Legendary musician Roger Waters is best known for his role as the creative force behind Pink Floyd’s most celebrated albums. including The Dark Side of the Moon, Animals and The Wall. Despite his influential role in the band’s legacy, Waters is also an outspoken artist, and recently criticized his former bandmate David Gilmour for not sharing his solo news, including a 2019 performance of him reuniting on stage with former Pink Floyd member Nick Mason, on the band’s website.
Waters shared his thoughts on Gilmour during a recent video titled “Announcement,” which followed up from an at-home recording he made of the Pink Floyd song “Mother.” After thanking fans for watching that video he began to criticize Gilmour, claiming that the performer “thinks he owns” the band.
“One of the things I suggested…whoever the 30 million of you are that subscribe to the webpage, you do so because of the body of work the five of us created,” Roger stated. “It seems to me that it would be fair and correct that we should have equal access to you all. David thinks he owns it. I think he thinks because I left the band in 1985, that he owns Pink Floyd, that he is Pink Floyd, that I’m irrelevant and I should just keep my mouth shut.”
The artist then went after Gilmour’s “Von Trapped Family,” questioning the decision to post his family’s videos on the sites, but not the music Waters has been creating. According to Pitchfork, Waters has asked for access to the website while attempting to reconcile with the band’s members, but claimed that the Gilmour “banned” him from having access.
Waters and Gilmour have had a tenuous relationship at various times since the band’s breakup, which led to Waters suing the outfit over their continued use of the band’s name. While he regrets the decision to sue the band, the band haven’t reunited on stage together since 2011.
Gilmour recently covered “Bird on a Wire” and “So Long Marianne” in isolation. Pink Floyd also recently released a 16-disc boxset of post-Roger Waters era recordings.
Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna