Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall
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- Duration: 5:59
- Published: 2006-05-12
- Uploaded: 2011-02-03
- Author: reaction7281
just another brick in the wall
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| Name | Pink Floyd |
|---|---|
| Landscape | Yes |
| Background | group_or_band |
| Alias | The Tea Set, The Pink Floyd Sound, The Pink Floyd, The Floyd |
| Genre | Psychedelic rock, Progressive rock |
| Origin | London, England |
| Years active | –1996 Reunion: 2005 |
| Label | Harvest, Capitol, Columbia |
| Url | | }} |
The band originally consisted of university students Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Richard Wright and Syd Barrett. Founded in 1965, they first became popular playing in London's underground music scene in the late 1960s. Under Barrett's leadership they released two charting singles, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", and a successful début album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967). Guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour joined Pink Floyd several months prior to Barrett's departure from the group due to deteriorating mental health in 1968. Following the loss of their principal songwriter, Pink Floyd bassist and vocalist Roger Waters became the band's lyricist and conceptual leader, with Gilmour assuming lead guitar and sharing lead vocals. With this lineup Pink Floyd achieved worldwide critical and commercial success with The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall.
Wright left the group in 1979, and Waters in 1985, but Gilmour and Mason (joined by Wright) continued to record and tour. Waters resorted to legal means to try to keep them from performing as Pink Floyd, but the dispute was resolved with an out-of-court settlement which allowed Gilmour and Mason to continue, and which also released Waters from his contractual obligations to the band. Two further albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell followed. Following almost two decades of acrimony, the band reunited in 2005 for a single performance, at the charity concert Live 8.
In September 1963 Waters and Mason moved into the lower flat of Stanhope Gardens, owned by Mike Leonard, a part-time tutor at the Regent Street Polytechnic. Leonard was a designer of light machines (perforated discs spun by electric motors to cast patterns of lights on the walls) and for a time played keyboard with them using the front room of his flat for rehearsals. Mason later moved out of the flat, while accomplished guitar player Bob Klose moved in. Sigma 6 went through a number of short-lived names, including The Meggadeaths, others spell it "Megadeaths."|group="nb"}} The (Screaming) Abdabs,|group="nb"}} Leonard's Lodgers, and The Spectrum Five, before settling on The Tea Set. whereas the frequently cited alternative "The T-Set" remains unsubstantiated.|group="nb"}} While Metcalfe and Noble left to form their own band, in 1964 Klose and Waters were joined at Stanhope Gardens by Syd Barrett. Barrett had arrived in London in the autumn of 1963 to study at the Camberwell College of Art. Waters and Barrett were childhood friends; the bassist had often visited Barrett as he played guitar at his mother's house. In his book, Mason said this about Barrett, "In a period when everyone was being cool in a very adolescent, self-conscious way, Syd was unfashionably outgoing; my enduring memory of our first encounter is the fact that he bothered to come up and introduce himself to me."|align=right|width=33%}}
After The Tea Set lost Noble and Metcalfe's vocal abilities, Klose introduced the band to Chris Dennis, a technician with the Royal Air Force. It was during Dennis's tenure that the band was first referred to as "The Pink Floyd Sound", --> created by Barrett on the spur of the moment when he discovered that another band, also named The Tea Set, were to perform at one of their gigs. (The name is derived from the given names of two blues musicians whose records Barrett had in his collection, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.) At around the same time Dennis was posted to Bahrain, thrusting Barrett into the spotlight as front-man.
The Pink Floyd Sound became the resident band at the Countdown Club near Kensington High Street in London, where from late night until early morning they played three sets of 90 minutes. According to Mason, this period "... was the beginning of a realisation that songs could be extended with lengthy solos." An audition for ITV's Ready Steady Go! soon followed (they were invited by the programme's producers to return the following week), as did another club, and two rock contests. After pressure from his father and advice from his college tutors, Bob Klose quit Pink Floyd in 1966, and Barrett took over on lead guitar. Playing mostly rhythm and blues songs, they began to receive paid bookings, including one for a performance at the Marquee Club in March 1966, where they were watched by Peter Jenner. A lecturer at the London School of Economics, Jenner was impressed by the acoustic effects Barrett and Wright created, and with his business partner and friend Andrew King became their manager. Although the pair had little experience of the music industry, they used inherited money to set up Blackhill Enterprises, and purchased new instruments and equipment for the band, including a Selmer PA system. Under their guidance, at venues including All Saints Hall and The Marquee, the band became part of London's underground music scene. While performing at the Countdown Club the band had experimented with long instrumental excursions, and they began to expand upon these with rudimentary but visually powerful light shows, projected by coloured slides and domestic lights. To celebrate the launch of the London Free School's magazine International Times, they performed in front of a 2,000-strong crowd at the opening of The Roundhouse, attended by celebrities including Alexander Trocchi, Paul McCartney, and Marianne Faithfull. Jenner and King's diverse array of social connections helped gain the band important coverage in The Financial Times and The Sunday Times.
poster for Pink Floyd at the UFO Club]]
Their relationship with Blackhill Enterprises was strengthened when they became full partners, each holding an "unprecedented" one-sixth share, and by October 1966 their set included more of their own material. They performed at venues such as the Commonwealth Institute, but were not universally popular; following a performance at a Catholic youth club the owner refused to pay, a stance which the magistrate agreed with, claiming that the band's performance "wasn't music". This was not the only occasion on which they encountered such opinions, but they were better received at the UFO Club in London. Barrett's performances were reportedly exuberant, "... leaping around and the madness, and the kind of improvisation he was doing ... he was inspired. He would constantly manage to get past his limitations and into areas that were very, very interesting. Which none of the others could do." The often drug-addled audience was receptive to the music they played, but the band remained drug-free — "We were out of it, not on acid, but out of the loop, stuck in the dressing room at UFO."
"Arnold Layne" became Pink Floyd's (the definite article seems to have been dropped from the band's name at some point in 1967) first single, released on 11 March 1967. Its references to cross-dressing saw it banned by several radio stations, but some creative manipulation at the shops which supplied sales figures to the music industry meant that it peaked in the UK charts at number 20. All four members of the band had by then abandoned their studies or jobs, and they upgraded their ageing Bedford van to a Ford Transit, using it to travel to over 200 gigs in 1967 (a tenfold increase on the previous year). They were joined by road manager Peter Wynne Willson, with whom Barrett had previously shared a flat. Willson updated the band's lighting rig, with some innovative ideas including the use of polarisers, mirrors, and stretched condoms. "See Emily Play" was the group's second single and it was released on 16 June. It was premièred at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London in May that year, where the band also used a device called an Azimuth co-ordinator. They performed on the BBC's Look of the Week, where an erudite and engaging Waters and Barrett faced rigorous questioning from Hans Keller. The single fared slightly better than "Arnold Layne", and after two weeks was at number 17 in the charts. It was mimed for the BBC's Top Of The Pops, to which they returned after the single climbed to number five, but a scheduled third appearance was cancelled when Barrett refused to perform. By early 1967 he was regularly using LSD, and at an earlier show in Holland Mason observed him to be "completely distanced from everything going on, whether simply tripping or suffering from a more organic neural disturbance I still have no idea." to record their first album at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London. There they experimented with musique concrète, and were at one point invited to watch The Beatles record "Lovely Rita". Although in his 2005 autobiography Mason recalled that the sessions were relatively trouble-free, Smith disagreed, stating that Barrett was unresponsive to his suggestions and constructive criticism. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was released in August 1967, and Pink Floyd continued to draw huge crowds at the UFO Club, but Barrett's deterioration was by then giving them serious concern. The rest of the band initially hoped that his erratic behaviour would be a passing phase, but others, including Jenner and June Child,|group="nb"}} were more realistic:
I found him in the dressing room and he was so ... gone. Roger Waters and I got him on his feet, we got him out to the stage ... and of course the audience went spare because they loved him. The band started to play and Syd just stood there. He had his guitar around his neck and his arms just hanging down.
To their consternation, the band were forced to cancel their appearance at the prestigious National Jazz and Blues Festival, and informed the music press that Barrett was suffering from nervous exhaustion. Jenner and Waters arranged for Barrett to see a psychiatrist, a meeting the frontman did not attend, and a stay in Formentera with Sam Hutt, a doctor well-established in the underground music scene, led to no visible improvement. A few dates in September were followed by the band's first tour of the United States. Blackhill's late application for work permits forced the band to cancel several dates, and Barrett's condition grew steadily worse. He detuned his guitar during a performance at the Winterland Ballroom, causing the strings to come off, and during a recording for The Pat Boone Show he confounded the director by miming the song perfectly during the rehearsal, and then standing motionless during the take. King quickly curtailed the band's US visit, sending them home on the next flight.
Shortly after their return from the US the band supported Jimi Hendrix's tour of England, and his absence on one occasion forced the band to book David O'List as his replacement. Pink Floyd released the single "Apples and Oranges" in November 1967 in the UK (although not in the US). However, for the rest of the band Barrett's condition had reached a crisis point, and they responded by adding a new member to their line-up. Gilmour was already acquainted with Barrett, having studied together at Cambridge Tech in the early 1960s. In 1965, while a member of Joker's Wild, Gilmour had watched The Tea Set. Steve O'Rourke (an assistant to Bryan Morrison) gave Gilmour a room at his house and a salary of £30 per week. Gilmour immediately went out and bought a custom-made yellow Fender Stratocaster from a music shop in Cambridge (the instrument became one of Gilmour's favourite guitars throughout his career with Pink Floyd), and in January 1968 he was announced as the band's newest member. To the general public he was then the second guitarist, and the fifth member of Pink Floyd, and the group originally intended to keep Barrett in the group as a non-performing songwriter. According to Jenner, "The idea was that Dave would be Syd's dep. and cover for his eccentricities. And when that got to be not workable, Syd was just going to write. Just to try to keep him involved, but in a way where the others could work and function." One of Gilmour's first duties was to pretend to play a guitar on an "Apples and Oranges" promotional film. Waters later admitted "He was our friend, but most of the time we now wanted to strangle him". In early March 1968 Pink Floyd met with Peter Jenner and Andrew King of Blackhill Enterprises, business partners at the time, to discuss the band's future. Barrett agreed to leave Pink Floyd and Pink Floyd "agreed to Blackhill's entitlement in perpetuity" with regard to "past activities". Pink Floyd's partnership with Peter Jenner and Andrew King was dissolved in March 1968; Jenner and King, who believed Barrett to be the creative genius of Pink Floyd, decided to represent him and end their relationship with Pink Floyd. Bryan Morrison then agreed that Steve O'Rourke should become Pink Floyd's manager. The formal announcement about the departure of Barrett was made on 6 April 1968, although for a short period after his de facto removal, Barrett still turned up to the occasional gig, apparently confused as to what was happening.
A Saucerful of Secrets was released in June that year. The album cover was designed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis. Record Mirror urged listeners to "forget it as background music to a party",|group="nb"}} Upon the album's release Pink Floyd performed at the first free Hyde Park concert (organised by Blackhill Enterprises), alongside Roy Harper and Jethro Tull. The band considered Morrison's assistant, Steve O'Rourke, as a "great deal-maker", whose business acumen overshadowed his lack of interest in aesthetic matters, and when Morrison sold his business to NEMS Enterprises O'Rourke became the band's personal manager. This also enabled the band to take complete control of their artistic outlook. They returned to the US for their first major tour, accompanied by Soft Machine and The Who.
The group's other releases around this period, More and Zabriskie Point, were soundtracks, and Atom Heart Mother was influenced as much by Ron Geesin and the session artists as it was by the band. The band again worked with Barbet Schroeder on the film La Vallée, for which a soundtrack album was released, called Obscured by Clouds. The material was composed in about a week, at the Château d'Hérouville near Paris, and upon its release was their first to break into the top 50 on the US Billboard chart. At about the same time the band also produced the compilation album Relics.
The Dark Side of the Moon was released in March 1973, and became an instant chart success in Britain and throughout Western Europe. In his 1973 album review for Rolling Stone magazine, Lloyd Grossman wrote: "a fine album with a textural and conceptual richness that not only invites, but demands involvement." Throughout March 1973 it featured as part of their US tour, including a midnight performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on 17 March.
The success of the album brought previously unknown wealth to all four members of the band. Richard Wright and Roger Waters bought large country houses, and Nick Mason became a collector of upmarket cars. Much of the album's early stateside success has been attributed to the efforts of Pink Floyd's US record company, Capitol Records. Newly appointed chairman Bhaskar Menon reversed the relatively poor performance of the band's previous US releases, but, disenchanted with Capitol, the band and manager O'Rourke negotiated a new contract with Columbia Records. The Dark Side of the Moon was the last album that Pink Floyd were obliged to release before formally signing a new contract. Menon's efforts to secure a contract renewal with Pink Floyd were in vain, and the band signed for Columbia with a reported advance fee of $1M ($}} today), while in Britain and Europe they continued to be represented by Harvest Records.
Despite the lack of creative direction, after several weeks, Waters began to visualise a new concept. and had performed them at a series of concerts in Europe. reminded Waters of the lingering ghost of former band-member Syd Barrett. The songs provided an apt summary of the rise and fall of their former bandmate: "Because I wanted to get as close as possible to what I felt ... that sort of indefinable, inevitable melancholy about the disappearance of Syd." during which, Thorgerson recalled, he "sat round and talked for a bit but he wasn't really there." He had changed in appearance, and the band did not initially recognise him. Waters was reportedly deeply upset by the experience. Barrett eventually left without saying goodbye, and none of the band members ever saw him again. Material also contained barely veiled attacks on the music business. "Raving and Drooling" and "Gotta Be Crazy" had no place in the new concept, and were set aside. Storm Thorgerson concealed the album artwork with a dark-coloured shrink-wrap. Inside, the cover image was inspired by the idea that people tend to conceal their true feelings, for fear of "getting burned", and thus two businessmen were pictured shaking hands, one man on fire.
Much of Wish You Were Here was premièred on 5 July 1975 at an open-air music festival at Knebworth, before being released in September that year. It reached number one in Britain and the US, along with positive reviews; Robert Christgau wrote: "... the music is not only simple and attractive, with the synthesizer used mostly for texture and the guitar breaks for comment, but it actually achieves some of the symphonic dignity (and cross-referencing) that The Dark Side of the Moon simulated so ponderously."
Animals was the child of another Waters concept; loosely based on George Orwell's political fable Animal Farm, its lyrics described various classes of society as dogs, pigs, and sheep. Brian Humphries was again brought in to engineer the album, which was completed in December 1976. which grew in popularity as a nihilistic statement against the prevailing social and political conditions, and also a reaction to the general complacency and nostalgia that appeared to surround rock music. Pink Floyd was an obvious target for punk musicians, notably Johnny Rotten, who wore a Pink Floyd t-shirt on which the words "I hate" had been written in ink. Drummer Nick Mason later stated that he welcomed the "Punk Rock insurrection" and viewed it as a welcome return to the underground scene from which Pink Floyd had grown. In 1977 he produced The Damned's second album at Britannia Row. Hipgnosis took credit for the packaging but the final concept was designed by Waters, who chose an image of the ageing Battersea Power Station. The band commissioned a pig-shaped balloon, and photography began on 2 December. Inclement weather delayed filming and the balloon broke free of its moorings in the winds. It disappeared into the sky, eventually landing in Kent where it was recovered by a local farmer, reportedly furious that it had "apparently scared his cows." Shooting resumed but a decision was made instead to superimpose the image of the pig onto the photograph of the power station.
The division of royalties became a sore topic during production of the album. Royalties were accorded on a per-song basis, and although Gilmour was largely responsible for "Dogs"—which took up almost the entire first side of the album—he received less than Waters, who also contributed the two-part "Pigs on the Wing", which contains references to Waters' romantic involvement with Carolyne Anne Christie.|group="nb"}} Gilmour was also distracted by the birth of his first child, and contributed little else toward the album. Similarly, neither Mason nor Wright contributed much toward Animals (the first Pink Floyd album not to contain a writing credit for Wright); Wright had marital problems, and his relationship with Waters was also suffering: Wright recalled the recording of Animals:
Animals was a slog. It wasn't a fun record to make, but this was when Roger really started to believe that he was the sole writer for the band. He believed that it was only because of him that the band was still going, and obviously, when he started to develop his ego trips, the person he would have his conflicts with would be me.
The album was released on 23 January 1977, and Melody Maker's Karl Dallas wrote "... [an] uncomfortable taste of reality in a medium that has become in recent years, increasingly soporific ..." Waters began arriving at each venue alone, and departing immediately after the performance was complete, and Gilmour's wife Ginger did not get along with Waters' new girlfriend. On one occasion, Wright flew back to England threatening to leave the band. At one location, a small group of noisy and excited fans in the front row of the audience irritated Waters so much that he spat at one of them. Waters was not the only person who felt depressed about playing in such large venues, as that same night Gilmour refused to perform the band's usual twelve-bar blues encore. The end of the tour was a low point for Gilmour, who felt that the band had by then achieved the success they sought, and that there was nothing else to look forward to.
In the midst of this, in July 1977, Waters presented the band with two new ideas. The first was a 90-minute demo given the provisional title Bricks in the Wall, and the other would later become Waters' first solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking. Although both Mason and Gilmour were initially cautious, the former (inspired by the recent spitting incident) was chosen to be their next album. Bob Ezrin was brought in as co-producer, and he wrote a forty-page script for the new album. The story was based on the central character of Pink—a character inspired by Waters's childhood experiences—the most notable of which was the death of his father in World War II. This first 'brick in the wall' led to more problems, and Pink would become so drug-addled and worn down by the music industry that he would transform into a megalomaniac, a development inspired partly by the decline of Syd Barrett. At the end of the album, the increasingly fascist audience would watch as Pink "tore down the wall", once again becoming a normal caring person.
To record The Wall, engineer Brian Humphries, emotionally drained by his five years with the band, was replaced by James Guthrie. In March 1979, however, the band's critical financial situation demanded that they leave the UK for a year or more, and recording was moved to the Super Bear Studios near Nice. The band were rarely in the studio together, but Waters' relationship with Wright broke down completely. Wright was given a trial period as a producer, but his working methods and lack of creative input caused considerable tension. Wright eventually stopped coming into the studio during the day, and worked only at nights. With a failing marriage and depression, he had his own problems, but matters came to a head when Columbia offered the band a better deal in exchange for a Christmas release of the album. Waters increased their workload accordingly, but Wright refused to cut short his family holiday in Rhodes, stating, "The rest of the band's children were young enough to stay with them in France but mine were older and had to go to school. I was missing my children terribly." In Inside Out (2005), Mason says that Waters called O'Rourke, who was travelling to the US on the QE2, and told him to have Wright out of the band by the time Waters arrived in LA to mix the album. In Comfortably Numb (2008), however, the author states that Waters called O'Rourke and asked him to tell Wright about the new recording arrangements and that Wright's response was apparently "Tell Roger to fuck off." Wright disagreed with this recollection, stating that the band had agreed to record only through the spring and early summer and that he had no idea they were so far behind schedule. Waters was stunned and felt that Wright was not doing enough to help complete the album. Gilmour was on holiday in Dublin when he learned what was happening, and tried to calm the situation. He later spoke with Wright and gave him his support, but he reminded him about his lack of input on the album. Waters was insisting that Wright leave, or else he would refuse to release The Wall. Several days later, worried about their financial situation and the failing interpersonal relationships within the band, Wright quit. Rumours persisted that Wright had a cocaine addiction (something he always disputed), and although his name did not appear anywhere on the finished album, he was employed as a paid musician on the band's subsequent The Wall tour. Production of the album continued and by August 1979 the running order was largely complete. Wright completed his duties, aided by session musicians. Toward the end of The Wall sessions, Mason left the final mix to Waters, Gilmour, Ezrin, and Guthrie, and travelled to New York to record his début solo album, Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports.
The album was promoted by a rare Pink Floyd single—"Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)"—which topped the charts in the US and the UK. A National Endowment for the Arts and RIAA poll named "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" one of the 365 Songs of the Century in 2001. The Wall was released on 30 November 1979, and topped the Billboard charts for fifteen weeks. The Wall ranks #4 all time on RIAA's list of the Top 100 albums, with 23 million certified units sold in the US alone. It remains one of the band's best-selling albums. The cover is one of their most minimalist designs, with a simple white brick wall, and no logo or band name. It was also their first album cover since The Piper at the Gates of Dawn not designed by Hipgnosis.
The band went on tour with an elaborate stage show. Gerald Scarfe was employed to produce a series of animations for the subsequent The Wall Tour, including a series of nightmarish visions of the future such as a dove of peace exploding to reveal an eagle. Large inflatable puppets were also created for the live shows. On tour, relationships within the band were at an all-time low. Their four Winnebagos were parked in a circle, with the doors facing away from the centre. Waters used his own vehicle to arrive at the venue, and stayed in separate hotels from the rest of the band. Wright returned as a paid musician, and was the only 'member' of the band to profit from the venture, which lost about $600,000.
The Wall concept also spawned a film. The original plan was to be a mixture of live concert footage and animated scenes. However, the concert footage proved impractical to film. Alan Parker agreed to direct, and took a different approach. The animated sequences would remain, but scenes would be acted by professional actors, with no dialogue. Waters was screen-tested but quickly discarded, and Bob Geldof was asked to take the role of Pink. Geldof was initially disdainful, condemning The Wall's storyline as "bollocks". He was eventually won over by the prospect of being involved in a major film and receiving a large payment for his work. Waters took a six-week holiday during filming and returned to find that Parker had used his creative license to change parts of the film to his liking. Waters was irate, the two fought, and Parker threatened to walk out. Gilmour pleaded with Waters to reconsider his stance, reminding the bassist that he and the other band members were shareholders and directors and could out-vote him on such decisions. A modified soundtrack was also created for some of the film's songs. The Wall was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1982, released in the UK in July 1982, and released internationally through the rest of 1982.
After Waters declared Pink Floyd "a spent force", he contacted O'Rourke to discuss settling future royalty payments. O'Rourke felt obliged to inform Mason and Gilmour, and as a result Waters was angered and wanted to dismiss him as the band's manager. Waters then went to the High Court to prevent the Pink Floyd name from ever being used again.
Waters wrote to EMI and Columbia, declared his intention to leave the group, and asked them to release him from his contractual obligations. Gilmour believed that Waters left to hasten the demise of Pink Floyd. Waters later stated that by not making new albums, Pink Floyd would be in breach of contract—which would mean that royalty payments would be suspended—and that he was effectively forced from the band as the other members threatened to sue him. With the case still pending, Waters dismissed O'Rourke and employed Peter Rudge to manage his affairs. as well as a second solo album, Radio K.A.O.S..
The album was released in September 1987. Storm Thorgerson, whose creative input was absent from The Wall and The Final Cut, was employed to design the cover. In order to drive home the message that Waters had left the band, a group photograph was — for the first time since Meddle — included on the inside of the cover. The album went straight to number three in the United Kingdom and United States—held from the top spot by Michael Jackson's Bad, and Whitesnake's eponymous album. Although Gilmour initially viewed the album as a return to the band's best form, Wright would later disagree, stating "Roger's criticisms are fair. It's not a band album at all." Q Magazine's view was that the album was primarily a Gilmour solo effort. Waters said, "I think it's very facile, but a quite clever forgery ... The songs are poor in general; the lyrics I can't quite believe. Gilmour's lyrics are very third-rate."
The associated tour had a rocky start. Waters tried to block a proposed Pink Floyd tour, by contacting every promoter in the US, threatening to sue if they used the Pink Floyd name. Gilmour and Mason funded the startup costs (Mason, separated from his wife, used his Ferrari 250 GTO as collateral). Some promoters were offended by Waters's threat, and several months later, tickets went on sale in Toronto and were sold out within hours. Early rehearsals for the upcoming tour were chaotic, with Mason and Wright completely out of practice; realising he'd taken on too much work, Gilmour asked Bob Ezrin to take charge. As the new band toured throughout North America, Waters' Radio K.A.O.S. tour was, on occasion, close by. The bassist had banned any members of Pink Floyd from attending his concerts,|group="nb"}} which were generally in smaller venues than those housing his former band's performances. Waters issued a writ for copyright fees for the band's use of the flying pig, and Pink Floyd responded by attaching a huge set of male genitalia to its underside to distinguish it from his design.
However, by November 1987 Waters appeared to admit defeat, and on 23 December a legal settlement was finally reached. Mason and Gilmour were allowed use of the Pink Floyd name in perpetuity, and Waters would be granted, amongst other things, The Wall. The bickering continued, however, with Waters issuing the occasional slight against his former friends, and Gilmour and Mason responding by making light of Waters's claims that they would fail without him. The Sun printed a story about Waters, whom it claimed had paid an artist to create 150 toilet rolls with Gilmour's face on every sheet; Waters denied the story, but joked that he thought it was a good idea.
The tour ended on 29 October and apart from a one-off reunion in 2005 during Live 8, and their performances of "Fat Old Sun" and "The Great Gig in the Sky" at the funeral of their manager Steve O'Rourke (who died on 30 October 2003), was the group's final appearance. A live album of the tour, Pulse, and a concert video, also called Pulse, were released in 1995.
On Saturday 2 July 2005 at the Live 8 concert, the classic lineup of Pink Floyd performed together on stage for the first time in over 24 years. The reunion had been arranged by Live 8 organiser Bob Geldof, who had called Mason earlier in the year to discuss the band reuniting for Live 8. Geldof had already asked Gilmour, who had turned down the offer, and asked Mason to intercede on his behalf. Mason declined, but contacted Waters, who was immediately enthusiastic. Waters then called Geldof to discuss the event, which was at that time only a month away. About two weeks later, Waters called Gilmour—their first conversation for about two years—and the next day the latter agreed. Wright was contacted, and immediately agreed. Statements were issued to the press which stressed the unimportance of the band's problems, compared to the context of the Live 8 event. The setlist was planned at the Connaught Hotel in London, followed by three days of rehearsals at Black Island Studios. The sessions were troublesome, with minor disagreements over the style and pace of the songs they were practising. Waters wanted to use the occasion to expand the concepts he had designed, whereas Gilmour wanted to perform the songs in exactly the way the audience would expect. The final setlist and running order was decided on the eve of the concert. Gilmour and Waters shared lead vocals. On stage, at the start of "Wish You Were Here," Waters told the audience: "It's actually quite emotional, standing up here with these three guys after all these years, standing to be counted with the rest of you. Anyway, we're doing this for everyone who's not here, and particularly of course for Syd." At the end of their performance Gilmour thanked the audience, and started to walk off the stage, but Waters called him back and the band shared a group hug. Images of that hug were a favourite among Sunday newspapers after Live 8. Two years after their one-off reunion Waters remarked, "I don't think any of us came out of the years from 1985 with any credit ... It was a bad, negative time. And I regret my part in that negativity." In the week following their performance there was a revival of interest in Pink Floyd. According to HMV, in the week following sales of Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd rose by 1343 per cent, while Amazon.com reported a significant increase in sales of The Wall. Gilmour subsequently declared that he would donate his share of profits from this sales boom to charity, and urged other artists and record companies profiting from Live 8 to do the same.
After the show Gilmour confirmed that he and Waters were on "pretty amicable terms". The band turned down a £136 million (then about $250 million) deal for a final tour. Waters did not rule out further performances, but only for a special occasion. In a 2006 interview with La Repubblica, Gilmour stated that he wished to focus on solo projects, and his family, and that his appearance at Live 8 was to help reconcile his differences with Waters. In a 2006 interview, Mason stated that Pink Floyd would be willing to perform for a concert that would support peace between Israel and Palestine. Speaking of Pink Floyd's future, in 2006, Gilmour stated "who knows". David Gilmour released his third solo record, On an Island, on 6 March 2006—his 60th birthday. He began a tour of small concert venues in Europe, Canada and the US, with contributions from Wright and other musicians from the post-Waters Pink Floyd tours. Mason joined Gilmour and Wright for the final night of the tour, and played on selected dates on Waters' 2006 Europe/U.S. tour. Gilmour, Wright, and Mason's encore performances of "Wish You Were Here" and "Comfortably Numb" marked the first performance by Pink Floyd since Live 8.
Syd Barrett died on 7 July 2006, aged 60, at his home in Cambridgeshire. He was interred at Cambridge Crematorium on 18 July 2006. No Pink Floyd members attended. After Barrett's death Wright said, "The band are very naturally upset and sad to hear of Syd Barrett's death. Syd was the guiding light of the early band line-up and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire." He left over £1.25M in his will, to be divided among his immediate family, and some of his possessions and artwork were auctioned.
In September 2005 Waters released Ça Ira, an opera in three acts to a French libretto, based on the historical subject of the French Revolution. Reviews were complimentary. Rolling Stone wrote "the opera does reflect some of the man's long-term obsessions with war and peace, love and loss". 2007 saw the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd's signing to EMI, and the 40th anniversary of the release of their début album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. 2007 saw the release of Oh, by the Way, a limited edition box set containing all of their studio albums.
On 10 May 2007 Waters and Pink Floyd performed separately at the Syd Barrett tribute concert at the Barbican Centre in London. The band performed some of Barrett's hits, such as "Bike" and "Arnold Layne" at the event, which was organised by Joe Boyd and Nick Laird-Clowes. In a January 2007 interview Waters suggested he had become more open to a Pink Floyd reunion: “I would have no problem if the rest of them wanted to get together. It wouldn’t even have to be to save the world. It could be just because it would be fun. And people would love it.” Later that year Gilmour stated: "I can’t see why I would want to be going back to that old thing. It’s very retrogressive. I want to look forward, and looking back isn’t my joy." In a May 2008 interview for BBC 6Music, David Gilmour hinted that he would be in favour of another one-off show, but ruled out a full tour. Speaking to Associated Press to promote the release of his new live album, David Gilmour stated that a reunion would not happen. Gilmour said: "The rehearsals were less enjoyable. The rehearsals convinced me it wasn't something I wanted to be doing a lot of ... There have been all sorts of farewell moments in people's lives and careers which they have then rescinded, but I think I can fairly categorically say that there won't be a tour or an album again that I take part in. It isn't to do with animosity or anything like that. It's just that I've done that. I've been there, I've done it."
Richard Wright died of cancer, on 15 September 2008, aged 65. He was praised by his surviving bandmates for his influence on the overall sound of Pink Floyd.
On 10 July 2010, Roger Waters and David Gilmour performed together at a charity event for the Hoping Foundation. The event took place at Kidlington in Oxfordshire, England. The pair played to an audience of approximately 200. The event raised money for Palestinian children in order to give them a better life. Gilmour played this event in 2009, when he performed alongside Kate Moss. In return for Waters' appearance at the event, Gilmour has agreed to perform "Comfortably Numb" at one of Waters' upcoming performances of The Wall.
On 4 January 2011, Pink Floyd signed a five year record deal with EMI.
Pink Floyd have sold in excess of 200 million albums worldwide, including 74.5 million certified units in the United States of which 35.8 million albums since 1991.
The Sunday Times Rich List 2009 ranks Waters at No. 657 with an estimated wealth of £85m, Gilmour at No. 742 with £78m, and Mason at No. 1077 with £50m.
Numerous artists have been influenced by Pink Floyd's work. David Bowie has called Syd Barrett a major inspiration. A teenage The Edge (of U2 fame) bought his first delay pedal after hearing the opening to Animals, and the Pet Shop Boys paid homage to The Wall during a performance in Boston. Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery has cited Wish You Were Here as a major inspiration.
Pink Floyd have been nominated for and won multiple awards. Technical awards include a "Best Engineered Non-Classical Album" Grammy in 1980 for The Wall and BAFTAs for 'Best Original Song' (awarded to Waters) and 'Best Sound' (awarded to James Guthrie, Eddy Joseph, Clive Winter, Graham Hartstone & Nicholas Le Messurier) in 1982 for the film. A Grammy came to them in 1995 for "Rock Instrumental Performance" on "Marooned". In 2008 Pink Floyd were awarded the Polar Music Prize for their contribution to contemporary music; Waters and Mason accepted the prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 17 January 1996 and the UK Music Hall of Fame on 16 November 2005.
Although Pink Floyd were experienced live performers, the behaviour of the audience on their In the Flesh tour, and the sizes of the venues they played, were a powerful influence on their concept album, The Wall. The subsequent The Wall Tour featured a high wall, built from cardboard bricks, constructed between the band and the audience. Animations were projected onto the wall, and gaps allowed the audience to view various scenes in the story. Several characters from the story were realised as giant inflatables. One of the more notable elements of the tour was the performance of "Comfortably Numb". While Waters sang his opening verse, Gilmour waited in darkness, for his cue, on top of the wall. When it came, bright blue and white lights would suddenly illuminate him. Gilmour stood on a flight case on castors, a dangerous set-up supported from behind by a technician, both supported by a tall hydraulic platform.
In 1987 Pink Floyd embarked on their A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour. Starting in Ottawa on 9 September they spent about two years touring the US, Japan, Europe, and Central Asia. In Venice, the band played to an audience of 200,000 fans at the Piazza San Marco. The resulting storm of protest over the city's lack of toilet provision, first aid, and accommodation, resulted in the resignation of Mayor Antonio Casellati and his government. At the end of the tour Pink Floyd released Delicate Sound of Thunder, and in 1989 release the Delicate Sound of Thunder concert video.
During the band's Division Bell tour, an unidentified person using the name Publius posted a message on an internet newsgroup, inviting fans to solve a riddle supposedly concealed in the new album. The veracity of the user was demonstrated when white lights in front of the stage at the Pink Floyd concert in East Rutherford spelled out the words Enigma Publius. During a televised concert at Earls Court in October 1994, the word enigma was projected in large letters on to the backdrop of the stage. Mason later acknowledged that the Publius Enigma did exist, and that it had been instigated by the record company rather than the band. As of the puzzle remains unsolved.
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