Pink Floyd - The Wall Movie
 

Have any of you seen Pink Floyd's movie The Wall? I just saw it on DVD, and yes it was good, and yes it was very strange. I did get kinda lost in all of the symbols and mixed stories though, you guys have any ideas on stuff from the movie? From what I gathered, it was a man (Pink?) who lost his father and was depressed his whole life...any thoughts?

Its basically the story of band member Roger Waters' life. All the shit he had to deal with growing up without his father, and feeling all alienated about it, and then suddenly becoming a star and having all these phonies around you claiming to be your friend. Pink Floyd at that time was nothing but a faceless band. THere were so many people that claimed to be fans and knew everything about them (there still is) but if a member passed them in the street they wouldn't recognize them from their own grandmother. So the character "pink" represents the entire band in the movie, but the things that "pink" went through in the movie are VERY similar to what Roger Waters went through in his life.

He used the name Pink for a character because of a record exec once asked the question "which one's pink?" thinking that the name Pink Floyd was the name of the lead member rather than just a random band name.
Reinforcing the fact that the band and the members were faceless.

I thought that Pink was one of the band members that died before they made it big. I also heard that the voices you hear before or between songs, like before "Wish You Were Here", and actually Pink's voice. But I cannot back this up, I saw the movie too long ago.

P.S. I just looked into this. midnight, you were right, some of the scenes were based on Roger Water's life, but I was also right about Syd Barrett, he did not die, but committed himself to an assylum, and some of the movie was based on his struggle with life too. Hope this helps.

http://home.mchsi.com/%7Ettint/Intro.html

Decent analysis of the album/movie.

Okay - this is kinda old - but have any of you guys done the "Wizard of Oz" with "Dark Side of the Moon" thing? It's creepy at times.

Here's the deal:

Put on "The Wizard of Oz" video, DVD, whatever. Mute the sound. Put "Dark Side of the Moon" in the CD player, and hit "stop" so it's ready to go, but not spinning/playing.

In the very beginning of "Oz", the MGM lion is displayed, and he roars three times. Immediately after the third roar, press "play" on the CD player, and watch Oz with Dark Side as the soundtrack. Trust me - it's very cool, and there are MANY scene changes that line up with song changes, lyrics that seem to correlate to the action on the screen, etc.

You won't watch the whole movie, as Dark Side is only 43 minutes long, I think. But as an example, if I remember correctly, as Dark Side ends, there is a heatbeat that fades out (like the one that fades in at the start of the album). During the fade out, Dorothy, the lion and the scarecrow are putting their ears to the tinman's chest to hear that he has no heart....see what I mean? There's lots more

Sit back, relax, use your intoxicant of choice (optional, of course), and enjoy.

~HH

Good info guys, thanks a lot. By any chance you know what the hammers stand for? I don't get that, and they kept coming up...

There was never a band member who's name or nick name was pink. No member of Pink Floyd has died yet. The voices you hear at the beginning of Wish you were here are just random voices recorded from TV. I think if you listen carefully you can hear them changing the channel.
If you listen closely, you can hear David Gilmour coughing. They recorded that too, and after he heard a play back of it he quit smoking.
Syd Barret didn't commit himself, at least not right away. He eventually had an enormous nervous and emotional break down from the combination of excessive use of LSD, other drugs, pills and what not, and the pressures of being somewhat famous. Not the same as "Pink" in the movie. By 1968 he was getting unreliable as a band member he would rarely show up to practices, and if he did he wouldn't be very useful to sugar coat it. Live performances were just as bad, there are numerous instances of him standing on stage staring blankly in to the audience, I'm not 100% but I seem to remember reading about once, he stood on stage to try and play his guitar, but it had no strings. I think it was in the spring, or 1968 when the band members decided to just not pick him up to go to band practice. That was pretty much it. They already had David Gilmour to fill in when Syd "wasn't feeling well".
He tried to attempt a solo career and even released a few albums but never really amounted to much. He lived with his mother who took care of him but in 1974 during the studio sessions ,
of the Wish You Were Here album, ironically an album which was more or less dedicated to him he showed up at I believe Abbey Road studios and said that he was ready to help. Nobody recognized him at first. Some time in the early 80's is when he finally went into the bin.I don't know if he commited himself or not.

When Gerald Scarfe was trying to think of some crazy animation stuff for the movie, he needed something that symbolized some very bad things, violence and hatred among others. Hammers to him at the time, seemed like a good brutal thing that could symbolize violence. The walking hammers eventually came of that vision.

Thats a staggering coincidence that it happened.
And you can watch the whole movie, just put it on repeat, the shit doesn't match up quite as precisely but its not bad. Have any of you ever noticed in the background where you see the guy kills himself??

I have one of Syd Barret's solo albums - "The Madcap Laughs"

It's just about one of the worst albums I've ever heard. Terrible, from beginning to end.

Speaking of Pink Floyd - I had the absolute joy of seeing them on their last (maybe ever) US tour for The Division Bell in 1994.

TWICE.

First show was Yankee Stadium, from the nosebleed seats. AMAZING show - the light show and everything makes it an incredible experience no matter where you sit. It's indescribeable.

I also was under the influence of some select substances - those days were fun - it was an unforgettable experience.

The second show I saw was about a month later, at Giants Stadium (The Meadowlands). We had floor seats for this one - and a few less "substances" - other than the "greener" variety, of course ;). At this show, they made the historic move of playing Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety, from beginning to end. I was speechless!

~HH

Interesting info...where are you finding all this stuff? I wouldn't mind reading some. thanks man

I've seen the movie once. Listen to the album often :)

I do have a question, in "In the Flesh" (second time), he says "Pink isn't well / He stayed back at the hotel / And they sent us along / As a surrogate band / We're gonna find out where you fags really stand," and it goes on, then the song about running all day and all night...

Is that supposed to mean the character is all taken up into the rock & roll scene and goes a little whacko?? :confused: I love listening to this stuff but I am not always good at understanding the true meaning :D

From what I have gathered, you are pretty much correct. The fame that comes with being a rock star was overwhelming, as he thought it was too glorified for what it really was. I think at that point in his life, his "wall" was already greatly built up and the pressures of being a celebrity were too much for him at the time.

By the end of the first disc on the album, the song "Goodbye cruel World"
the "wall" meaning a mental barrier for lack of a better term is fully built.
The next 2 songs "HEy You" and "Is there anybody out there" are kinda like, he is looking through the wall to see if there is anybody there so to speak. There is nobody.
A few songs later, "the Show Must Go On" and Comfortably Numb, represent his greedy manager thinking of nothing but the show being put on and not caring about "Pink's" health and well being. I'm pretty sure this is based on an actual experience of Roger Waters' where he was sick and couldn't perform. All his manager wanted to do was pump him full o drugs so that he'd be able to go on stage. If you really pay attention to the lyrics of Roger Water its easy to pick up. In The Flesh, still kinda represents the "faceless" band part, but its Pink all fucked up and being kinda like a nazi at a world war 2 esque rally of some sort where he's being like a dictator and just shouting all this crazy crap.

Yup, I see what you mean exactly. IIRC correctly the manager came in and had him pumped full of drugs while he was passed out... and then he performed the Nazi Rally thing...

"Hey You" is great...and sometimes I wish "Is There Anybody Out There?" would go on longer...although that would probably spoil it. :)

I agree,but there are so many powerful moments on that album both musically and lyrically. If you like the studio album alot you should buy the Live Version released in 2000, or try and find the original movie soundtrack for The Wall, Its different and I prefer it over the studio or live versions, although I prefer the song The Trial from the studio album better, but aside from that there are so many more great versions of the songs on the movie soundtrack, although the song Hey You was cut from the movie.