The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking: The phenomenal Roger Waters of Pink Floyd

2014/07/07

The phenomenal Roger Waters of Pink Floyd

By: Magdalene Paniotte, Jul 2, 2014

Roger Waters is a supremely creative musician, humanitarian and co-founding member of the legendary Pink Floyd. Since the band's inception in the 1960s, Roger has immersed himself with other group members to develop what is known as conceptual album artwork, whereby in contrast to unrelated flowing compositions songs are conceived thematically to impart deeper meaning, while conveying a visual sense of the music. The group's original style of progressive and psychedelic rock combines elements of cinematic art, opera and blues to form a purely unique sound. Several years beyond their first album release of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the all-time record breaking sales volume from Dark Side of the Moon established Pink Floyd’s historic presence, followed by Wish You Were Here and The Wall.

With the passage of time Waters has charted new territory, expanding on Pink Floyd’s tradition of spectacular theatrics and visual effects in a recent world tour of the immensely popular re-mastered album The Wall, which was also made into a motion picture in previous years. A strong believer in world peace who feels that to remain silent is never a choice, this latest edition is a collaborative effort to visually reinterpret the fantastic work, only this time with political overtones as opposed to narrative structure. A prevalent theme on the album is to overcome oppression by breaking down barriers that a wall might represent as an obstruction separating human beings from each other.

On a more artistic level, perhaps Roger’s conceptual idea of the wall is to create a psychological distance between performer and audience so as to ultimately empower people to see the big picture, to reconsider the music in the greater scheme of things. Also defined as "the fourth wall" in theatrical terms, the notion of an invisible wall forms a representational illusion permitting a performer to maintain an intellectual distance as opposed to directly engaging with audiences presentationally. A bit similar to viewing a motion picture, the intended outcome of this artistic detachment is to enable concert fans to get the deeper message in contrast to simply experiencing the thrill of being in the company of a rock superstar.

Still going strong at age 70, Waters is a politically sensitive artist who feels that people everywhere have the right to live in dignity and free of fear. An advocate of human rights who wholeheartedly believes in freedom of expression, he empathizes with families of veterans who have lost their loved ones in times of war. In fact, Roger occasionally relates to American Veterans at half-time during shows, and has actually been working with amputees at Walter Reed to musically uplift their spirits... a great musician and family man who’s been quoted as saying that he has nothing to hide but the truth, Waters has recently started writing a personal memoir.

From axs.com

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George Roger Waters

George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter and conceptual leader. The band subsequently achieved worldwide success in the 1970s with the concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall. Although Waters' primary instrument in Pink Floyd was the bass guitar, he also experimented with synthesisers and tape loops and played rhythm guitars in recordings and in concerts. Amid creative differences within the group, Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985 and began a legal battle with the remaining members over their future use of the group's name and material. The dispute was settled out of court in 1987, and nearly eighteen years passed before he performed with Pink Floyd again. It is estimated that as of 2010, the group have sold over 200 million albums worldwide, including 74.5 million units sold in the United States.

Waters' solo career includes three studio albums: The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984), Radio K.A.O.S. (1987) and Amused to Death (1992). In 1986, he contributed songs and a score to the soundtrack of the animated movie When the Wind Blows based on the Raymond Briggs' book of the same name. In 1990, he staged one of the largest and most elaborate rock concerts in history, The Wall – Live in Berlin, with an estimated 200,000 people in attendance. In 1996, he was inducted into the US and the UK Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Pink Floyd. He has toured extensively as a solo act since 1999 and played The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety for his world tours of 2006–2008. In 2005, he released Ça Ira, an opera in three acts translated from Étienne and Nadine Roda-Gils' libretto based on the early French Revolution. On 2 July 2005, he reunited with Pink Floyd bandmates Nick Mason, Richard Wright and David Gilmour for the Live 8 global awareness event; it was the group's first appearance with Waters in 24 years.

In 2010, he began The Wall Live, a worldwide tour that features a complete performance of The Wall. During this tour, at The O2 Arena in London on 12 May 2011, Gilmour and Mason once again appeared with Waters, Gilmour performing "Comfortably Numb", and Gilmour and Mason joining Waters for "Outside the Wall".

He has been married four times and has three children. In 2004 he became engaged to actress and filmmaker Laurie Durning; the duo married in 2012.