The Pink Floyd album that sparked a feud decades after release: “Digging his heels”
How many truly great songwriting partnerships are made up by two musicians who went on to hate each other? When you flick through the history books, you realise that it’s the case for a remarkable number of great bands.
The battling brothers of Oasis act as the axis of their musical greatness, while The Beatles’ songwriting marriage ended in a sticky divorce at the end of the 1960s. But of all the bands built around a dynamic songwriting duo, I don’t think anyone can top the hatred that exists between David Gilmour and Roger Waters.
A deep-seated dislike for one another’s personalities and musical abilities undoubtedly sits at the heart of their tension – a tension that, when Pink Floyd were on song, made their music so compelling. But after the meteoric commercial success of said record, The Dark Side Of The Moon, bureaucracy began to open the personal wounds that the creativity could once patch up.
Money, as they professed in their own 1973 track, became the root of the band’s evil and sparked a feud that has continued on for decades. In 2021, when the band were set to release a reissue of their 1977 record Animals, the pair once again exchanged a bitter war of words, ultimately delaying the reissue for fans by another 12 months.
Waters wanted to include liner notes detailing the band’s history, which were written by journalist Mark Blake and seemed to emphasise the role of Waters’ creative direction. Gilmour opposed, citing the oversight of the remaining band members as yet another pledge by Waters to affirm his superiority, and so halted the release of the reissue.
Gilmour spoke to Rolling Stone about the release, stating: “A very lovely Animals remix has been done, but someone has tried to force some liner notes on it that I haven’t approved and, um, someone is digging his heels and not allowing it to be released.”
Quite obviously referencing Waters, Gilmour went on, “He’s just getting a bit shirty. You know how he is, poor boy.”
Waters delivered a scathing response to the events, stating, “Gilmour has vetoed the release of the album unless these liner notes are removed. This is a small part of an ongoing campaign by the Gilmour/Samson camp to claim more credit for Dave on the work he did in Pink Floyd, 1967-1985, than is his due.”
He added, “Yes he was, and is, a jolly good guitarist and singer. But, he has for the last 35 years told a lot of whopping porky pies about who did what in Pink Floyd when I was still in charge.”
Over 30 years on from the original release of Animals, and it’s clear that neither camp will drop their grudge. When asked about the hope of a reunion in the aftermath of the album dispute, Gilmour flatly noted: “Pretty unlikely, I’m afraid.”
Ultimately, that’s for the best, as the creative genius that existed within the tension between these two had something of an expiry date, which passed a long time ago.
