“It set the bar so high”: the band Roger Waters considered too good to match
Most musicians thrive on the competitive spirit of the music industry. Although it might not be the easiest thing to hear someone create a track purely out of spite, it can be interesting to see them make something as either a challenge to themselves or pulling out a piece from their psyche that might have a chance of getting played on the radio. Roger Waters may have known that kind of internal battle too well whenever he worked with Pink Floyd, but he knew that there were some areas that no one should ever touch when making their masterpieces.
When Waters first began, though, he never set too many parameters around his music. Everything revolved around what Syd Barrett was doing, but when they lost him to drugs, Waters knew he had to take the reins, even if it meant fumbling around in the dark for a little while to find what they needed. However, once he managed to capture that feeling, he could write anything.
The whole concept behind Pink Floyd’s greatest material was to relate to their fans through music, and while it might not have been the cheeriest story they were telling, people could understand what they were doing. The Wall is one of the most perfect ways of encapsulating the trials and tribulations of a rock star, and anyone who has ever had a problem with any kind of corporate business will relate to what Waters had to say on Animals.
But those fell into distinct categories, and Dark Side of the Moon was the exception to that rule. Whereas most people can say that certain albums don’t resonate with them because they can’t connect to the song, anyone who has lived and breathed on this Earth goes through all that Waters highlights on this record—whether that’s the passage of time, questioning one’s sanity, or learning to find someone to connect to in a world that can sometimes seem a bit colder than usual.
“We felt The Beatles were too good to compete with, honestly. Sgt Pepper was another flawless album.”
Roger Waters
In fact, what Waters was doing felt like the inverse of what the idealistic bands of the 1960s were undertaking. He had come from listening to John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band, and since that record was all about him lambasting his career as a Beatle, Waters knew that his role would be equally as vital if he showed people the horrors of the world around them.
Then again, he knew there was no point in trying to match what the Fab Four did during that time, either, saying, “We felt The Beatles were too good to compete with, honestly. Sgt Pepper was another flawless album—maybe that was encouragement because it set the bar so high.” The idea of comparing anything Floyd did to the Fab Four seems futile at this point, but it’s not like there wasn’t some overlap, either.
Many of Floyd’s greatest works might feel like the exact opposite of ‘All You Need is Love’, but the ending of Dark Side of the Moon is a lot more hopeful if you look at the context. The whole record was about the darkness that the world is shrouded in half the time, but never once does Waters suggest we give in. It’s about finding that light that makes people move forward, and that hope is what gets them to return and re-experience the ride all over again.
There’s no arguing that The Beatles had a more stellar track record, but Waters wasn’t afraid to test himself on their standards. And in finding his voice, he took all the negative energy in his mind and managed to find an outlet that allowed millions of people to see a bit of themselves in.
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