The Birth of THE WALL (Or Who Was Trained Not To Spit On A Fan)

"Aww, for f--k's sake, stop lettin' off fireworks and shouting and screaming,

I'm trying to sing the song! I mean I don't care... 

if you don't want to hear it, you know. F--k you.

                                               ---Roger Waters, telling some noisy fans to f--k off during a concert

      

       

        Since I'm still quite obsessing with Roger Waters’ new album (Is This The Life We Really Want?), I can’t help but remember this quite nasty but defining story about him. When Pink Floyd hit it big ( and I mean big) with Dark Side of the Moon ( this album stayed in the charts for 17 years and is one of the best-selling albums of all-time and IMO, the greatest album of all time with The Wall a close second), the band started performing in bigger venues (read: stadiums).

       And it caused Roger some anxiety because he preferred smaller, more intimate venues where their audience clearly appreciated and treasured their music. In stadiums (and other huge venues) some concertgoers, instead of concentrating on listening to the songs would be noisy, unruly and would scream at the band. It so annoyed Roger that one night, he simply exploded. While performing in a stadium in Montreal, Canada filled with 80,000 people, he stopped in mid-song to castigate and curse those spectators that were lighting fireworks during the concert and asked them to be quiet or go out of the venue because “some people want to listen to us sing.”

       But some part of the crowd remained agitated and when a young man threw something into the stage (some say it was a bottle of beer), Roger reportedly asked that the young man be hoisted up into the stage. And as the young man was climbing up the stage barrier, Roger walked towards him and spat on his face. The young man scampered away and Roger taunted him by catcalling and shouting, "Come back here! Come back! All is forgiven! C'mon, boy!"  You can listen to the incident here.

       Roger regretted it afterwards and apologized and it so distressed him that he reportedly stopped performing for a while, after which he started writing songs intended for a concept album that centered around a lonely rock star who had built an imaginary wall around him, isolating him from his peers and fans—thus the epic double-album The Wall was born.

       Fans of The Wall album (and its movie version) could only thank the young man whose face was unfortunately spat at. It was terrible, yes, but great things often come out of terrible things; positive and beneficial things out of tragedies. Who would've thought that a nasty spit would lead to the creation of one of the most influential rock albums of all time? And if you want to scream while you're in a concert, click here to learn how to do it properly.