(Credits: Storm Thorgerson / Sony Music Entertainment)
Tue 14 April 2026 16:34, UK
It would usually take a minor miracle for any Pink Floyd album to see the light of day.
Outside of the tremendous strides the band made with Syd Barrett throughout their early years, his struggles with mental illness and departure from the band led to the rest of his bandmates struggling to find their voice across the next few albums. While the band would eventually morph into one of the defining voices in prog-rock, Roger Waters remembered the torture of recording one of the band’s later projects.
After the loss of Barrett, Waters would be the one to take the reins for the next few years. While albums like Ummagumma and Atom Heart Mother saw the band reaching for different instrumental timbres every time they went into the studio, it wasn’t until they hit the album Meddle that they had a sense of direction, which would go on explode when they made Dark Side of the Moon.
From there, Waters would use his songs to say what was on his mind, either talking about the loss of his musical friend on Wish You Were Here or taking corrupt businessmen to task for their deplorable actions on projects like Animals. Even though the band were getting more adventurous with every album, no one was prepared for what Waters had in mind for The Wall.
By that point, the balance that had once defined Pink Floyd was already starting to tip. What had been a collaborative effort in shaping their sprawling sound was slowly giving way to a more singular vision, with Waters taking on the role of chief architect and leaving less room for the others to push back or reshape the material.
(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
That shift didn’t just affect the music, it changed the entire atmosphere in the studio. When one voice starts to dominate to that extent, the process can become less about discovery and more about execution, and for a band that had built its reputation on exploration, that was always going to create friction sooner or later.
Telling a semi-autobiographical tale of a rockstar closing himself off from society, Waters ruled the studio with an iron hand, eventually firing keyboardist Richard Wright while recording the album. By the time the band played the accompanying tour for the album, it was clear that whatever came next would not be a pleasant experience.
Taking the scraps left over from The Wall, The Final Cut would become one of the most beloved albums in their discography. While David Gilmour questioned why they were reworking older material for their new album, Waters would say that articulating what he wanted the musicians to do for the album was a hellish experience.
Discussing the approach to the studio, Waters would regret making The Final Cut the way he did, saying in 1987, “Making The Final Cut was misery. We didn’t work together at all. I had to do it more or less single-handed, working with Michael Kamen, my co-producer. That’s one of the few things that the ‘boys’ and I agreed on. But no one else would do anything about it”.
After the band released the album, Waters would eventually move on to a solo career, releasing the album The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, which happened to be the idea that he had suggested to his bandmates alongside The Wall. As the rest of the band licked their wounds, they knew they didn’t want to spend their time watching Waters become a solo star.
Across the albums A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell, Gilmour would become the band’s leader, even bringing Wright back behind the keyboards for the next few years. Even though the band were grateful to express themselves however they wanted, The Final Cut is practically the first Roger Waters solo album that happens to feature the next Pink Floyd on the sleeve.
