On this day in 1944, Roger Waters, singer and bassist for
legendary jam band Pink Floyd, was born in England.
Pink Floyd has been a staple of the global rock scene for
decades. Releasing their debut album, ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,’ in 1967,
the band has put out 15 studio albums, three live albums, 10 greatest hit
albums and had more than 27 singles. That’s not even mentioning the hundreds of
bootlegged recordings of the band’s live shows that were made and passed around
in the band’s “golden years.”
The band hit commercial success in 1973 with their eighth
album, ‘Dark Side of the Moon.’ Their subsequent concept albums, ‘Wish You Were
Here,’ ‘Animals,’ and especially ‘The Wall,’ were also hits for the band and
would give them the biggest hits of their career.
In honor of Waters’ birthday, here are seven of Pink Floyd’s
most popular singles. These are the songs that have been played and overplayed
for years, yet we still can’t get enough of them.
1.
“Welcome to the Machine”: From the album ‘Wish
You Were Here,’ “Welcome to the Machine” is a trudging ode to the music
industry. Synth-heavy and filled with a cacophony of sound effects make this
one of Pink Floyd’s most recognizable songs.
2.
“Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)”: A staple
of many classic rock stations and a number one single for Pink Floyd, “Another
Brick in the Wall” is simple yet demanding. Critical of the way schools churn
out students who can’t think for themselves, there is a theme of rebellion and uprising
that’s threaded throughout the entire song. This is sustained by the song’s
pulsing baseline and further advanced with the chorus of children singing.
Also, it has one of the creepiest videos from the film version of ‘The Wall’
ever.
3.
“Comfortably Numb”: Also from ‘The Wall,’ “Comfortably
Numb” starts as a slow, ethereal tune, a sort of escape from the rest of the
album, then descends into madness by the end. It is the song’s psychedelic lightness that
makes the song one of the band’s most memorable, and one the stations play over
and over.
4.
“Hey You”: The third big hit from ‘The Wall,’ “Hey
You” is a call for help. It’s panicked and frantic, just like the album’s main
character looking for someone to notice his pain immediately before something
happens. The song brings back parts of other ‘Wall’ songs, the culmination of
so many pent up feelings. Every time it comes back to a verse, the words “hey
you” talk directly to the listener, making it more personal.
5.
“Wish You Were Here”: Although this song was
never officially a single, it still became one of the band’s most well-known.
The title track from their 1975 album, it chronicles bandmate Syd Barrett’s
descent into mental illness. With some of the most memorable lyrics of any Pink
Floyd song, this fan favorite has become a radio staple because aren’t we all “lost
souls swimming in fish bowls.”
6.
“Money”: Pink Floyd’s first number one in the
U.S., “Money” made a lot of money. The ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ track criticizes
consumer culture in its lyrics with a sort of up-beat, bouncy baseline.
7.
“Time”: Contemplating the passage of time, “Time”
feels like time ticking by. This ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ single is brooding and
pensive, with a baseline that feels like a heart beating and a chiming clock
introduction.
Pink Floyd has become one of the most highly regarded bands
in rock music. Their albums ‘Dark Side of the Moon,’ ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘The
Wall’ have spawned several of the biggest rock hits of the 1970s and 1980s. And
Roger Waters was at the forefront of it, having penned many of the tracks on
this list.
Give these records another spin and relive them all over
again. You may find new meaning in their songs, even if they may be a bit
overplayed.
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