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Roger Waters hits out at being denied access to Pink Floyd fans

By Paul Sinclair

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174

“David Gilmour thinks I’m irrelevant” claims Waters

In a message via his twitter account, Roger Waters has today complained being denied access to Pink Floyd fans via the band’s website and social media accounts.

Waters starts the five-and-a-half minute video announcement by saying that he “rarely speaks to Pink Floyd fans [directly]” and adds “but that is what I am doing now.” He then thanks fans for the response to his recent version of ‘Mother’ – which he posted on Sunday – but goes on to question why the video isn’t available on the official Pink Floyd website.

In the video, Waters claims he is “banned” from the official Pink Floyd website by David Gilmour, and reveals that “about a year ago” he arranged a meeting with all surviving members of Pink Floyd at a hotel airport in London to help overcome what he calls an “impasse” but says that this “bore no fruit”.

The crux of Waters’ point is that the official Facebook page has nearly 30m followers and in his mind that is due to the body of work that the five contributors created (Syd Barrett, David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright and Nick Mason). Therefore, he thinks it would be “fair and correct” that each member has “equal access” to the Pink Floyd audience to share and promote their projects.

In some final comments – which are unlikely to help thaw relations with Gilmour – Roger says “David thinks he owns it… he thinks he is Pink Floyd… and that I’m irrelevant”. He then can’t resist a little dig at Polly Samson’s ‘Theatre For Dreamers’ project, which has been heavily promoted via Pink Floyd channels. Polly is, of course, David Gilmour’s wife.

Roger Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985 and took the other members to court to attempt to stop them using the name. He lost the case and lost the rights to the Pink Floyd name. He later said he was wrong to sue them.

Watch Roger’s video announcement in full below. What are your views on this? Leave a comment.

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174 Comments

174 thoughts on “Roger Waters hits out at being denied access to Pink Floyd fans”

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  3. Roger Waters and David Gilmour – the yin to the yang? Not entirely perhaps, but they will have a strong bond, however unhealthy their relationship is.

    The urge of the songwriter to sing their own songs must be strong. David Gilmour is an excellent singer, so I can imagine there was some resistance when Roger Waters took over the lead vocals. Roland Orzabal also assumed the main vocal duties from Curt Smith. It can’t be much fun being beholden to the main creative talent in a band.

    What I like about Roger Waters is his desire to speak up for what he believes in, regardless of the negative impact that has on his popularity and music sales. He’s interesting as a result. Those that dislike him really dislike him.

    In the music world he’s a visionary. To realise The Wall as an album, concert and film took some doing, with massive financial risks, so I’m not surprised he was a tough guy to work with.

    I’ve seen all his tours since he resumed playing live some years ago, and each tour has got better and better as a spectacle. I can’t recommend strongly enough to go and see him on his forthcoming tour once it gets going. I guess with Covid 19 it’ll be at least two years time before it gets to the UK, all being well.

    Though I’m a fan of The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, his first two solo albums suffer from the production and style of the recordings. I love The Final Cut which is much better than TPACOH. The two albums are too similar in style and structure, but with weaker songs on TPACOH.

    Water’s choice of collaborator for each project seems crucial to the end result. Pat Leonard and Nigel Godrich must have worked well with him as Amused To Death and Is This The Life We Really Want are excellent, especially the latter album, which was his first mainstream album for twenty five years. Can you imagine Paul McCartney producing an album today that is up there in equivalent quality to a Beatles album? That’s pretty much what Waters did with Is This The Life We Really Want.

    As for the desire to have his work listed on the Pink Floyd web site, then he’s got no chance and he knows it. He probably just wanted to scratch the itch and show his annoyance.

    I’m also a fan of David Gilmour, with my highlight seeing him on the On An Island tour. They are both great men.

    2. Strange. I’m a die hard Waters fan, and I feel the newest album sounds like a demo you’d give to the band to learn so they can later make a proper album. Pros and Cons is his master work IMO

  4. Syd Barrett often wove the names of people he knew into his lyrics… Lucifer Sam – ‘JENNIFER Gentle you’re a witch…’ references girlfriend Jenny Spires… Apples & Oranges ‘CORNERing neatly she trips up sweetly…’ references girlfriend Lindsay Corner… I always wondered if the line in Astronomy Domine ‘Lime and limpid green, the sound surrounds The icy WATERS underground’ was referring to ‘bandmate?’ Roger Waters… if so ICY Waters is probably a fair (hidden) assessment. The lyric could have worked just as well with the word ‘Water’ rather than ‘Waters’… anyway You decide!

  7. i think Roger has a point, like him or not, he was a member of pink floyd, not just a member the chief song writer and vocalist. he should be allowed access to the floyd website etc. its not the Dave and Polly website, it’s the pink floyd website. he should be on there as much as Dave is, and definitely not polly. when was polly a member of pink floyd ?????? it’s just petty of Dave.

  8. These guys all need their heads banging together , much like the members of NewOrder . It all comes across as petty and stupid .

  9. Oh dear, here we go again…He really feels that he has an axe to grind doesn’t he? What a bitter gentleman he has become. When you were kids there was always someone (usually elderly) who didn’t want you playing anywhere near their house…..that’s Mr Waters! If it’s not David Gilmour he’s moaning about, it’s Pink Floyd, if not them Donald Trump, if not him it’s Israel v Palestine.. he never stops! So he takes a cheap shot at Polly Samson which just alienates him further, not because people love Polly Samson particularly but because it’s unnecessarily unkind. In some circles he’d be labelled a’troll’. The mans an idiot! You don’t see Deep Purple members taking cheap shots at Candice Knight for goodness sake! Like many I’ve seen him a number of times…..great shows but his moaning and ranting just wears you down and for what? His gigs attract millions of fans, he’s not short of a few bob, people recognise him, some worship the ground he walks on but he still keeps moaning. Everyone knows where they can access his stuff, Pink Floyd or otherwise but like Lloyd Webber’s awful stuff, Roger rants on for years and years and years…….

    1. so true, great reply. I think the ultimate point is he left the band, he sued the band. I don’t think a band’s brand website is something you “deserve” to have access to because you were once an important member of a group.

  11. It would be nice to see pink floyd getting back together, and playing heaton park (manchester) in 2021.
    Sorry, i was just daydreaming in this lockdown…

  12. The thing is Mr Waters your idea of ‘communication’ of which you so lovingly speak, on your terms means, “You do exactly as I tell you otherwise I will smear, bully or if necessary, sue you”.

      1. Old men doesn’t look much better at anytime of the day. I know it when i look myself at the mirror. No matter is it day or night, the view is hopeless!

  15. Roger left the band 35 years ago. He is not a member of Pink Floyd and has not been for a long time. He has his own social media channels. Any Pink Floyd fans that like Roger’s music are very likely following him on those channels. Stop whining, Roger.

  16. It is always interesting reading or listening to what Roger Waters says, whether you agree with him or not is up to your own personal opinion of him as a musician and man. I watched the Rolling Stone FaceTime? webcast with interest and I after watching it thought (why don’t the others allow him to release Animals in a remastered form?, I thought that they were party poopers to be honest). I appreciate his political passion and his need to get behind things he feels passionate about, but equally I didn’t like the way the Hyde Park concert I attended two summers ago seemed to project a lot of these political passions onto 70,000 who may not have wanted to hear it or see it. Roger for me is Pink Floyd, most of what i term Pink Floyd music had him as the driving force behind it. Even though I have everything on vinyl I’m really not a great fan of the post Waters stuff and very rarely play any of it (apart from High Hopes).
    None of us as fans looking in from the outside can possibly appreciate what arguments may go on behind closed doors between people who have known one another for longer than they care to remember. Maybe he has a point?, but then again maybe he should just work positively and keep such opinions private?. A difficult one for sure. But you cannot take away his legacy upon musical history that is set in stone.

  18. Roger is the Paul McCartney of P/Floyd, he {Roger} nearly boarders on genius in the music world of Floyd, unfortunately, When you sue the band I guess that means divorce!
    He is only one part of the whole.

    1. Macca sued the other three Beatles and Klein in order to stop Apple and everything the Beatles ever worked for going into ABKCO’s clutches (very much like the Stones’ Decca output). It was unpleasant, but McCartney was later vindicated and all three of the other Beatles (including John Lennon) admitted that Paul was right about Klein. Roger Waters, however, sued Gilmour, Mason and Wright simply because he arrogantly believed that Pink Floyd could never function without him (he said to David Gilmour ‘You’ll never f***ing do it!’ about continuing the band). With Waters it was a case of Pink Floyd being ‘his ball’ and nobody else was allowed to play with it if he decided to take it home with him. McCartney declared a kind of war on his fellow Beatles because they did treat him shabbily (he was routinely outvoted on every issue) and nobody was listening to him about Klein. The turning on him by John, George and Ringo (and Klein) at Olympic before the Steve Miller session in 1969 was particularly outrageous and shameful. Paul did what he did to free both himself and eventually Apple. Waters started a war with Gilmour and Co simply because he had decided to quit and he didn’t want anybody else to do it either.

  19. Why should people make up or at least tolerate each other? They made music until they could no longer work together and someone left. There are no rules of rock and roll that says you must remain in that band forever.
    The few long past their prime bands still hanging on is anyone’s guess. Maybe it’s hard to come to terms with not having anything left to offer.
    People will forget those last couple of bad records you made, but they don’t forget how bitter and petty you seemed at your end.

  20. A critical band member leaves the era-defining, envelope-pushing British band they helped form, insisting the band shouldn’t/can’t continue without them. The remains members do not agree. Protracted legal action ensues, as does a bitter public slanging match. The wife of a remaining band member is slagged off publicly by the departed band member. Contrition, remorse and regret eventually follows, as does a legal settlement. Acrimony remains, as does profitable book deals, where disagreements are still aired publicly.

    Yes folks, welcome to the world of…New Order!

    Only difference seems to be that New Order achieved exactly what Roger Waters clearly wants in his world: ongoing access to the original bands social media platforms for the departed member. Peter Hook’s legal representation specifically negotiated this as part of the settlement reached between the warring parties. As such, New Order’s socials actively promote Hook’s tours, releases, etc and it all comes across as pretty mature, reasonable and beneficial to all parties (including – most importantly I would suggest – fans).

    Like all legal settlements, it was a power play that sorted this mess out – and that power only resided with Peter Hook during settlement negotiations. Once they were finalised, game over.

    Roger Waters obviously missed (or negligently forgot to consider) that boat at the time when he made his final settlement. Likewise, game over. No point complaining decades later about something you agreed to, or forgot to consider at the time, regardless of how creatively central you were to your former band’s output.

    That said, it would only be a good thing IMHO if Roger Waters got what he wanted here. Good for fans, good for David Gilmour (it would make him look very generous, mature and conciliatory) and good for Roger Waters, just as it did for all New Order members, past and present.

    To all concerned. Life’s too short guys! Take the high road. Bury the hatchet and make peace, whether united or separate, you all made extraordinary, enduring high art together that will live on well past all of us. All this crap aired publicly doesn’t add value to anything. And publicly slagging someone’s wife will never further your cause!

    1. Interesting as well that both bands (Joy Division in New Orders case) both lost iconic songwriters and charismatic front men at the start of their careers. Jon Savage quotes what Anthony Wilson said about New Order’s future just after Ian had died in 1993s New Order Story saying “ Mark my words, this is just like when Syd Barrett left Pink Floyd. In three albums time they will be selling millions in the U.S.”. I don’t think they sold millions but they definitely had an impact.

  21. As you know, Roger Waters’ favoured engineer is James Guthrie and David Gilmour’s favoured engineer is Andy Jackson. Both are highly skilled engineers. Guthrie claims that he had been promised the “right” to do remixes of 1970’s Pink Floyd albums, though I doubt that the promise is actually contractual.
    David Gilmour let Andy Jackson do new stereo & surround remixes of “Obscured By Clouds” & “Meddle” with the idea of including them in “The Early Years” boxed set, but Guthrie complained to Waters, and Waters invoked his right to veto the release of the surround mixes, though Jackson’s stereo remix of “Obscured By Clouds” was included in “The Early Years”. The surround mix of “Meddle” is clandestinely included on one of the blu-ray discs, but you need advanced technical skills (and a computer that supports Blu-ray), to be able to extract and play it. When that section of the boxed set was offered separately, the “hidden” 5.1 mix of “Meddle” was omitted.
    This all happened because of Roger Waters. Neither James Guthrie or Andy Jackson was involved in the original recording sessions for those early 1970’s albums. What makes either one of them more qualified to remix the recordings? The obvious solution is to let both engineers create 5.1 surround mixes of those albums, release both mixes and let the fans decide which is best.
    There may be no further releases of Pink Floyd archival materials from the 1970’s unless Roger Waters relaxes his unyielding stance, which is not only hostile towards David Gilmour. It is hostile towards all Pink Floyd fans.

  22. I think he is basically jealous, with 2.1M likes of Roger’s FB page and 2.5M on Dave’s, he can’t win that war. Dave and family have been doing shutdown videos showing how much he is a nice family guy. Roger doesn’t.
    On the PF site discography it lists all band members solo albums including Syd, Nick and Rick – except their recent ones – in fact Roger’s The Album Collection (2011) is the most recent. In News Roger’s most recent album is noted and linked to Roger’s website – obviously it is heavily biased towards Dave and Nick.
    So cloak and dagger stuff really. But legally Roger doesnt seem to have a leg to stand on. Love lots of (not all ) his music, but not his bullying.

  24. Excellent thread,
    With great comments.
    Time to start a rumour.

    One, excellent article, by jules pointed me to an interview (47 min )RW did with rolling stone.
    In the interview RW mentions a meeting he arranged last year with the surviving members of pink floyd. Not unreasonably he chose to be private about much of what was discussed at that meeting.

    I wonder, just wonder, if somewhere on the agenda was talk of a possible reunion, or at least, a joint musical project?

    I enjoy music from both strands of this great band’s story. Recent output from both sides suggests to me that they are still producing music of a high quality. To paraphrase ‘er indoors, they (she refers to PaulM), they owe themselves (us?) one more great album.

    It would take one great producer to enable them to be together. (Bit like Jeff lynne did with the Beatles). Yet it might be something we could need now or soon.

    Anyhap, take care all

  25. As a Pink Floyd fan since the early 1970s, I’d like to see all parties concerned put their grievances aside And give the fans what we want… remastered Animals in 5.1, quad, stereo with any outtakes, good lived performances of the Animals tour in 1977, etc., etc., etc. Get on with it guys!

  26. Goes in the direction of the ongoing debate: “Oh by the way, which one’s Pink?”, and being “green”. The request by Water is just outlandish. He left the band, lost the right to the name due to a court case and settlement, and now he want to have access to business assets (social media platforms and brand recognition, fan information, and personal data), that has been built up in the internet/data age by the legal entity that he left behind long before. Yes, he may have been the dominant creative force behind much of PF’s music and its enduring legacy, but that is captured in publishing and reproduction rights to which he presumably is still entitled. For a person who has spent so much time distancing himself from PF and rubbishing the output of the remaining three, this is all a bit much. It’s like he has suddenly woken up to the fact that there is a new data economy and wants to be riding that gravy train under the PF banner after all.

  27. It’s all so ridiculous.
    Why shouldn’t there be “assholes” among musicians? The world is full of conspiracy theorists, terrorists, Nazis and the other “assholes”. Why don’t people treat themselves to one another? In times of Covid-19 it doesn’t matter what Rogers Waters and David Gilmour have for personal problems. Two old men take care of their vanities.

  28. Reading the posts here it looks like most don’t agree with Waters as he left the bank years ago-, sorry but whilst that may be true I totally don’t agree- to me he has a very valid point. Waters may have left the band years ago but he wrote or co-wrote the majority of their material and in my view wrote or co-wrote their best work by some way.
    I don’t look at the Pink Floyd web to see Polly and David, sorry but that’s not Pink Floyd and if I wanted to I could watch them instead on Instagram easily enough- same as I do with Waters.
    Water’s recent ‘Mother’ post was just awesome and to me what Pink Floyd was/is all about. If that’s not Pink Floyd what is?

  30. The fans who follow Pink Floyd’s website and social media are aware of Roger Waters. If they want to, said fans are perfectly capable of following Roger Water’s site and social media. By choosing which to follow, clearly, said fans have already spoken on this matter.

    2. Waters is apparently blocking the release of the “Animals” 5.1 remix, just like he did with the “Obscured By Clouds” & “Meddle” 5.1 remixes. A great way to endear himself to Pink Floyd fans.

  34. Mr Waters, this thing called Karma gets everybody eventually, no exceptions.
    Yeas ago you made a public announcement to the world that you wanted to pursue your solo career and wanted nothing more to do with the band.
    In doing so, i do not believe that you had given a moments consideration to your Pink Floyd fans all around the world who were devastated by your decision.
    However, what indeed came over you to attempt to stop the other band members from carrying on the Pink Floyd name was quite unjust. Live and let live.
    And now you claim Mr Gilmour has banned you from the Pink Floyd website in which you would like to promote your recordings.
    Get over it man is all i’m thinking.
    My two cents would tell you that another public announcement is long overdue – in which you make a public apology to Mr Gilmour and the rest of the band.

  36. I agree with the view that this argument going on for 35 years is very tiresome. I’m sure the majority of PF fans give a little sigh every time this bickering gets resurrected. One point I would make is that for many years Roger has had every opportunity to promote himself on-line but I’ve always been very disappointed in how consistently poor his own website is – it tends to focus only on whatever current tour he is working on. There’s so much that Roger could do for fans of his music by improving his own site – both covering the Floyd aspect as well as what he has done since and is currently doing. It seems strange that his usual principle is not to speak directly to PF fans but he now wants to do a U-turn on that and be included in the official website?? Fair play to him for attempting to patch things up recently but it looks clear from that meeting that there’s little hope he and David will ever reconcile. Resorting to digs at the other’s missus isn’t going to help.

  37. I am always moved by the appalling slings and arrows that befall multi millionaire Rock stars .
    To think that tens of thousands are dying from covid 19,and yet,there is poor Roger , excluded from a website and seemingly powerless to right this profoundly modern first world injustice.
    My dear chap , I’m so glad I can remember you when you were worth it.
    Times have changed.

  38. If you look at the albums that Roger Waters did with Pink Floyd you will notice that he wrote almost 90% of the lyrics and is also creditted with writing more than 80% of the music! Go through each album one by one and you’ll see for yourself.

    It is therefore fair to say that his contribution was pivotol. He made those records among the best selling of all time and firmly established the Pink Floyd “brand”. If he is difficult to work with and a perfectionist, then perhaps that’s what it too/takes to create these records.

    When David Gilmour resumed the name – he did so knowingly that following his poorly attended 1984 tour he was unlikely to get far as a solo artist. His solo material has since become increasingly pedestrian and uninspiring. Resuming the “brand” Pink Floyd tapped into a pre-existing and highly expecxtant fan base and offered a commercially more viable approach than continuing as a solo artist would have done.

    Since resuming the band in 1986 Gilmour’s Floyd have released 3 studio albums, only one of which (TDB) desrves to be called a Pink Floyd album. Since that time they have been endlessly rebranding and selling the same (largely Waters written) material.

    Waters has released considerably more material, but it is material of quality that bears many hallmarks of Pink Floyd. Amused To Death in particular stands tall.

    I don’t necessarily agree with some of his political stances but I think his call to be included on a Pink Floyd website is fair, and his exclusion is unfair.

    He could have done it better though.
    Since

    2. “is also creditted with writing more than 80% of the music!”

      He has a habit of not crediting people’s contributions though (even printed buttons called “No Points Ezrin” during the making of The Wall!). There are many songs like Sheep or the second half of ABitW, Pt. II which Floyd fans know should have gotten split royalties since they were worked out as a band and had invaluable contributions from the other band members. Even a song that didn’t change format much (like Money) could still end up sounding completely different due to the band putting their stamp on it.

      You can see this even with a track like The Ballad of Bill Hubbard on ATD, which had nothing to do with Roger, yet is credited solely to him. Go figure.

    3. Danny:

      You make a great argument about the music & lyrics, and how Waters was much more pivotal.
      Having said that, I was a fan from the start in the Syd era, but when “The Wall” came along, I must admit I was not impressed (don’t even own a copy at all), and essentially I never bought a new Pink Floyd album after that.

      But I notice a couple of people saying that to them David Gilmour is Pink Floyd. But to me it’s just as much Richard Wright, and Nick Mason. While I liked Gilmour’s first solo album, I think that both Wright’s “Wet Dream” and especially “Nick Mason’s Fictitious Sports” are better albums.

      But also, we cannot forget that the band was originally Syd Barrett’s if we must be honest.
      And maybe some people forget that Gilmour was not an original band member. Yes, he came in by the 2nd album when Floyd were briefly a five-piece, and also the band’s sound changed after Syd left, so I imagine there are (shudder!) rabid Floyd fans that don’t care for the 1st two albums.
      I’m lucky enough (even being in the US) to have an original UK pressing of “A Saucerful Of Secrets” and a 2nd pressing of the UK “The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn”; and an original UK pressing of Syd’s “The Madcap Laughs” and a 2nd UK pressing of “Barrett”.

      But anyway, getting back to the main points, yeah Waters has been a bit of a scold, but Gilmour’s attitude hasn’t always been all candy and flowers.
      While it wouldbe nice if they made up, I can’t see that happening any time soon.

  39. Waters left Floyd nearly 40 years ago. He tried to sue to stop the rest calling themselves Pink Floyd and lost. This seems an odd argument to still be having. It’s like Fish demanding access to the Marillion website, or Peter Gabriel the Genesis site. (Both of them have more sense…)

    Waters has his own promotional channels, and those who are interested in his post-Floyd output follow those channels.

    As for the argument over whether Floyd went downhill after Waters left, I’d suggest that they’d already past their peak two albums before he left. The decline after Wish You Were Here seems pretty clear to me…

  41. This doesn’t come across very well under the current circumstances (more important things to be worried about, etc), and yeah… having a go at somebody’s partner is always going to make things exponentially worse as it just feels petty and provocative.

    It’s such a shame when old comrades can’t put the work in to bury the hatchet (a la New Order and Pink Floyd), particularly when it leads to public mud-slinging.

    As we used to hear so often (and perhaps need to hear a little more nowadays) – if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.

  42. After some what 35 years, Roger still doesn’t get it.

    People respect Roger, understand his songwriting genius and what he did in Pink Floyd…
    But in general, people don’t like him, he’s not a likeable guy, I’ve always myself kind of found him someone to be wary of, fearful even – on the other hand, not only is David likable, people down right LOVE him, his singing, his guitar playing says more to people souls than Roger’s lyrics ever did.

    The general public/Floyd fans I think have made it pretty obvious from the day Roger left the band – they want to follow David and there is a genuine love for the man that Roger has never or will have.

    It’s that simple, really.

    2. Yes you are quite correct: it could not be more simpler.
      However it would seem that Mr Waters is still lacking in good character after 35 years….

  43. I think there’s a concern on Gilmour’s part that Waters would flood the site with his often political content once he is allowed to post. Putting an editorial touch on Waters’ creativity would be very difficult, too. Thus, my guess is that Gilmour thinks that it is best that he and Waters remain apart in every possible way. If so, I cannot blame him.

  44. Roger, Jesus, get over it. The world is in a spot right now. Petty bickering doesn’t make either you or David look better. Be the better man.

    1. Well said.
      Albeit i do not believe that Mr Waters can ever be the better man.
      35 years gone and he still has the nerve to demand!??

  45. Personal taste, of course. Floyd without Water was/is horrible. Their albums post Waters were dire. Gilmour is a great guitarist, but without Water to bounce off, he’s mediocre. Even his solo albums have been poor. It’s a shame, but even I have to pick a side, I’m with Waters.

  46. It is always argued in sport, that being dropped or injured before a team loses will always make you look good, by default. By default not many bands will be turning out “Classics” 20 years into their history. Even If Floyd had stayed together their output will have dwindled, pretty much like it did, their quality would have slowly dropped, pretty much like it did. So by ducking out in 1985 it creates the false argument that “everything they did after I left was poor”. It might not have been so poor (and then not everyone agrees unanimously that it was poor) but I don’t think even a fully functioning 25 / 30 year old band would be pulling crackers out of their backsides. It had already been a few years since they had really created something outstanding rather than just OK or good.

    I just don’t buy the argument that Floyd fell apart when Waters left, it had already happened and his leaving didn’t make much difference.
    Did Genesis “get better” because PG left? Answers on a postcard to BBC Television Centre, London W1A 1AA

    1. Fair comment and balanced, regarding Genesis (whom Are my all time favourite band), I think they maintained a consistently high output throughout their career both with Gabriel and without him. Most of the post Gabriel albums I feel wouldn’t have been anywhere near as good if he was still a member (couldn’t imagine him making Duke or Trick of the Tail, which are superb albums on a par with any of the earlier prog classics. If anyone hasn’t heard Duke you simply must give your ears a treat.

  47. For goodness sake at this time more than any other you would have thought they could put their differences behind them for the good of humanity. How about releasing the wall live on vinyl for starters!

  48. Whatever your views on character the music still stands. Watch ‘Mother’ just released on Rodger’s YouTube channel instead.

  51. It’s funny to read so many people comment on Roger Waters political views and applaud David Gilmour if he denied Waters access to Pink Floyd web sites for political reasons.

    What happened to freedom of speech?
    I don’t agree with some of Waters views but I applaud him for still fighting for his ideas. At his age, like so many of his peers, he could just relax, enjoy the money and lifestyle of a rock star. Or just start a charity to raise his public profile. It’s quite obvious his political views didn’t help him sell more records or live shows. Quite the opposite in fact.

    As long as you don’t try to push ideas, views that are pro-discrimination, pro-hate and against the law like racism, anti-semitism, homophobia, sexism, etc. I totally support artists who defend their ideas.

    Wether Roger Waters is pushing a left wing or right wing agenda should be irrelevant and certainly not the basis of Gilmour’s reason to deny Waters access to Pink Floyd official web sites (even if I doubt that’s the case, it’s probably more personal and a too long lasting hatred).

    1. “Freedom of Speech” means the government can’t restrict what you say, it doesn’t mean that there are not consequences from the public for the things you say. And there are exceptions – can’t yell “fire” in a crowded theater, etc.

      These are private parties, so it doesn’t apply. Roger HAS spoken freely, and now he’s got to deal with the consequences. Also we don’t know if the current schism is because of a political or personal conflict, but that’s really irrelevant. DG has the rights to the Pink Floyd name. Roger lost that fight years ago, but he’s never stopped whining about it.

    2. I completely disagree with you. I’m so very tired of hearing every athlete’s, every actor’s & every singer’s political beliefs. You applaud Waters for still fighting for his ideas? I applaud the ones who can actually shut up & sing. And good for David Gilmour for recognizing that, and keeping that nonsense off Floyd’s website. Whether or not he ‘owns’ it, he’s doing the right thing overseeing it.

    3. This Poptones comment has been here a few hours and I am sure someone will put it better than me.
      Have you met the Internet? It’s a shitstorm of bullying and mob-rule waiting to happen.
      I don’t really know his politics and I couldn’t care less but if it is remotely “out there” at either end of the spectrum there will be a lot of hate / pressure / hypocrisy / judgement etc. and I don’t think “Pink Floyd Limited” (or whatever it is called) want to be associated with all of the nonsense that goes with a maverick like Roger. Many of us are old enough to remember Gerald Ratner in the pre-internet years, so imagine an angry polemic under the Floyd banner. A couple of Scotches, a late night and some arsehole on Twitter and bang go all of the promises to behave. A self-righteous person is a dangerous weapon as they believe to the ends of the earth that they are right and justified and they don’t come much more self righteous than an ageing, frustrated millionaire.
      Quite sensibly I think they (PF) want that held at arm’s length. Social distancing at it’s finest. Would Johnny Marr want his current thoughts tied to Morrissey’s in a joint venture? We all go down together old chap! I don’t think he would.

      Freedom of speech is all fine and dandy, but Roger seems to want to be outside the tent pissing in.

      1. And in doing so Waters has not quite realized that by pissing in from outside the tent he is only pissing on himself….

    2. Likely. It already caused (at Waters’ behest) the 5.1 remixes of “Obscured By Clouds” & “Meddle” to be excluded from “The Early Years” boxed set; excluded at the last minute; shortly before the project went to the pressing plant.

  53. I still enjoy Roger Waters’ songs from the 1970’s…before his songs became excessively political. And back when his voice was better. In one critic’s review of Roger’s “Radio K.A.O.S.” album, the critic said “His voice is so burned out after years of screaming, that you can almost smell the ashes.”

  54. Us and Them, I have no idea what the issue is. Roger Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985 his body of work during and post Floyd is listed on the Pink Floyd website admittedly Mother is not available. However, ‘Mother in isolation’ has received plenty of views elsewhere…. One could ask should the web site start listing Australian Pink Floyd etc… to balance the discussion?

    Ironically Rogers ‘announcement’ has received more views than Mother’ tis a shame in this day and age we favour politics over music…. In my view, just get back together be it virtually or on stage that will please 30Million fans no end!

    1. I wish that David Crosby could learn that lesson. His comments concerning Nash & Young’s most recent wives has created an irreparable rift.

  56. No argument that Roger Waters was a creative force that made Pink Floyd’s pre 1985 output much better than the music created after his departure. Nevertheless there are numerous reasons David Gilmore is 100% correct in his handling of Waters. 1) Waters quit. It was his choice. 2) Waters must be impossible to deal with. Just look at all the examples listed in this blog. Spitting on fans, arrogance, condescending attitude, etc. & 3) Political opinions that he can’t keep to himself that are quite frankly disturbing. Not that I was ever a fan of Motörhead or Michael Jackson, but if I was, I would not want to support either of them based on what I learned about their personal lives. Likewise, although a huge Floyd fan, I will not spend money on anything that supports Waters since I learned of his opinions. For all we know maybe Gilmour takes some or all of these issues into account when he determined how to deal with Waters.

  57. i wonder if the “Mother” tune is also a dig at Gilmour, as Gilmour had absolutely no feelings at all towards her !, which also makes me question Gilmours personality !

  58. I’m glad that there isn’t a global catastrophe happening at the moment or Roger would come over as completely insensitive and crass.

      1. Mr P
        Thank you, I have not seen this interview, I just went to watch it but an hour of listening to Mr Waters could be spent doing more important things at the moment. I am sure that last month Mr Waters was very sincere in the video discussing the virus and the effects it is having around the world. Did Mr Waters bring up his upset that he can’t get publicised on the vastly more popular Pink Floyd social media outlets at this point?
        Fast forward a month and Mr Water is now less concerned about the virus and more so about his legacy.
        Has this given Mr Waters more publicity – Yes
        Was this a good time for Mr Waters to bring this matter up? – No
        Was my comment foolish – No
        Was I wrong – No
        For the record I completely agree with a lot Mr Waters says regarding politics in certain countries.

        This scenario is identical to New Order where Hooky (another bass player!!) left the band claiming the band could no longer continue without him and the band had split.
        I believe Hooky came to an agreement (through the lawyers, the real winners in all these cases) with New Order that their social media would post future news on Hooky’s band.

        The Pink Floyd story is fascinating and it is very sad that the relations are still as bitter, but it all seems to be coming from Waters direction. Has Waters said if he’d allow David Gilmour or Nick Mason to promote their solo activities or post-1985 PF reissues on his social media?
        The post-Waters Floyd was comprised of 3 members of the band, not just Gilmour which some comments don’t make clear.

  59. C’mon Roger it’s 35 years since you left the band. Get over it! If you haven’t built up your own thing by now, tough! You certainly aren’t shy of using the Floyd back catalogue to bolster your solo outings

    1. If Gilmour and Waters banned each other from playing any song the other had a credit on, I think Gilmour would be the loser.

  60. I’m with Nick, this is very tiresome. I’m a lifelong floyd fan. I’ve got everything, hundreds of bootlegs, and seen all of them solo post Division Bell (Waters many times). Gilmour is now as bad as Waters was in the 80’s. and how his wife gets access to PF fanbase through nothing more than being married to a member is ludicrous. I can perfectly understand Waters political views not going down well with PF Inc and thus ‘not be representative of the brand’, but how on earth Polly Sampson gets promoted instead is beyond me. Her lyric contributions have been appalling from the DB onwards, but that keeps the money in the family for the Gilmours. She’s Floyd’s Yoko.

    1. Please stop blaming Yoko for being the cause of The Beatles‘ breakup. They broke up because their time was up, but not because of anyone‘s wife. And – unlike Floyd – John, Paul, George and Ringo were normalizing their relationships afterwards. They met and respected each other.

      To PF: Waters and Gilmour created some of the best rock music in the 70’s. They should meet, have a beer together and behave like grown-ups. It‘s ridicolous. Kindergarten.

      1. It’s sad isn’t it to have someone in your life that you created something beautiful with, something that means so much to so many and you can’t just have a beer and a reminisce.
        I would imagine it’s rather like having the most terrible divorce whilst your kids still manage to be pretty much perfect, kind, wonderful humans and you can’t share that beauty with the one you created it all with.
        I would love to be a fly on the wall at sessions like the Wilburys must have had, or George, Ringo and Paul over the dinner table. Those would be stories worth listening to. For them to lose all of that for pettiness and long forgotten slights is so sad. By the time the light draws down on our lives all we will have are memories.

  62. “I think it’s really disappointing that these rather elderly gentlemen are still at loggerheads.”

    So said Nick Mason in a Rolling Stone interview in 2018.

    How right he was & is.

    There is right now a 50 minute online interview with RW with Rolling Stone where the ‘summit’ with the others is mentioned. Well worth watching, Waters is not a dull interviewee;
    touching recollections about John Prine etc.

    For years I have like so many millions been entranced by the music of PF and also much of Waters post Floyd material.

    However the radioactive nature of the Waters/Gilmour relationship is beyond tiresome & Mason kind of summed it up in that RS piece. I think unless you really know the people involved it is hard to reach any balanced insight, but even the sensible diplomatic Nick did allude to Roger never really moving past the resentment that PF continued as a commercially successful (if artistically perhaps not so much) enterprise after his departure plus his propensity for regarding the principle writer (him) on a different plane to the other musicians in the band.

    There has been plenty written about the fractious nature of the David & Roger relationship over the years. The Live 8 gig appeared to herald a new era & I was in the audience at the O2 on the night David played on Comfortably Numb during Roger’s run of Wall revisited shows at the venue.

    However apart from a brief charity show endeavour the two’s relationship has continued to founder.

    Roger’s vision & the others musical flair combined to create a unique chemistry on their finest work post Syd.

    Also Roger’s own work has often been better ‘written’ & realised than David’s.

    However there are people you meet in this world (& I really don’t know if RW is one of them)
    whose loudly proclaimed commitment to social justice is ironically matched by their capacity to treat people in their vicinity atrociously.

    There are some, & you hope not definitive, examples of peoples experience of meeting the man in person. A gentleman who runs a Pink Floyd etc fan site tells a story of a meet & greet with Roger which is frankly terrifying – the pictures alone tell a story.

    Also I happen to know one of the cameramen who worked on the ‘Us & Them’ film who whilst hugely admiring of Water’s work said his superb band would allude to having been put through the emotional wringer by their leader. He is after all a perfectionist.

    Whatever, if you love the music it always tends to be advisable to separate the art from the artist & having no personal experience of the gentlemen involved in the ongoing ‘impasse’ (Waters word in his recent twitter video) for me the jury will remain out.

    Yes, Roger’s beef about the website seems valid. However his twitter video, & self-admitted sarky nature which couldn’t avoid a Polly Samson put down, is unlikely to cause a breakthrough in relations anytime soon.

    The Gilmour & Waters dynamic is to rock and roll what the Arab-Israeli conflict is to politics.

    Unending, depressing, & seemingly insoluble.

    Remember ‘elderly gentlemen’ : THIS IS NOT A DRILL !

    2. @Jules, Fantastic post especially ‘However there are people you meet in this world (& I really don’t know if RW is one of them) whose loudly proclaimed commitment to social justice is ironically matched by their capacity to treat people in their vicinity atrociously‘.

      My admiration for some of the artists I listen to and their work sometimes requires a detachment from who they appear to be, but as you alluded to, I don’t actually know those involved. In RWs case as well as this continued vitriol towards DG, it is also what happened with Rick Wright during The Wall period, but again I didn’t know these people. Despite this, I still selected Is This the Life You Really Want? as my personal album of the year, whichever year it came out.

  63. It’s not like Roger Waters to try and shame his contemporaries in public…

    At least it wasn’t an “open letter” this time!

    Surely this kind of behaviour causes more problems than it solves?

  64. ….supertramp and Roger Hodgson? I also don’t recall Roger’s solocareer being promoted on the Supertramp website either.

    Roger Waters decided to leave Pink Floyd and that’s it. My gut fealing is that David and Nick would not be very enthousiastic about Roger’s political open statements (regardless if he’s right or not) being connected to Pink Floyd music nowadays. It was one of the reasons why the band members started to drift away from each other from the early 80s onwards.

    1. But, you see, David Gilmour & Nick Mason hold the very same political views (with respect to the Middle East situation) as Roger Waters, but Gilmour & Mason are less public with those views.

    2. Your right mate there is similarity in Hodgson and waters,,,,, Hodgson left and made the absolutely brilliant, in the eye of the storm LP, where he played every instrument apart from the drums,!,,,, Supertramp went on to release the dire brother where you bound LP,,,, the supertramp name made sure that they sold out huge arenas for years, Roger could barely put 1000 people in the Glasgow royal concert hall a few years back, I was there top tier closed ,absolutely amazing concert.

      1. Actually I disagree. I think that Davies ‘Brother’ album was equally as brilliant and both would been perfect together on one album.

    3. And it should be noted that when you compare the Roger Waters/David Gilmour hostilities to the Rick Davies/Roger Hodgson situation in Supertramp, it should be noted that Rick Davies pointlessly clings to the ownership of the “Supetramp” name, though ill health forced Davies to retire years ago. The use of the “Supertramp” name would certainly be helpful to Hodgson’s career. Hodgson wrote and sang all but one of Supertramp’s hits. The shared Hodgson/Davies songwriting credits were musically fictitious and essentially a business deal. Hodgson has stated that he wrote all of his Supertramp hits while he was still a teenager (before he met Rick Davies)

      1. Except I have no sympathy for Roger Hodgson since I posted a YouTube video of him playing one song live at the Royal Albert Hall and got a ‘strike’ for copyright violation. Not ‘please take this down’ but actually a black mark which restricted some of what I could do on Facebook for six months. Afterwards I did a google search and it turns out that Hodgson’s management are notorious for being really aggressive with anyone daring to post anything. All this was after I met the guy back stage and had a friendly chat and told him about SDE!!

        1. Im sorry to hear that Paul, Roger always comes across as a very nice, spiritual man,im hoping he knew nothing about your treatment? I presume you where a fan up untill that point,thats very poor,I can no longer listen to one of my favourite albums in the same breath now, very sad!

        2. I had the same issue with a cover version of a Supertramp song. I also couldn’t really like Roger Hodgson much after that.

          Facing it, Rick Davies founded Supertramp and the band continued after Roger’s exit (I happen to like Brother Where You Bound + Some Things Never Change very much). Even on the last tour, Rick still had John Helliwell and Bob Siebenberg on his side, who played on all five classic ‘Tramp albums. It would be bizarre if Roger, who has left the band decades ago, would suddenly get the name.

          I also get the impression that Hodgson is doing pretty well on his own. He himself said he doesn’t need the big arenas.

  65. I can see both sides of this argument, and I like both David & Roger. I understand why Roger might think his endeavours should get a shout out on social media, as Nick & David’s do, but then again he’s not in Pink Floyd, but then again again neither is Polly. And so on.

    The reality is it’s a bit like ringing up your ex-wife and asking to leave some stuff in her garage. Gilmour is under no obligation to concede, and Roger’s chickens are coming home to roost. All a pity really.

  66. He left, he was mean, he sued….. Yeah right, these are facts. But is there anybody out there who really thinks Pink Floyd could have been one of the biggest bands in rock music history with just Gilmour, Wright, Mason – and well, Sampson? Gilmour should be forever thankful for everything Waters created with Floyd. And for all the money he got, thanks to Waters. Jesus, we’re talking about old men who should be able to forgive and forget before they die!

  67. I have always thought Gilmore and Waters were as difficult and self-aggrandising as each other.
    The Final Cut for me was a great album, much under appreciated, and should be mentioned in the same breath as the previous four and deserves an Immersion box set as much as Animals does. It was also the album Waters really took over the band in a dictatorial way and Nick Mason (good bloke) was probably the only one who could really cope with that. Gilmore’s post Waters Floyd and solo albums for me are an imitation, however good they are, and only really survived because Gilmore and Rick Wright (good bloke) were the “sound” of Floyd. That sound only truly thrived in Water’s songs. Water’s solo career has been original and I have found just as uplifting as prime Floyd and with something to say.
    I go to watch Gilmore as the best tribute band around and I don’t like tribute bands. Polly Sampson is not Pink Floyd. Gilmore’s family sing songs are not good.
    The running of the Floyd site should be handed over to Nick Mason to make decisions and caretake the legacy. He was probably why the band stayed together so long, been able to put up with those two muppets and has shown much taste and understanding of the fan base with his recent pre DSOTM live shows.

  68. It has to be said that Gilmour’s Mrs getting more kudos and credit on an ‘official’ Floyd site than Roger Waters is absolutely laughable.

  69. The way a top class musician and a man like Rick Wright was treated by Waters during the Wall sessions was disgraceful. It was as bad as what the Stones did to Brian Jones and what the Eagles did to Randy Meisner. Discarding a renowned and accomplished band member, therefore seeing them as an irrelevance. So I don’t think he can complain about how Gilmour is behaving. And let’s not even start about how Syd was ‘let go’.

    1. Clearly you haven’t heard Rick freely admit he was significantly impaired with drugs and alcohol in that period and was ‘thankful’ that Roger offered him a role in the project.

  70. I think he has a good point. He’s a major part of “Pink Floyd”, however you look at it.

    But whoever’s “fault” it is, it’s a real shame that they are still at war after so long. They aren’t getting any younger and I wish they could find some kind of peace before it’s too late. Not because I want a reunion (I really hope that never happens), but because their legacy is important enough to be looked after respectfully by all of them. They should value the specialness of the work they did together and not risk letting that be overshadowed.

  71. Well, isn’t this the same man who used to openly and purposely ignore fan mail of any kind in the 70s and 80s? (some nice remark about fans that went ‘Once you let the buggers in’). Didn’t he also gob at a Pink Floyd fan once? And as for his moan about Gilmour? Didn’t Waters think the late Richard Wright was irrelevant? So irrelevant in fact that he sacked him?

    The words cake and eat it come to mind.

  72. I guess when Roger Waters sees David Gilmour, he thinks Gilmour is the Waters of 30 years ago. And that’s about right. Gilmour thinks he’s the head of Pink Floyd and the sole owner of the name.

    Syd Barrett’s death should have helped them repair that relationship and see things differently.

    They should take exemple from Genesis. Even if there were tensions in the band, they still maintained good relationships After Gabriel, Hackett and Collins left. They even reformed in 1982 to help finance Womad and Peter Gabriel. Genesis twitter account wished Happy
    70th Birthday to Gabriel and Hackett back in february. That’s the spirit.

  73. I thought they had sort of made up after seeing Gilmour’s guest appearance on ‘Comfortably Numb’ on Water’s ‘The Wall’ concert movie in 2014. Such a shame. I do think Water’s has just as much right to have access to official PF social media having wrote the bulk of songs in the back catalogue.

  74. First. He left the band. He is out. Do you see Bill Wyman’s contributions on the Rolling Bones web site? Mike Portnoy on the Dream Theater site? Fish on the Marillion site?
    Second. If fans need to hear from him, they know where to find him. There are Email distribution lists. If “fans” don’t subscribe, maybe they don’t want to know what he’s doing.
    [And third, his politics are way too left for most and the “groups” he back aren’t too popular for most.]

    1. Likening Roger Waters contribution to Pink Floyd to Wyman’s to The Rolling Stones is ridiculous and rather devalues your argument. Marillion are an ongoing entity, Pink Floyd now are purely legacy and barring two albums, Waters is a massive part of that legacy.

      1. Hi Paul – I am no lover of Rog but you have hit the nail on the head. To deny his contribution is rewriting history. You’ve got to be crazy ! Just a shame they can’t bury the hatchet and play together !!!

      3. Also consider that Marillion and Fish have pretty cordial relations now for the most part. Social media for both have worked together on the reissues of Script, Childhood and Clutching as well.

    2. Waters is hardly left wing. He openly supports and marched with the pro fox hunting Countryside Alliance, not the most leftist of organisations. Then again, Mason supports them, too. If anything, I’d describe Waters as a Libertarian.

  75. Since 1987 and the establishment of “Pink Floyd 1987 ltd” he’s always said he had nothing to do with them (The Endless River interviews).

    As we say in France :

    il veut le beurre,
    l’argent du beurre
    et le cul de la crémière

  76. Maybe Gilmour decided he could do without Waters airing his rather one-sided political views (about the likes of Israel, Trump etc.) on their platform as well as his own?

    I’m not saying I am a particular supporter of either Trump or Israeli foreign policy, but the main reason I stopped following Waters on Twitter was the rather bullying way he has taken to forcing his views on others, particularly other artists who don’t happen to agree with his stance.

    1. I think if an agreement was made that it only related to musical outputs and nothing in respect of there own political views, then it’s a reasonable request.

      1. I suspect Waters would struggle to divorce his musical output from his political views; the two are very much intertwined…

    2. That’s exactly the reason why I have stopped going to Roger Waters concerts. Every (PF) song is being politicalized.

      I wanted to walk out of the Wall-show last time around, but it was my daughter’s first time to be able to see a little bit of that PF-magic, so I could not. But I was counting the minutes for the concert to end.

  77. He fancies himself an insightful politico and social justice warrior. He ought to just stay away and let the past be the past. More than Gilmour find him obnoxious and overshadowing the music which is what Pink Floyd should be about.

    1. It’s the fact that he has a point of view (whether you agree with it, or not) that makes his new songs still interesting.

    2. As much as I love David Gilmour and his work with Pink Floyd after Waters left, particularly The Division Bell, there’s absolutely a fire and vision missing from the band after Roger left, and you can hear that ringing through on both Amused to Death and his recent work. Plus, while he played on nearly all their seminal recordings David is not an original member.

  78. I guess because his comments were made publicly, Roger Waters is, at least to some degree, inviting public comment, but, in situations like this, literally the only people who really know the reality of the situation are those people directly involved. I am sure all parties involved have said and done things they might not necessarily do again if it were possible to go back in time and redo things, whether or not they admit it. Waters says he had hoped their private meeting would break an impasse, which didn’t happen. Not sure if making public comments will help them break their impasse, but I wouldn’t be upset to hear these guys patched things up and could begin having some sort of professional relationship again. Life is short and we’re all getting older. Opportunities and possibilities aren’t endless. Just my opinion. I know others feel differently.

  79. Good point, Polly is not Yoko. At least Macca, Yoko, Olivia and Ringo can agree on how best to promote the Beatles and Solo legacy through beatles.com etc.

  81. I’m usually in the David Camp, but I think Roger has a point. PF are no longer active and as the main lyricist for the bulk of their output, I think it’s only fair that he the PF social media promotes his work. As mentioned by another poster, Nick’s band is on there as is David’s work. Why his wife’s stuff is on there begs another question.

    1. I agree, and would like to also point out that you are correct in that he nearly wrote all the lyrics but a lot of people forget that he also wrote nearly all the music and did nearly all the lead vocals for Animals, The Wall and the Final Cut along with providing the lead vocals for other classics like Shine on You Crazy Diamond and Brain Damage. Also wrote other staples like Have a Cigar, Money and Welcome to the Machine on his own so in many ways I think he deserves more of their legacy than he perhaps gets credit for.

    2. “His wife stuff” is there because David is fully involved in the promotion of the book. They scheduled a tour for Europe with readings and David performing some music related to the book. The tour was cancelled so they are doing the performances live on social media. The book is about Leonard Cohen years in Hydra in the sixties, and David has a lot to say, sing, and share about the subject, including some stories about Syd Barret (they were childhood friends) and the origin of some of Syd’s songs. I think that it make it relevant to Pink Floyd fans so it’s being shared on PF social media.

      1. The websites and social media were endeavours taken after he decided to leave it behind. Just like he has no claim to their artistic work after leaving, he can no longer lay claim to their other new endeavours that they undertook after his departure.

    2. It’s not that he is trying to claim them, it’s more that he would like the ability to promote his work through their social media channels like the others do. Pink Floyd was/is a sum of its parts and Roger Waters was one of those parts.

    3. He also left before dvd, Blu-ray so by your reckoning that means he should be allowed to stop any film, concert,ect,ect, appearing on a recently invented medium?,plus his latest album blows that rattle the lock or cage whatever its called rubbish away,i wouldn’t let Polly wright out my shopping list!

  83. On the basis of his musical contribution to Pink Floyd, he should have the access to the social media, but it sounds like there are still grudges there.

    Unfortunately when he left Pink Floyd, the internet and social media didn’t exist so no legal agreements in that area would have been made.

    A more recent version of this would be when Peter Hook left New Order, but part of the settlement deal there included New Order social media channels promoting Peter Hook’s activities, especially if they were New Order related.

  84. I’m not really a fan of the man but he was clearly the cornerstone of the main Floyd albums and the majority of the fanbase are their because of those albums. Therefore I think has a point (and certainly has a larger claim to the fanbase than ‘Polly Samson’, not that I know her or her work – which may well be fantastic).

    As Paul says – taking the band to court certainly didn’t help his chances of any kind of amicable relationship.
    Very glad I saw what was probably their last ever reunion gig Live 8.

  86. Funnily enough we are just finishing “Doctor Foster” and my wife said, what is probably a well known quote but I hadn’t heard it (or more likely I’d forgotten it). Bitterness is where you swallow poison and hope the other person dies.

  87. Totally agree with the comments already left. He has been a bitter man when it comes to the band for decades. I just wish he would leave it alone, it really does him no favours. He was a huge part of Pink Floyd but that ended in 1985.

  88. He has every right to complain!

    His input enabled them to carry on with a number of strong albums when (after wywh) they had to use a majority of outtakes for the animals album.

    To deny him access makes a mockery of it’s claim to be the official website.

    Just compare the sales of PF new releases after he left!

  89. It’s all a bit ridiculous, I think. I love Pink Floyd, David, Nick, and Roger. And I definitely agree that Roger, brilliance aside, was a terrible bandmate from 1979 to 1985 and a worse ex-bandmate after; but come on, guys, that was 35 years ago. Roger admitted that he was a jerk; does Dave (and possibly Nick) have to be a jerk now? There’s so much hatred in the world; can’t these guys figure out how to embrace their legacy properly?

  90. Sad old man now. I think he was incredibly clever, gifted and talented in Pink Floyd but he treated the other members badly over many years, both as a member of the group and after he left them.
    If he felt so strongly about being banned by Gilmour from the website, why didn’t he raise the issue 10 (even 20) years ago. Oh let me guess! Was it because back then he was the cynical, sarcastic one who wanted nothing to do with any of them !

  91. Yes, he was a nasty person back in the ’80s but I think Waters has become much milder in recent years. If you listen to the video you will hear about a business meeting with Gilmour he discusses. If I’m not mistaken the rerelease of Animals was also discussed at this meeting but according to Waters has not happened yet because of disagreements with Gilmour.

    Now, you can agree with Waters or not, but I think that if you don’t allow ex/solo-members to put content on pinkfloyd.com none of the members should be able to do that. Have a look at their news page. It has some stuff about Nick’s band and loads of stuff about Gilmour solo. Including those dreadfull family broadcasts … I can imagine that Waters thinks that’s unfair.

  92. Both (Waters and Gilmour) nearly 200 years old combined…and still arguing like two little kids…pathetic…Get your freckin’ asses together, the three of you, and start a last world tour…in memory of Rick and Syd.

    1. Well said,there’s a whole generation or so of people who have never seen PF live and that’s a real shame,imagine the kind of show they could put on nowadays if they sorted all this petty crap out.
      I guess that Animals 5.1 mix ain’t gonna come out now.

    2. World tour great idea.. couldn’t have put it better myself. Just feel like banging their heads together to promote some common sense !

  93. I understand where he is coming from. The Beatles social media and website always share solo Beatle projects so it seems a shame to deny people that just follow Pink Floyd and not Roger Waters’ online accounts the chance to hear about upcoming Roger releases and tours.

  94. I am so glad he left Pink Floyd. Just like he bitterly wanted. So go away finally… sheesh. Maybe if his solo career gained any fans he would not be so bitter about his own decisions in life.

    1. His last solo album was amazing. I can see his point, to be honest, but suing the other members in the mid-eighties was never going to be forgiven/forgotten.

      1. I agree. Roger also said some pretty awful things about Dave during those years as well and attacking a sponsees work, regardless of whether or not it has artistic merit, doesn’t endear you to others either.

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