The album David Gilmour wrote about his “frustration” with Pink Floyd
David Gilmour will forever be primarily associated with Pink Floyd, even though he’s been a solo artist for considerably longer than he spent with the pioneering band. Despite the magnificence of his work outside of the group, the cultural impact compared to Pink Floyd is minuscule, which even Gilmour would likely admit.
Since going alone for the first time with his eponymous debut in 1978, Gilmour has made three more solo albums, with his most recent release arriving in 2015. He’s never fully committed himself to life without the backing of a band, which seems to be his most comfortable surroundings. Gilmour has never revelled in being the centre of attention, preferring to let his music do the talking.
In a perfect world, if Gilmour had stayed true to his plans, he’d have never made any solo records, but due to growing tensions within Pink Floyd, he felt there was little choice. At the time, Roger Waters was asserting dominance on their creativity, but more agonisingly for Gilmour, every small decision was taking an age to make.
His first solo offering arrived after Pink Floyd’s 1977 album Animals. Before Pink Floyd could work on the LP, they spent a considerable part of 1975 overseeing the redevelopment of a three-storey building in Islington into a recording studio, where they eventually made the record.
Once it was finally completed, after five months of sessions, Gilmour felt compelled to prove himself out of the Pink Floyd mechanism and see if he had it within himself to thrive in the solo realm. However, the guitarist would never have developed this chip on his shoulder if he had been happier with the way things were going with the band.
During an interview with Mojo in 2015, Gilmour explained why he never envisioned a solo career, stating: “I don’t think I could have ever seen myself as a solo act. Maybe it was laziness, but that pithy, acerbic political stance taken by Dylan was never going to be my forte. I was a major Dylan fan, but I didn’t think I could do that myself. Again, I liked the idea of having that little support network… even if we might later rather laughingly call Pink Floyd a support network.”
Yet, in the same interview, Gilmour pointed out the moment when this changed and why he went solo. “That first solo album came out of my frustration at how drawn out things were becoming in Pink Floyd… before heading back into another Floyd album that took even longer [laughing] …The Wall,” he commented.
According to Gilmour, all of the “rows” between him and Waters during this time were related to music rather than personal disagreements. However, he also stated: “Roger’s dominance did become an issue. I don’t think he consciously wanted to do people down; he was just being himself. Sometimes, it’s hard to be sensitive to how much your characteristics can hurt other people.”
While Pink Floyd went on to create The Wall and The Final Cut after Gilmour shared his debut solo album, their demise had become inevitable. They were all no longer pulling in the same direction, which is critical for any group, leaving Gilmour in the uncomfortable position of sailing alone.
