“I doubt that”: the band Roger Waters thought reunited only for money
The biggest names in music don’t always have a tendency to forgive and forget. Being with the same people night after night on tour can get gruelling, and when the tensions are already running high in the studio, there comes a moment where people either push buttons one too many times or say the one thing that they’re never going to be able to take back. Although Roger Waters has been able to put on a happy face when working with Pink Floyd on a handful of occasions, he knew that any chance of them getting back together was never going to happen.
Which is a shame, considering everything that they created together. The four musicians behind albums like Dark Side of the Moon and Animals had that kind of unbreakable symmetry that comes only a few times every generation, and by the time Richard Wright passed away in the 2000s, many people were looking at Live 8 as one of the final times where each of them could have been happy onstage.
But Waters knew that the only reason why they were reuniting was for a good cause. After all, the tensions were still far too high in the band for them to reunite for the original Live Aid, and no matter how many times Waters teased about getting the rest of the band together for recreations of The Wall, it was clear that David Gilmour wanted to work on his own music rather than cower to what his bandmate wanted.
Granted, it all comes down to songs when looking at the biggest names in music. Regardless of how much brotherly love might be behind everything, it all comes down to the people who have their names in the songwriting credits, and that was half the reason why Waters’ friend Don Henley eventually had to cut ties with members of the Eagles.
“In the case of the Eagles, I doubt that ‘hell froze over’ because of a huge outpouring of brotherly love.”
Roger Waters
As much as Waters owed Henley a debt for encouraging him to go back on tour, it was going to take a lot for any of the country rockers to entertain the idea of playing together again. Their last show together in 1981 was already shrouded in controversy, so their ability to keep that in the past and move on was the optimal solution. It all looked nice for the cameras, but Waters saw through that facade in no time.
The fans were certainly satisfied in hearing ‘Take It Easy’ again, but Waters felt that Henley’s reunion with them was simply a cash grab, saying, “In the case of the Eagles, I doubt that ‘hell froze over’ because of a huge outpouring of brotherly love – I suppose cash had something to do with it.” While they were still united onstage, Waters wasn’t that far off the mark when it came to Henley and Glenn Frey arguing over royalties.
Looking back on how they treated Don Felder during the reunion, it was clear that the songwriting duo had had enough of cowering to what the rest of the band wanted, usually reaching an agreement where they would make more money every night that the group played. It may have stung when Felder was asked to leave, but it did make sense since Frey and Henley have kept the band’s name alive during their solo years.
But for Waters, it was never a case of whether or not the money was rolling in when he decided to rejoin Pink Floyd for that one date. He always sought to do something creatively satisfying, and he was not about to sit onstage and play cuts from The Division Bell if he had things his way.
