Roger Waters has been a lot lately. Seriously, it's getting a little hard to keep up.
Yesterday (February 8), the former Pink Floyd bandleader not only gave a speech on behalf of Russia before the United Nations (UN) Security Council, but also revealed his plans to re-record seminal 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon — solo.
At the invitation of the Russian Federation, vocal Ukraine critic and accused "antisemitic Putin apologist" Waters took on a strange voice for his impression of a diplomat over Zoom, which included enacting a conversation with his dead mother.
The musician claimed to represent the concerns of four billion people in the "voiceless majority," who, in his opinion, see Presidents Biden, Putin, and Zelenskyy as equally responsible for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He did not provide further clarification of which half of the world's population he was speaking for.
"The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation was illegal. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms," Rogers said, adding: "Also, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was not unprovoked, so I also condemn the provocateurs in the strongest possible terms." You can watch the whole speech below.
While the Russian member of the UN Security Council Vasily Nebenzya applauded Waters's "precise analysis," suggesting that the consensus between him and the "international creative intelligentsia" (is that a lyric by the 1975 or something?) was that NATO incited violence in Ukraine to fight a "proxy war with Russia."
Ukrainian ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya was the last to speak at the meeting and noted the Soviet Union's banning of Pink Floyd in 1979 for protesting against the invasion of Afghanistan. "It is ironic, if not hypocritical, that Mr. Waters attempts now to whitewash another invasion," Kyslytsya said. "How sad for his former fans to see him accepting the role of just another brick in the wall — the wall of Russian disinformation and propaganda."
"Keep strumming the guitar, Mr. Waters," the ambassador added. "It suits you more than lecturing the security council on how to do its job. No flying pigs here, please."
Then came the publication of a new profile on Waters by Tristram Fane Saunders for The Telegraph, where the musician dropped the bombshell of the Dark Side of the Moon re-recording he has secretly been working on (without the knowledge of Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Nick Mason), and of which he played the journalist a full-length cut.
"I wrote The Dark Side of the Moon. Let's get rid of all this 'we' crap!" Waters said of the unassailable classic. "Of course we were a band, there were four of us, we all contributed — but it's my project and I wrote it. So… blah!" He wrote the lyrics, and is credited for the composition of three out of its 10 tracks and co-writing two others.
In addition to wanting more credit, Waters also felt the need to remake the project — which celebrates its 50th anniversary next month — to further hammer home its message: "Because not enough people recognized what it's about, what it was I was saying then," he explained. Now, he attempts to get his point across by "talking all over" the album's instrumental tracks, according to Saunders, who claims Waters sings throughout the album but only actually plays an instrument on one song: a bass solo on "Us and Them."
Waters admitted to having "no idea" if he'll run into copyright issues trying to release a rival recording of Pink Floyd's most renowned record, and though its release has apparently been pushed back from March until May, the musician's team assured the journalist that it's going to happen. Stand still, laddy!
Yesterday (February 8), the former Pink Floyd bandleader not only gave a speech on behalf of Russia before the United Nations (UN) Security Council, but also revealed his plans to re-record seminal 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon — solo.
At the invitation of the Russian Federation, vocal Ukraine critic and accused "antisemitic Putin apologist" Waters took on a strange voice for his impression of a diplomat over Zoom, which included enacting a conversation with his dead mother.
The musician claimed to represent the concerns of four billion people in the "voiceless majority," who, in his opinion, see Presidents Biden, Putin, and Zelenskyy as equally responsible for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He did not provide further clarification of which half of the world's population he was speaking for.
"The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation was illegal. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms," Rogers said, adding: "Also, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was not unprovoked, so I also condemn the provocateurs in the strongest possible terms." You can watch the whole speech below.
While the Russian member of the UN Security Council Vasily Nebenzya applauded Waters's "precise analysis," suggesting that the consensus between him and the "international creative intelligentsia" (is that a lyric by the 1975 or something?) was that NATO incited violence in Ukraine to fight a "proxy war with Russia."
Ukrainian ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya was the last to speak at the meeting and noted the Soviet Union's banning of Pink Floyd in 1979 for protesting against the invasion of Afghanistan. "It is ironic, if not hypocritical, that Mr. Waters attempts now to whitewash another invasion," Kyslytsya said. "How sad for his former fans to see him accepting the role of just another brick in the wall — the wall of Russian disinformation and propaganda."
"Keep strumming the guitar, Mr. Waters," the ambassador added. "It suits you more than lecturing the security council on how to do its job. No flying pigs here, please."
Then came the publication of a new profile on Waters by Tristram Fane Saunders for The Telegraph, where the musician dropped the bombshell of the Dark Side of the Moon re-recording he has secretly been working on (without the knowledge of Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Nick Mason), and of which he played the journalist a full-length cut.
"I wrote The Dark Side of the Moon. Let's get rid of all this 'we' crap!" Waters said of the unassailable classic. "Of course we were a band, there were four of us, we all contributed — but it's my project and I wrote it. So… blah!" He wrote the lyrics, and is credited for the composition of three out of its 10 tracks and co-writing two others.
In addition to wanting more credit, Waters also felt the need to remake the project — which celebrates its 50th anniversary next month — to further hammer home its message: "Because not enough people recognized what it's about, what it was I was saying then," he explained. Now, he attempts to get his point across by "talking all over" the album's instrumental tracks, according to Saunders, who claims Waters sings throughout the album but only actually plays an instrument on one song: a bass solo on "Us and Them."
Waters admitted to having "no idea" if he'll run into copyright issues trying to release a rival recording of Pink Floyd's most renowned record, and though its release has apparently been pushed back from March until May, the musician's team assured the journalist that it's going to happen. Stand still, laddy!
