“Macho bullshit”: The song Roger Waters wrote to attack Sylvester Stallone
Since embarking on a solo career, Roger Waters has become well-known for his politically charged lyrics and social activism. Although those themes were always close to the surface in his work with Pink Floyd, they truly came to the fore in his 1987 solo album Radio K.A.O.S. Specifically, Waters used the single ‘The Tide is Turning’ to criticise Hollywood’s glorification of violence – as well as Stallone’s perceived role in it.
Radio K.A.O.S came at the time of a creative crossroads for Waters. Having grown frustrated with Pink Floyd’s musical direction, he left the band in 1985. Radio K.A.O.S was his first record as a fully-fledged solo artist, and was another concept album in the vein of his work with Pink Floyd. It focused on themes of communication, isolation, the destructive potential of technology – yet there was also a more subtle critique of Hollywood’s portrayal of violence hidden away at the end of the record.
‘The Tide Is Turning’ is the closing song on Radio K.A.O.S. Its lyrics were written in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, an event that deeply affected Waters. The song puts into words Waters’ belief that in the aftermath of the Cold War, humanity could reject its violent past and embrace a new era of peace. It laments the world’s obsession with violence while also suggesting that the ‘tide’ is turning in favour of those seeking peace.
The recorded version only features one mention of Stallone – “the tide is turning, Sylvester” – because Waters was concerned about potential lawsuits from the Rocky star. But in live versions of the song, Waters also sang an extra verse containing a more opaque attack on the beefy thespian: “Now the past is over but you are not alone, together we’ll fight Sylvester Stallone, we will not be dragged down in his South China Sea of macho bullshit and mediocrity”.
So why was Stallone the target in this song? Well, at the time, he was one of the biggest film stars on the planet on the back of his Rocky and Rambo film franchises. But Waters disliked Stallone’s ultra-patriotic, anti-communist, violent character that he portrayed in both cinematic series. He clearly felt Stallone was the perfect distillation of Hollywood’s obsession with – and glorification of – violence. But really, Waters was ultimately criticising the way that Stallone’s characters embody the idea that violence is the solution to conflict. After the Cold War years and the horror of Chernobyl, this was an abhorrent thought to him.
For his part, Stallone never publicly responded to Waters’ barbs. It’s unclear whether he was even aware of the reference, given the subtle lyricals and the fact the direct attack on him was only ever performed live. Given that the song’s overarching theme is the hope that the tide is turning from war to peace, it’s possible this barbed attack was buried in the more optimistic message of the song.
Radio K.A.O.S marked the start of things to come for Waters, who would continue to turn the dial up on his political and social activism. Just a few years after the album’s release, Waters would stage one of the largest rock concerts in history: The Wall – Live in Berlin. Taking place on the vacant land between Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate where the Berlin Wall had once stood, it was the next chapter in Waters’ never-dull career. He has never been afraid to criticise, but Rocky has to be one of his more unlikely targets.
