The Wall

This article covers the music album. For additional meanings, see The Wall (disambiguation) .

The Wall
Pink Floyd studio album
Publication (s)	November 30, 1979
Label (s)	originally: Harvest Records (Europe) Columbia Records (USA) New editions: EMI (Europe) Capitol Records (USA)
Format (s)	CD, LP
Genre (s)	Art rock
Title (number)	26th
running time	80 min 54 sec
occupation	David Gilmour - guitar, vocals Nick Mason - drums, percussion Roger Waters - bass, vocals Richard Wright - keyboard, vocals
production	Bob Ezrin , David Gilmour and Roger Waters
Studio (s)	Super Bear Studios - Miravel, France Britannia Recording Studios, Islington CBS 30th Street Studio - New York Producers Workshop - Los Angeles
chronology Animals (1977) The Wall The Final Cut (1983)

The Wall Film logo

The Wall is a concept album by British rock band Pink Floyd . It was released in the UK on November 30, 1979. The Wall represented a new direction of the band's music after the previous albums Wish You Were Here and Animals . At the same time, it is the band's last studio album to be recorded in the "classic" lineup, which has existed since 1968, since Richard Wright after the Recordings was induced to leave the band.

content

The Wall tells the story of Pink , a young, successful musician who, due to the overprotection of his mother ( Mother ), the absence of his father who died in the war ( Another Brick in the Wall Part I , When the Tigers Broke Free ), Love affairs ( Young Lust ), the fact of being betrayed and abandoned by his wife ( Young Lust , Don't Leave Me Now ) and the cruelty of teachers in childhood ( The Happiest Days of Our Lives , Another Brick in the Wall Part II ) built an imaginary wall around him to protect him from external emotional influences and further injuries. After building the wall, however, the young man despairs of his existence because he is largely shielded from social contacts by it ( Hey You ).

Unable to tear down the wall, the protagonist says goodbye to the world that is cruel for him ( Goodbye Cruel World ). However, instead of killing himself, he tries to suppress the last remaining feelings and withdraws into himself. Pink is now a drug addict, apathetic and spends most of her time lonely in front of the television ( Nobody Home ). When he is being sedated by a doctor ( Comfortably Numb ) for a performance , his drug fantasies get out of hand: At first he develops paranoia ( Run Like Hell ), and then in his imaginations he becomes a totalitarian agitator who, in his anger at the World against minorities incites ( Waiting for the Worms , In the Flesh ).

At the end of his madness, Pink is no longer able to suppress all emotions and accuses himself of having shown feelings before an imaginary court ( stop ). The court receives the testimony of the teacher, ex-wife and mother and convicts the accused: As a punishment he is to be displayed in front of his own kind - the wall will be torn down ( The Trial ). The vulnerable Pink has now been released and a new life seems possible ( Outside the Wall ) - but the last melody breaks off at the exact point with which the album began: So maybe Pink's ordeal will simply start all over again.

background

At the last concert of the promotional tour for the album Animals , Waters was so angry about the behavior of a fan in the front row that he spat in his face. Horrified by his own emotions, Waters began work on a concept album about his sense of isolation from his audience and the potential barriers between people. The result is The Wall . From the beginning he also planned not only an album, but also a theatrical concert and a film.

The person of the father, who died as a soldier, has autobiographical traits, since Roger Waters ' father Eric Fletcher Waters was killed in the Second World War . Especially in the play When the Tigers Broke Free Waters deals with the loss of his own father, who was killed as a soldier of the "Royal Fusiliers Company C" on February 16, 1944 while defending a bridgehead in Anzio (Italy) as a German Tiger- type battle tank breached the Allied positions. However, this title is not included on the album. Waters wrote it especially for a corresponding scene in the later film.

The piece Vera is an allusion to Vera Lynn , a singer who was known during the Second World War for her songs, which were especially popular with British soldiers. In this piece, Pink Floyd refers to Lynn's 1942 song We'll Meet Again .

Commercial win

By the end of 1984 the number of sales was over 30 million. The Wall is the world's best-selling double album and was also the world's best-selling album for several years until it was surpassed by Michael Jackson's Thriller .

concert

The first performance of the concert tour took place on February 7, 1980 in Los Angeles. Due to the complex and expensive stage construction, The Wall was only performed several evenings in a row at four locations in 1980 and 1981: 7 times in Los Angeles , 5 times in Uniondale (New York) , 11 times in London and 8 -time in Dortmund .

During the first half of the concert, a wall made of square-shaped cardboard blocks was gradually built across the stage. With every further song new stones were added, so that it was closed with the last note of the last song ( Goodbye Cruel World ). There was then a 30-minute break.

In the second half of the concert, Pink Floyd played backstage, while a masked “backup band” played in front ( Andy Bown , Snowy White , Willie Wilson and Peter Woods). In the play In The Flesh , the protagonist of this replacement band propagates his fascist determination in a speech. At the premiere, viewers were randomly selected for certain text passages and illuminated with a spotlight, for example “Are there any queers in the theater tonight?” (“Are there any gays in this hall tonight?”) Or “This one looks Jewish , and this one's a coon! ”(“ This one looks Jewish, and this one is a negro! ”), finally commented with“ If I had my way, I'd have all of you shot! ”(“ Wenn es if I went - I would have you all shot! ”). At the end of his speech, banners with crossed hammers in black, white and red fell from the walls. Especially before Run like Hell , Waters aka Pink used to abuse the audience: “Are there any paranoids in the audience tonight? Is there anyone who worries about things? Pathetic! This is for all you weak people in the audience! "(" Are there paranoid people in the audience today? Are there people who are worried? How pathetic! This is a whole bunch of weak people in the audience for you! ")

At Run like Hell , Pink Floyd stepped in front of the wall and played with the "replacement band". Otherwise , individual band members could only be seen in individual scenes in the second half of the shows, such as the hotel room scene in which Roger Waters sits in front of the television as Pink . And David Gilmour was z. B. in one of his guitar solos ( Comfortably Numb ) lifted to the height of the wall by means of a lifting platform so that he could be seen by the audience. In the course of the concert, animation scenes were projected onto the wall several times . In the end, this wall was destroyed (with the sound of a huge explosion) and collapsed; behind it the Pink Floyd musicians became visible again. The band's final song "unplugged" followed, completely without any electronically supported music.

The gigantic marionettes that were seen as Pink's mother, teacher and friend during the show were also spectacular .

Movie

→ Main article : Pink Floyd - The Wall

In 1982 the album was filmed by Alan Parker and Gerald Scarfe with the musician Bob Geldof in the lead role. The film includes a new song (When the Tigers Broke Free) and new recordings of older songs such as Mother and Empty Spaces .

The film The Wall is composed of real film and animated sequences by Scarfe. In the cartoon parts, the wall in particular is visualized, they serve to depict Pink's inner workings.

Performance in Berlin 1990

Around 300,000 spectators gathered on the former death strip between the Brandenburg Gate and Leipziger Platz

In the spotlight also graffiti, as was typical for the Berlin Wall

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, The Wall was performed again on July 21, 1990 at Potsdamer Platz . The concert was directed by Roger Waters , who owns the rights to The Wall . All contributors (including Paul Carrack , Cyndi Lauper , Sinéad O'Connor , Joni Mitchell , Jerry Hall , Bryan Adams , The Hooters , Scorpions , Van Morrison , Ute Lemper ) waived the fee. The proceeds of six million DM were donated to the World War Memorial Fund for Disaster Relief .

Some of the songs were interpreted differently than on the album. Some arrangements were very elaborate, so to the helicopter effects that can be heard on the album, real helicopters circled sideways above the audience. The finale was The Tide Is Turning, a song that Waters previously released on the studio album Radio KAOS (1987). The song is not featured on The Wall .

Around 200,000 tickets were sold for this concert, but immediately before the concert the gates were opened for security reasons, because many more people without tickets crowded onto the festival site. During the concert, problems with the power supply led to the temporary failure of a large part of the sound system. At seven megawatts, the sound system was the largest that had ever been built for a single concert. To date, The Wall is the only concert that has taken place in two countries at the same time through the venue on the inner-German border with a stage.

Further performances and publications

Individual songs from the production could also be heard on the following Pink Floyd tours and the worldwide concerts of Roger Waters and David Gilmour . From 2010 to 2013 Waters brought The Wall back on stage in full length for the first time since 1990. The tour started on September 15, 2010 in Toronto , then crossed the USA and concluded the North America part of the tour on December 21 in Mexico City . The tour came to Europe on March 21, 2011, starting in Lisbon and ending on July 12 in Athens . In 2012 further performances followed in Oceania , South and North America again. In the summer of 2013, a stadium tour in Europe formed the end. Waters had previously indicated that this could be his last big project. A total of 219 concerts were played in 33 countries and over 4.1 million viewers were reached; the concerts were largely sold out.

On September 6, 2013 Roger Waters celebrated his 70th birthday with a concert in the Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf as part of his The Wall tour with almost 34,000 spectators. The Jewish community of Düsseldorf had previously called for a boycott of the concert, as a huge inflatable pig was supposed to fly through the hall during the show, on which a number of other symbols, such as B. the crucifix , hammer and sickle or company logos also a star of David could be seen. Waters pointed out on his website that he was neither an anti-Semite , nor was the pig anti-Semitic. The Star of David should be seen as a protest against Israeli foreign policy, which Waters has openly attacked for years. The inflatable pig, a recurring element in Waters' shows, symbolizes "the evil of a misguided state". At the end of each concert, it would be given to the fans as a gift, who would do the right thing every time: destroy it, as happened on September 6, 2013 in the south stand.

The magnum opus of Waters and Pink Floyd is now the work of rock history, from the most academic papers have been written. These range from musicology and sociology to English and theology . Other official publications:

• The Wall (DVD of the 1982 film)
• Is There Anybody Out There? - The Wall Live 1980–1981 (double CD)
• Roger Waters - The Wall: Live In Berlin (Double CD)
• Roger Waters - The Wall: Live In Berlin (DVD of the concert including 5.1-channel surround sound , also available as a special edition with DTS 5.1 sound)

According to the title list, all pieces were published in the form of a piano reduction . The cover has the same design as the record cover ; In addition to the sheet music, there are artistic representations of the stage show, lyrics and photographs of the band. Guitar tablatures are given above the piano notes .

title

LP 1 (page 1: tracks 1 to 6, page 2: tracks 7 to 13) CD 1 In the Flesh? (Waters) - 3:18 min The Thin Ice (Waters) - 2:28 min Another Brick in the Wall (Part One) (Waters) - 3:21 min The Happiest Days of Our Lives (Waters) - 1:46 min Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two) (Waters) - 3:56 min Mother (Waters) - 5:32 min Goodbye Blue Sky (Waters) - 2:48 min Empty Spaces (Waters) - 2:06 min Young Lust (Waters / Gilmour) - 3:29 min One of My Turns (Waters) - 3:37 min Don't Leave Me Now (Waters) - 4:22 min Another Brick in the Wall (Part Three) (Waters) - 1:17 min Goodbye Cruel World (Waters) - 1:05 min

LP 2 (page 1: tracks 1 to 6, page 2: tracks 7 to 13) CD 2 Hey You (Waters) - 4:41 min Is There Anybody Out There (Waters) - 2:40 min Nobody Home (Waters) - 3:25 min Vera (Waters) - 1:39 min Bring the Boys Back Home (Waters) - 1:21 min Comfortably Numb (Waters / Gilmour) - 6:49 min The Show Must Go On (Waters) - 1:37 min In the Flesh (Waters) - 4:17 min Run Like Hell (Waters / Gilmour) - 4:23 min Waiting for the Worms (Waters) - 3:56 min Stop (Waters) - 0:32 min The Trial (Waters / Ezrin) - 5:18 min Outside the Wall (Waters) - 1:42 min

Sales figures and awards

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Argentina (CAPIF)	platinum	60,000
Australia (ARIA)	11 × platinum	550,000
Brazil (PMB)	platinum	125,000
Germany (BVMI)	4 × platinum	2,000,000
France (SNEP)	diamond	1,000,000
Hong Kong (IFPI / HKRIA)	platinum	20,000
Italy (FIMI)	4 × platinum	400,000
Canada (MC)	2 × diamond	2,000,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	14 × platinum	210,000
Netherlands (NVPI)	Platinum (EMI Records Holland BV) + Gold (Sony BMG Music Entertainment)	135,000
Poland (ZPAV)	platinum	100,000
Switzerland (IFPI)	2 × platinum	100,000
Spain (Promusicae)	platinum	100,000
United States (RIAA)	23 × platinum	23,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	2 × platinum	600,000
All in all	1 × gold 46 × platinum 5 × diamond	30,720,000

Main article: Pink Floyd / Music Sales Awards

Others

After The Dark Side of the Moon , it is the band's most commercially successful work. The piece Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) became world famous as a single and music video, and Comfortably Numb developed with its famous guitar solo to climax almost all subsequent concerts of the band. The design of the album cover and the animations for the film are from Gerald Scarfe .

The original double LP included a sticker with Gerald Scarfe's signature, which can also be stuck on the cover. Therefore, today you can find original plates both with and without this lettering on the cover.

• 

  Front of the original double LP with unused lettering sticker

• 

  Inside of the opened double LP

See also

• List of the best-selling music albums certified by BVMI in Germany

literature

• Gerald Scarfe: The Making of Pink Floyd: The Wall. Edel Germany, 2011, ISBN 978-3-8419-0061-6 .
• Marlies Bayha: Pink Floyd's “The Wall” - a settlement with pop culture? Grin Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-638-82051-6 .
• Jeff Bench, Daniel O'Brien: Pink Floyd's The wall: in the studio, on stage and on screen. Reynolds & Hearn, 2004, ISBN 1-903111-82-X .
• Holden Hartsoe: The Unauthorized Guide to Pink Floyd's the Wall. BiblioBazaar, 2011, ISBN 978-1-241-16869-8 .
• David Fricke: Roger Waters: Welcome to My Nightmare… Behind The Wall. In: Mojo Magazine. (London: Emap Metro), 193, 2009, pp. 68-84.
• Brian Hiatt: Back to The Wall. In: Rolling Stone . Volume 1114, 2010, pp. 50-57.

Web links

• Pink Floyd The Wall at the Internet Movie Database (English)
• A Complete Analysis of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" very detailed interpretation of "The Wall" (Engl.)
• "The Wall" from "Brother Franziskus presents PINK FLOYD" English texts and German translation of the songs and lots of background information
• Reviews of The Wall on the baby blue pages

Individual evidence

1. ^ Allmusic , accessed March 15, 2013.
2. ↑ Pink Floyd pupils sue for royalties ( Memento from January 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ last.fm
4. ^ Andy Mabbett: Pink Floyd - Story and Songs compact. Bosworth Music GmbH, Berlin 2004, p. 68.
5. ^ Wieland Harms: The Unplugged Guitar Book. 20 of the most beautiful songs for acoustic guitar. Gerig Music, ISBN 3-87252-249-3 , p. 34.
6. ^ On this day in entertainment. In: metro.co.uk. November 30, 2006, accessed June 21, 2015 . 
7. ↑ Rose Troup Buchanan: The dark side of The Wall. In: independent.co.uk. November 29, 2004, accessed June 21, 2015 . 
8. ^ Magazine Guitarist and Bass. accessed on August 12, 2009 (PDF; 4.4 MB)
9. ↑ Kevin Whitlock, Record Collector , accessed August 12, 2009.
10. ↑ Jerry Sommer: Disarmament: Rockets to Ballpoint Pens. In: The time . March 16, 1990.
11. ↑ Pop That too! In: Der Spiegel . July 9, 1990.
12. ↑ Tour Dates. ( Memento from February 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
13. ↑ Accusation of anti-Semitism: Jewish community calls for boycott of Roger Waters. In: Spiegel Online . August 29, 2013, accessed June 21, 2015 . 
14. ↑ Ben J .: Dispute over the Star of David: Roger Waters and his scandal pig. In: stuttgarter-nachrichten.de. Retrieved June 21, 2015 . 
15. ↑ Pink Floyd: The Wall. Music Sales, 1998, ISBN 0-7119-1986-0 .