Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site masscomp.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!masscomp!lip
From: lip@masscomp.UUCP (John Lipinski)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: The Wall
Message-ID: <808@masscomp.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 24-Oct-85 10:07:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: masscomp.808
Posted: Thu Oct 24 10:07:42 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 25-Oct-85 03:06:09 EDT
References: <1143@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> <5602@fortune.UUCP>
Reply-To: lip@masscomp.UUCP (John Lipinski)
Organization: Masscomp - Westford, MA
Lines: 38
Keywords: self-indulgent whining, divorce
Summary: 

>> You don't believe it Larry?? What would you do if I told you that I don't
>> even like Led Zep IV that much?? Why is The Wall "history's stupidest
>> concept album?? Because it's the true story of Roger Water's life?? Maybe
>> you don't like depressing music but I happen to thrive on it and I think
>> that the Wall is an incredible album.  [PAUL KIRSCH]

>Not to flame you, Paul (I agree with your rebuttal to Palena wholeheartedly),
>but although I've liked some of the music from "The Wall", I can't help but
>think that as a whole it is a ridiculously self-indulgent egotistical
>whining exercise on the part of Roger Waters.  [ROSEN]

I agree that "The Wall" reflects at times the self-indulgent and egotistical 
tendencies of the writer.  However, that's not enough for it to be called
"ridiculous".  In fact, I think many artists (assuming Roger Waters is an 
artist) share these same qualities and tendencies.  Eccentricities and
obseessions often are characteristics of exceptional artists.   For example,
John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Picasso, Beethoven, Dostoyevsky, Milton, ...
I think to single Roger Waters out by calling "The Wall" "ridiculous" is 
unfair.  He was clearly obsessed with (the seeming futility of) his life, 
his mistakes, and his relationships.  I really think it is an exceptional
thematic work.  He as a person may not be appreciable but "The Wall" as an
expression of his feelings is. 

>I recall reading his
>insistence at the time of the recording of "The Wall" that HE *was* Pink
>Floyd, that the band was his ideas, his vision, his music.  The whole theme and
>content seemed symptomatic of the whiny "singer-songwriter" motif wherein
>the singer talks about his incredible problems in life and blames them
>all on the other people around him (often MOTOS's).  [ROSEN]

Again, you may be confusing the image of the person seen through his art 
with the art itself.  Surely, there is an inseparable relation between
the person and the work but the  likable or admirable qualities of one aren't 
necessarily present in the other.


	- John Lipinski
	  ihnp4!masscomp!lip