{"id":688470,"date":"2026-07-13T00:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T00:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/688470\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T00:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T00:59:09","slug":"the-bitter-battle-for-the-soul-of-pink-floyd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/688470\/","title":{"rendered":"The bitter battle for the soul of Pink Floyd"},"content":{"rendered":"

In December 1985 Roger Waters<\/a> informed Pink Floyd<\/a>\u2019s record companies \u2013 EMI in London and CBS in New York \u2013 that he had left the band. This did not come as a great surprise to the record company executives. Neither would it have been much of a shock to the 18 million or so Pink Floyd fans around the world who had bought The Wall<\/a>, had they had known about Waters\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

There had been no activity from Pink Floyd since the release of The Final Cut<\/a> in March 1983, an album widely regarded as a Roger Waters solo album in all but name. Since then Waters, considered the prime mover of Pink Floyd from the mid-70s onwards, had released a solo album, 1984\u2019s The Pros & Cons Of Hitch Hiking, and had toured Europe and America with a show of Floydian proportions.<\/p>\n

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David Gilmour<\/a>, Waters\u2019s chief collaborator in Pink Floyd but whose contribution had declined over the previous decade to the point where he\u2019d removed his production credit from The Final Cut, had also released a solo album and toured on a more modest scale \u2013 in fact, some gigs were even cancelled due to poor ticket sales. Drummer Nick Mason and keyboard player Rick Wright had also recorded solo albums, although only die-hard fans were aware of them. In fact, virtually nobody was aware that Rick Wright had left the band before The Wall came out in 1979.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos From Louder<\/p>\n

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In summer 1985 there had been speculation that Pink Floyd might perform at Live Aid but it had never gone beyond that. Gilmour had been the only member of the band to appear at the biggest gig the world had ever seen \u2013 as a guest guitarist with Bryan Ferry.<\/p>\n

It was, therefore, apparently safe for EMI and CBS to assume that Pink Floyd, one of the biggest-selling bands on the planet up to that point, were finished. Except that they weren\u2019t. There was no confirmation of Pink Floyd\u2019s demise forthcoming from their management; the next information was that Gilmour and Mason were actively considering a new Pink Floyd album. It was the prelude to a titanic struggle between Waters and the remaining members of Pink Floyd over the rights to the name \u2013 a battle that was not resolved until after the release of the next Pink Floyd album, A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, in 1987. And even that did not stop the acrimony that has continued intermittently ever since.<\/p>\n

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\"Pink\n<\/p>\n

Pink Floyd in happier times on The Wall tour in 1981 (Image credit: Rob Verhorst\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

Like EMI and CBS, Waters believed that Pink Floyd would not continue after he had handed in his notice. He did not think they were capable of making an album without him. He even told them so, to their faces; \u201cYou\u2019ll never get it together, you wankers,\u201d is how Gilmour remembers it.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d been having these meetings in which Roger said: \u2018I\u2019m not working with you guys again.\u2019<\/p>\n

David Gilmour<\/p>\n

This was in August 1986, after Waters had learned that Gilmour and Mason would be making a new Pink Floyd album. Waters\u2019s position was simple: Pink Floyd had expired. Any attempt to continue the band without him was fraudulent. Gilmour and Mason\u2019s view was equally straightforward: no one member had the right to disband Pink Floyd without the consent of the others. And Waters was now an ex-member of Pink Floyd.<\/p>\n

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The differences were irreconcilable and both sides were convinced that they were right. It\u2019s interesting to note that the last time Pink Floyd\u2019s main creative force had left the band there had been no debate about the rights to the name. After Syd Barrett \u2013 who\u2019d written the band\u2019s two hit singles and 10 of the 11 tracks on their first album, 1967\u2019s The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn \u2013 had been invalided out of the band with a drug-heightened nervous breakdown, the others carried on regardless, recruiting Gilmour as his replacement.<\/p>\n

One big difference between the two events, however, is that in 1985 the Pink Floyd name was guaranteed to generate millions of pounds; in 1968 it was merely thousands. The irony is that Waters\u2019s actions did more to galvanise Gilmour and Mason into continuing Pink Floyd than anything else. It was only after he left that the others considered carrying on. Mason says that Waters could have easily killed off the band by simply staying: \u201cBy remaining in it and never doing another stroke of work, nothing would ever have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mason admits that he had become resigned to the bitter end of Pink Floyd. The experience of playing on The Final Cut had been so unpleasant that he was not keen to repeat it, and Waters told him he wouldn\u2019t even get the chance. But his lingering doubts occasionally flared up into open discontent, like when he joined Gilmour at his Hammersmith Odeon show in London to play Comfortably Numb, or when he went to see Waters\u2019s Pros & Cons Of Hitch Hiking tour at Wembley Arena and felt \u201clike a rather elderly Peter Pan at the nursery window\u201d as the band played Floyd\u2019s greatest hits without him.<\/p>\n

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Gilmour retained the confidence of knowing how much of a contribution he had made to the sound of Pink Floyd. His guitar and vocals were responsible for at least half of the memorable moments that most people associated with the band. That didn\u2019t mean he was going to do anything about it, however. And communication between the band members had reached such a low ebb that on the rare occasions when they did meet up they would each go away with different impressions about what had been decided.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d been having these meetings in which Roger said: \u2018I\u2019m not working with you guys again\u2019,\u201d Gilmour told one interviewer. \u201cHe\u2019d say to me: \u2018Are you going to carry on?\u2019 And I\u2019d say, quite honestly: \u2018I don\u2019t know. But when we\u2019re good and ready, I\u2019ll tell everyone what the plan is. And we\u2019ll get on with it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Pink\n<\/p>\n

David Gilmour on his 1984 solo tour (Image credit: Paul Natkin\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Even after Waters had left, Gilmour made no move to resuscitate Pink Floyd to begin with. The catalyst appears to have been Waters\u2019s fury at their refusal to disband the group, at which point Gilmour stubbornly dug in and decided to go for it. \u201cI\u2019ve spent 20 years of my life building a career with Pink Floyd,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t see why I should have to give that up just because one guy says he doesn\u2019t want to do it any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m certain that at that time Dave and Nick never thought that they would carry on if I left. It never even crossed their minds.<\/p>\n

Roger Waters<\/p>\n

By the summer of 1986 Gilmour was ready to start a Pink Floyd album with Mason. When Waters realised that his sarcasm and vitriol were not enough to dissuade them, he sent in the lawyers. At the end of October they commenced a High Court action to dissolve the Pink Floyd partnership, declaring that the group was \u201ca spent force, creatively\u201d.<\/p>\n

This was the first time the public became aware of the dispute. It was also the first time that it became widely known that Waters was no longer a member of Pink Floyd. A couple of weeks later Pink Floyd replied by releasing a statement that said: \u2018The group have no intention of disbanding. On the contrary, David Gilmour and Nick Mason, with Rick Wright and producer Bob Ezrin, are currently recording a new album.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\"Roger\n<\/p>\n

A solo Roger Waters in 1987 (Image credit: Paul Natkin\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Gilmour added his own comment to the statement: \u201cThe strength of Pink Floyd lay in the talents of all four members. Naturally, we will miss Roger\u2019s artistic input. However, we will continue to work together as in the past. We are surprised at recent claims that Roger believes the band to be \u2018a spent force, creatively\u2019 as he\u2019s had no involvement with the current project. The three of us are very excited by the new material and would prefer to be judged by the public on the strength of the forthcoming Pink Floyd album.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wording of the statement was deliberately careful. Rick Wright had been invited back by Gilmour and Mason once they had decided to make a Pink Floyd album. However, it made no sense for him to rejoin a band that was facing expensive legal action to dissolve it. In addition, there was the matter of the legal agreement made at the time of his departure that specifically forbade him from rejoining the group.<\/p>\n

In fact, Wright\u2019s departure created other ramifications that were to prove crucial in the fight over the Pink Floyd name, as I discovered when I interviewed Waters in the spring of 1987 soon after he\u2019d recorded his second solo album, Radio K.A.O.S.. I was in full don\u2019t-mention-the-war mode but it was Waters who brought it up and, after we\u2019d discussed what might or might not constitute Pink Floyd, he told me that when Pink Floyd had signed a new record contract with EMI and CBS in 1982 they had included a so-called \u2018group artist rider\u2019.<\/p>\n

Roger Waters – 5:06AM (Every Strangers Eyes) (Official Video) – YouTube
\n\"Roger<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis said that the amounts of money paid in advances for records would vary depending on which combinations of people were in the band,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd it went through all the various combinations of the band. This was because neither of the record companies had been told that Rick had been fired halfway through the making of The Wall album. We prepared this document so that we could sign an agreement with the record company and then say: \u2018Oh by the way, this guy\u2019s leaving\u2019. It was a completely artificial device \u2013 as far as I was concerned anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, in this document there was a combination of Pink Floyd that didn\u2019t include you? \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

And you signed it? \u201cYes. Crazy, isn\u2019t it? I never thought they\u2019d do it without me. And I\u2019m quite certain that at that time Dave and Nick never thought that they would carry on if I left. It never even crossed their minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even my non-legal brain could see that this was damaging for Waters\u2019s case. He\u2019d legally written himself out of the band, even before he\u2019d left it. It also meant that the record companies could release a Pink Floyd album that did not feature Waters without fear of legal repercussions. A statement from Waters\u2019s camp a little while later indicated that the battleground had shifted. \u2018A dispute with the other members of Pink Floyd is proceeding in the courts to resolve the question of rights to the name and assets of Pink Floyd.\u2019 It concluded: \u2018Waters will not again record or perform with Dave Gilmour and Nick Mason under the name Pink Floyd, or at all.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\"Pink\n<\/p>\n

The new-look Pink Floyd in 1988: (from left) David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright (Image credit: Patrick Hertzog \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Waters was claiming the rights to the Floyd\u2019s concepts and stage effects on the grounds that they were his creations and nothing to do with the rest of the band. Later that summer I talked to Gilmour about the new Pink Floyd album on his elegant Hampton Court houseboat studio on the Thames, where A Momentary Lapse Of Reason had been recorded.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m enjoying this tour more than I\u2019ve enjoyed anything. Unfortunately, 10,000 per cent more people are going to see my ex-colleagues.<\/p>\n

Roger Waters<\/p>\n

Our conversation was interrupted twice by lengthy phone calls and I could hear Gilmour getting more and more exasperated in the next room\/cabin. When he came back the second time he snorted: \u201cIt\u2019s the pig. Roger\u2019s claiming the fucking pig!\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawyers were now trawling through documents from a decade ago to discover just who had commissioned it. It transpired that Waters had. He\u2019d actually specified a sow. The huge inflatable porker that rose up from behind the stage during the A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour later that year had the biggest pair of bollocks you\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

Pink Floyd\u2019s preparations for that tour were dogged by similar rows over the rights to other stage effects, such as Gerald Scarfe\u2019s animations, the massive circular screen and anything to do with The Wall. Promoters for the shows were also threatened with injunctions. Not surprisingly, Gilmour and Mason found it hard to raise the cash to fund the huge stage show they were preparing and had to dig into their own pockets. Mason even had to pawn one of his beloved sports cars.<\/p>\n

Roger Waters – Radio Waves – YouTube
\n\"Roger<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

To add even greater piquancy to the saga, both Waters and Pink Floyd were setting up North American tours at the same time in the autumn of 1987. The opportunity was too good to miss and I fixed up a lightning trip across the Atlantic to catch both acts in different cities.<\/p>\n

First stop was Los Angeles, where Roger Waters and his Bleeding Heart Band were bringing the Radio K.A.O.S. tour to the 18,000-capacity Forum. There was no mention of Pink Floyd on the billboards, flyers or tickets, although the merchandising stall was doing a brisk trade in \u2018Who is Pink?\u2019 T-shirts. The show was a potent brew of rock\u2019n\u2019roll bombast with propaganda, as Waters explored the dense themes of Radio K.A.O.S. \u2013 who controls information and the arms race?<\/p>\n

Songs from Floyd\u2019s back catalogue came as light relief, although Waters shook them up a little, giving a musical jolt to the familiar riffs on Money, Have A Cigar and Pigs (Three Different Ones). He also delved further back to revive If from 1970\u2019s Atom Heart Mother, as well as the original promo film for Floyd\u2019s first single, Arnold Layne. Shedding his anonymity along with his former band, Waters cut an almost maniacal figure in his sinister dark glasses and tense smile, singing with a nervous intensity. He even took part in a studio phone-in, answering questions from the audience via phone booths near the mixing desk.<\/p>\n

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\"Pink\n<\/p>\n

Pink Floyd\u2019s contentious inflatable pig on the Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour in 1989 (Image credit: Pete Still\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

It was a provocative show designed to make you think. But this was 1987, Reagan was in the White House and most Americans were no more interested in thinking than their leader was. The on-screen image of a smiling, waving Reagan spliced with a procession of coffins draped with the Stars & Stripes failed to produce much of a reaction. The guy next to me even muttered: \u201cIs this guy some kind of communist?\u201d at one point.<\/p>\n

But Waters\u2019s crusading zeal was intact. \u201cI like the theatre of it, and I\u2019m enjoying this tour more than I\u2019ve enjoyed anything. There are hard-core fans coming along with kids who never saw Floyd, which is great. Unfortunately,\u201d he added wryly, \u201c10,000 per cent more are going to see my ex-colleagues \u2013 fortunately for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two thousand miles away, at the Toronto CNE Stadium, was the proof of that \u2013 50,000 fans cheering as Mr Pig poked his snout above the pile of speakers while One Of These Days reverberated around the 360-degree sound system.<\/p>\n

Pink Floyd\u2019s $1 million-a-night stadium tour \u2013 they first they\u2019d ever undertaken \u2013 was a state-of-the-art extravaganza. Behind the massive mixing desk half a dozen people tapped away at computers. When they hit \u2018return\u2019, aeroplanes swooped down across the stadium and crash-landed by the stage, lasers pierced the billowing smoke and menacing-looking light clusters stalked the musicians.<\/p>\n

Every track on A Momentary Lapse Of Reason \u2013 which had only been out a couple of weeks \u2013 got an airing, with Learning To Fly and On The Turning Away already sounding like Floyd classics. The greatest hits roamed from Echoes via great chunks of Dark Side Of The Moon to the epic finale with Comfortably Numb and Run Like Hell.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis show definitely grows on you,\u201d said a relaxed, smiling Gilmour backstage afterwards. \u201cIt\u2019s progressing well. I\u2019ve seen a few big shows over the last couple of years and I\u2019ve been distinctly unimpressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to get back to unlimited resources again,\u201d joked Mason, before adding: \u201cIt\u2019s been a difficult couple of years but after we\u2019d finished the album I did a series of interviews where the questions cropped up and I had to sort out the issues in my own mind. I think we\u2019ve proved our point with this album and tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even the normally reticent Wright was mellow enough to wish Waters all the best with his tour: \u201cI really do. I just wish he\u2019d leave us alone to get on with what we\u2019re doing. Some of the claims he\u2019s been making about his role in the group are quite ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three months later, on Christmas Eve 1987, just over two years after he quit the group, Waters sat down on Gilmour\u2019s houseboat. The pair hammered out a deal that gave Pink Floyd the rights to carry on and Waters the rights to The Wall and various stage effects and films. Mr Pig could stay with Floyd, although he now has an obligatory credit \u2013 \u2018Original pig concept: R Waters\u2019 \u2013 tattooed on his bollocks. The battle was over. Only the cold war remained.<\/p>\n

Originally published in Classic Rock issue 85 (August 2005)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In December 1985 Roger Waters informed Pink Floyd\u2019s record companies \u2013 EMI in London and CBS in New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-688470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}