(Music) Pink Floyd/The Wall Summarization

Intro

Look, we all love old PF. Pink Floyd has been around for as long as we can remember. In 1965, this great rock opera took formation to change the music generation in one of the most unique ways possible. Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Bob Klose, and Richard Wright were six gifted people who created this gift of music. However, to be a true fan of music these days, we may as well know more about the band, and not just the songs, right? That should mean, what really goes on in the band members' lives?

History of the band name:

Before the name Pink Floyd came about, Roger Waters stated that during an interview with Jimmy Fallon, the band's name originally was the Mega deaths, and to this day, I'm still not sure why. The name was dedicated to two other gifted blues musicians, Pink Anderson, and Floyd Council.

What sparked the writing of the album:

Roger Waters (78) is a composer, songwriter, vocalist, and much more. That man is all the rage! In his early lifetime, his father was a veteran, who fell during a German attack in World War 2. One of the reasons he wrote The Wall was to dedicate his fallen father and Syd Barrett who passed away from pancreatic cancer.

Summarization of The Wall:

In the actual film, Bob Geldof (lead singer of the Boomtown Rats) plays a fictional rock star (Pink). Pink grows up in a post-war lifetime, losing his parents, forced to pursue an abusive education system, drugs, money, and guilt. Going so insane from the horrific past, Pink has so many issues, as he builds a psychological wall to isolate himself from the outside world. In other words, the album musically illustrates how someone can absorb so much horror, lose his or her sanity, then gain it back after a long period of time. If the album can speak and ask one question only, it would be, "How would you act if this happened to you?"

About some songs themselves:

"In The Flesh?" starts off with a mellow record player type of theme in the background. Out of the blue come the drums and guitar. This song represents the author coming off in a way which no one expects to see him as, because over time, he has become more and more of someone else, rather than his own human form. He communicates with his audience and blames the public for what he has become, and if they indeed want to find out what lies between his "cold eyes" (not himself, but the monster he's become), they will have to try and pursue further to find out what happened to the rock star they know and love, "clawing their way through his disguise."

"The Thin Ice" represents moments of someone treading in a bad situation, but them being told not to be surprised if something goes wrong. "Don't be surprised if a crack in the ice appears under your feet." shares that fact.

"Another Brick in the Wall Pt.1" introduces itself with (young Pink) saying the condition that his father is in "before his death" in the German attack. "Daddy's flown 'cross the ocean" represents the fact that he is overseas fighting the problems in World War 2. "Leaving just a memory" shows that his father has been deployed but left his son with only a shrivel of himself behind so he can remember him.

"The Happiest Days of our Lives" comes off very strong in a way that reveals the truth about the school Pink was attending at the time. It throws out the feelings that the teachers have about their own students, stopping at absolutely nothing in order to degrade and abuse their students. In this segment, the lyrics "But in the town, it was well-known when they got home at night, their fat and psychopathic wives would thrash them within inches of their lives." tells the current condition the teachers have gone through. Because the teachers are undergoing "domestic abuse" from their spouses, they take out the anger and aggression on the students. Although that is no justification, there are plenty of other solutions to such dilemmas.

"Another Brick in the Wall Pt.2" - This song is a well-known theme to many people. Some may not have known that it came from Pink Floyd until years later. This song basically tells the current thoughts of the students attending such a school, stating that they desire no education or thought control from the possessive and controlling teachers that surround them. "You're just another brick in the wall" sums up the statement that the teachers are just another problem which adds to Pink's collection of issues.

Conclusion:

If you're a Floyd fan, grasp yourself for a while and try and determine what each song is interpreting. We may not realize it, but most songs, not just from Pink Floyd, but other bands, tell us something about the current problems we face in our every-day lives. To me, Pink Floyd's The Wall speaks to its listeners and lets them know they are never alone, we all have nightmares, but never them them control your actions towards others around you.