30
 * 12) "The Trial" – 5:13 (Waters/Ezrin)
 * 13) "Outside the Wall" – 1:41

Additional Tracks From The Film

 * "When The Tigers Broke Free" (Composed specifically for the movie--released on a vinyl single, Echoes (Disc 2, Track 05) and on the 2004 re-release of The Final Cut)
 * "What Shall We Do Now?" (Extended version of "Empty Spaces" which was left off the original album due to lack of space, used in the wall-building sequence during the live show)

Tracks From The Live Concert
The live version of The Wall, Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81, included the following tracks not on the original album:


 * "What Shall We Do Now?" after "Empty Spaces"
 * "The Last Few Bricks" after "Another Brick In The Wall (Part III)"; usually a medley performed while the construction crew was finishing off the massive wall on stage

Tracks Intended For The Album, But Not Used
The album was originally written to be a triple-LP album, although Waters cut it down and left material out for the band's next release, The Final Cut.


 * "Is There Anybody Out There (Part II)" features previously unheard lyrics, part of which were later worked into "Hey You"
 * "Your Possible Pasts" later re-written for use on The Final Cut, however, the line "Do you remember me/How we used to be/Do you think/We should be/Closer?" was used in the film.
 * "One Of The Few" - working title, "Teach" - was later re-written for use on The Final Cut
 * "The Final Cut" also re-written for use on The Final Cut. A line from this song goes: Dial the combination / Open the priest-hole / And if I'm in, I'll tell you what's behind the wall. A gunshot is played over "behind the wall" in the final version of the song, to sever its connection to the album The Wall. The complete lyrics are still written in the inside sleeve of the album.

Plot
In the Flesh?: The introduction to the album. It is a song performed by Pink at a concert. It also indirectly tells the listener that Pink's father was killed in World War II by the sound of a dive-bomber.

The Thin Ice: The second track comments upon the false assumptions that all children are born into a loving home with two parents, Pink's father having been killed in the war.

Another Brick in the Wall Part 1: Tells the story of his father in World War II. Shows Pink's loneliness without him. Introduces the concept that it’s "just another brick in the wall."

The Happiest Days of Our Lives: This song tells of Pink's violent teacher and horrible education. Also explains what happens to the teacher when he goes home at night...

Another Brick in the Wall Part 2: ...soon the kids can't take the abuse of the teacher and rebel against school.

Mother: The story of Pink's mother's overprotectiveness for him because of her husband's death.

Goodbye Blue Sky: Pink is suffering in the postwar world.

Empty Spaces: Pink is beginning to become depressed. He begins to build the Wall.

Young Lust: Pink's breakdown accelerates when he learns his wife is having an affair. He himself sings about the type of woman he needs (I need a dirty woman). At the end, he meets a groupie that ties into the next song.

One of My Turns: Pink flips out in violence and is witnessed by the groupie.

Don't Leave Me Now: He blames his suffering on his wife.

Another Brick in the Wall Part 3: The last of Pink's sanity is disappearing.

Goodbye Cruel World: Pink finishes his mental wall and is now completely isolated from society.

Hey You: A distress call from Pink. He is calling to people to help him from his crumbling life, but no one can hear him behind the wall.

Is There Anybody Out There?: The instrumental half to Pink's call for help.

Nobody Home: Pink grows lonely behind his wall.

Vera: Going back to Pink's father's death (Vera is a reference to Vera Lynn, a singer in the 40s and 50s. She would entertain troops during World War Two).

Bring the Boys Back Home: Goes back to Pink's childhood when all the men come home from the war and Pink goes to find his father, but finds that he didn't make it.

Comfortably Numb: Pink is drugged in order to perform at a concert.

The Show Must Go On. Now completely separated from the rest of the world, Pink wonders why it is necessary to keep doing his concerts. He didn't realize that being a performer as he is, and in essence, building a wall, would cost him part of his soul.

In the Flesh: Pink, drugged, believes he is a fascist dictator at a rally. In reality he is performing at a concert.

Run Like Hell: Pink hallucinates that he turns the audience into a hate mob and sends them to the minority neighborhoods.

Waiting for the Worms: Pink continues his hallucination, involving death, destruction, and sadistic followers carrying out his will.

Stop: Pink ends the hallucination and realizes everything up to that point has been his fault. "Have I been guilty all this time?"

The Trial: Pink subconsciously puts himself on trial. The "Judge" orders him to "tear down The Wall!"

Outside The Wall: The closing track, the wall has now been destroyed. Pink's fate is unknown.

Personnel

 * Roger Waters — vocals, bass guitar, co-producer, synthesiser, electric Guitar, acoustic guitar, sleeve design
 * David Gilmour — guitars, vocals, co-producer, sequencer; synthesiser, clavinet, bass guitar, percussion
 * Richard Wright — piano, organ, synthesiser, clavinet, bass pedals
 * Nick Mason — drums, percussion

with


 * Lee Ritenour — Rhythm Guitar on "One Of My Turns" and Acoustic Guitar on "Comfortably Numb"
 * Jeff Porcaro — Drums on Mother
 * Joe Porcaro — Marching Snare drum on Bring the Boys Back Home
 * Blue Ocean — Marching Snare drum on Bring the Boys Back Home
 * Freddie Mandell — Hammond Organ on "In The Flesh?" and "In The Flesh"
 * Bobbye Hall — Percussion
 * Ron di Blasi — Classical guitar on "Is There Anybody Out There?"
 * Larry Williams — Clarinet on "Outside The Wall"
 * Trevor Veitch — Mandolin
 * Frank Marrocco — Concertina
 * Bruce Johnston — Backing Vocals
 * Toni Tennille — Backing Vocals
 * Joe Chemay — Backing Vocals
 * Jon Joyce — Backing Vocals
 * Stan Farber — Backing Vocals
 * Jim Haas — Backing Vocals
 * Fourth Form Music Class, Islington Green School, London — Backing Vocals
 * Bob Ezrin — co-producer; Orchestra Arrangement; Keyboards
 * Michael Kamen — Orchestra Arrangement
 * James Guthrie — Co-Producer; Engineer; Percussion; Synthesiser on "Empty Spaces" (in collaboration with David Gilmour), Sequencer; Drums on "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" (in collaboration with Nick Mason), remastering producer
 * Nick Griffiths — Engineer
 * Patrice Queff — Engineer
 * Brian Christian — Engineer
 * John McClure — Engineer
 * Rick Hart — Engineer
 * Robert Hrycyna — Engineer
 * Phil Taylor — Sound Equipment
 * Gerald Scarfe — Sleeve Design
 * Doug Sax — Mastering and Remastering

Miscellanea
Roger Waters: "Congratulations, You have just discovered the secret message. Please send your answers to 'Old Pink', Care of 'The Funny Farm', Chalfonte..." [interrupted by engineer James Guthrie who says] "Roger, Caroline's on the phone..."
 * At the beginning of the live 1980-81 album, the Vera Lynn song We'll Meet Again can be heard. In the live and studio versions of the song "Vera," it's referenced directly ("Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn? / Remember how she said that we would meet again some sunny day?"). The Vera Lynn song The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot is the first song in the movie.
 * 'Empty Spaces' begins with a secret message recorded backwards:

"We're (waiting to succeed) and going to convene outside Brixton Town Hall where we're going to be... WAITING...to cut out the deadwood... The Worms will convene outside Brixton Bus Station. We'll be moving along at about 12 o'clock down Stockwell Road... (Abbot's Road)... twelve minutes to three we'll be moving along Lambeth Road towards Vauxhall Bridge. Now when we get to the other side of Vauxhall Bridge we're in Westminster (Borough) area. It's quite possible we may encounter..."
 * Waiting For The Worms: Near the end of the track, Roger Waters (as Pink) barks out instructions and directions in street names (most of the words are inaudible):


 * Brixton Town Hall and Stockwell Road are both in South London, and in areas with large black populations. It also mentions Lambeth Road, Vauxhall Bridge and Westminster, which fit, if we move north from Brixton, crossing the Thames at Vauxhall Bridge. What was implied is unclear.


 * The beginning and end of the album features a continuity; perhaps the most famous tape loop.
 * Outside the Wall: "Isn't this where..."
 * In the Flesh?: "...we came in?"


 * Toni Tennille, of Captain & Tennille, sang background vocals on many of the album tracks, and provided the voice of the groupie for the infamous "oh my God, what a fabulous room" monologue in One of My Turns.
 * In 2001, the Canadian alternative country band Luther Wright and the Wrongs released Rebuild the Wall, a track-for-track reimagining of The Wall as a country album. A tribute album, "Back Against The Wall", features artists like Ian Anderson, Keith Emerson, and other rock legends (so the label says) performing the tracks from the original album.
 * The Wall was the first album since 1967's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn that Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis did not do the cover. Instead, Gerald Scarfe did the cover and gatefold sleeve.
 * The album had custom picture labels. Side one had a quarter of the wall erected and a sketch of the teacher. Side two saw half of the wall erected and a sketch of the wife. Side three had three-fourths of the wall erected and a sketch of the character of Pink. Side four had the wall completely erected and a sketch of the prosecutor.

Quotes
"In 1980 when we finished in New York, Larry Maggid, a Philadelphia promoter [...] offered us a guaranteed million dollars a show plus expenses to go and do two dates at the JFK Stadium with The Wall [...] and I wouldn't do it. I had to go through the whole story with the other members. I said, 'You've all read my explanations of what The Wall is about. It’s three years since we did that last stadium and I swore then that I would never do one again. And The Wall is entirely sparked off by how awful that was and how I didn't feel that the public or the band or anyone got anything out of it that was worthwhile. And that's why we've produced this show strictly for arenas where everyone does get something out of it that is worthwhile. Blah-blah-blah. And, I ain't fuckin' going!'" – Roger Waters, June 1987, to Chris Salewicz "''Maybe the architectural training to look at things helped me to visualise my feelings of alienation from rock 'n' roll audiences. Which was the starting point for The Wall. The fact that it then embodied an autobiographical narrative was kind of secondary to the main thing which was a theatrical statement in which I was saying, "Isn't this fucking awful? Here I am up onstage and there you all are down there and isn't it horrible! What the fuck are we all doing here?"''" – Roger Waters, June 1987, to Chris Salewicz "You can't tour The Wall, the show is too complex. I was asked to perform the Wall this summer on 4th July, somewhere in America ... the Indianapolis speedway. I almost agreed because they said it would be a "free" concert, the idea appealed to me because anybody could go if they wanted. However, as I looked further into this free concert idea I discovered the concert would actually be paid for by Corporate America like Coca-Cola or AOL and they would want control of the way their tickets were distributed so it would be like I was working for some big corporation, like buy two crates of Coke and get two tickets - it's not quite the same." – Roger Waters, October 2005, in an MSN chat "I don't fully agree with the concept of The Wall. To me it's filled with a catalog of complaints and I don't want to blame everything on everyone else in my life but myself. I think it's too complaining myself. There's some wonderful stuff on the album. I think that's one of the wonderful things about music is that you can have a doom-laden lyric on top of an uplifting piece of music. It juxtaposes and gives you an uplifting feeling about it. I think the film got too black and bleak. Like I said, I don't fully concur with everything Roger says on it; I think some parts are very good and some parts are outright bleak to me." – David Gilmour, May 1992, US Radio interview "As a phenomenon and as a record and a show I am very very proud of it but at the same time, I don't agree part of it philosophically." – David Gilmour, April 2000, US Radio interview for premiere of Is There Anybody Out There?: The Wall Live. "And my view of what The Wall itself is about is more jaundiced today than it was then. It appears now to be a catalogue of people Roger blames for his own failings in life, a list of "you fucked me up this way, you fucked me up that way"." - David Gilmour, February 1993, Guitar World

Singles

 * "Another Brick in the Wall (pt.2)"/"One Of My Turns" - Columbia 1-11187; released January 8, 1980 (UK, US, France and Italy [with Young Lust as a B-Side])
 * "Run Like Hell"/"Don't Leave Me Now" - Columbia 1-11265; released April, 1980 (Holland, Sweden and US)
 * "Comfortably Numb"/"Hey You" - Columbia 1-11311; released June, 1980 (US and Japan)

Awards

 * Grammy, Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, 1980 - The Wall
 * According to Digitaldreamdoor.com, David Gilmour's guitar solo in "Comfortably Numb" was rated #1 best rock guitar solo ever.
 * Guitar World magazine also listed the guitar solo from "Comfortably Numb" as #4 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos, compiled according to reader polls.
 * In 1998 Q magazine readers voted The Wall the 65th greatest album of all time and in a professional-voted poll in 2003, a Rolling Stone cover story named it the 87th greatest album of all time.
 * The album was first certified Gold and Platinum in the US in March of 1980 and has been since certified 23 times platinum in 1999.