Roger Waters: “Andrew Lloyd Webber sickens me”
Every piece in Pink Floyd’s catalogue was about expanding their artistic scope. After Syd Barrett departed, they could have continued as a quirky space rock band, but Roger Waters believed the best way forward was to analyse their pain and reflect on their place in the world compared to their contemporaries. This often involved a touch of melodrama. However, for Waters, Andrew Lloyd Webber represented the worst aspects of musical pageantry.
Granted, it’s not like Waters exactly knocked it out of the park whenever he was performing his classics. Although The Wall is by far one of the most grandiose rock albums released by any band, there are still a few moments on the project where things seem to drag, especially when he tries to play up the more stage-friendly aspects of the show.
In fact, Webber’s start in the public eye actually felt like a natural extension of what Waters had been doing. Before The Wall was even a fleshed-out idea, Jesus Christ Superstar was already one of the biggest works Webber ever made, taking the sounds of rock and roll and putting them in the context of the theatre.
Webber was far from the first to have this idea, though. Queen had already gotten into the theatrical side of rock and roll, and let’s not forget The Beatles paved the way for something different with their own takes on classical-style pieces in their later output.
When talking about the famous composer, Waters thought that everything he had done didn’t hold any water, saying, “Andrew Lloyd Webber sickens me. He’s in your face all the time, and what he does is nonsense. It has no value. It is shallow, derivative rubbish, all of it, and it makes me very gloomy…Phantom Of The Opera is absolutely fucking horrible from start to finish.”
But perhaps Waters has a bit more of a personal problem with Webber’s most famous work. If you listen to the major theme for The Phantom, it’s nearly identical to the descending chord figure that the band already made on their signature track, ‘Echoes’. If anything, Webber probably got to where he is by getting hit foot in the door with his Floyd plagiarism.
Waters was not going to necessarily be diplomatic about his hatred, either. In his solo song ‘Amused to Death’, Waters addressed his hatred by saying that Webber’s work was atrocious, despite admitting that he hadn’t even heard that much of his work when writing the lyric.
Then again, Waters might not be giving Webber the benefit of the doubt. If you look throughout his various works, Jesus Christ Superstar is a great way to blend rock and roll and the theatre, and while Evita is still firmly a stage production before anything else, he certainly knows his way around a hook when it comes time to bring the house down.
Waters was from a different world whenever he strapped on his guitar, though. Many artists are looking to create a story just to entertain you, but Waters wants to create an epiphany in your head every time he gets onstage.
