And Roky Erickson, Peter Green, Brian Wilson, Ian Curtis... all considered geniuses. All had mental illness issues that have been glamourized needlessly by fans and critics alike. Captain Beefheart skirted around the fringes of this glamourization, to the extent that he was critically panned when he brought the 'Tragic Band' to the UK and made relatively straight country rock for a while. People preferred Beefheart to be pants-on-head crazy and keep making Trout Mask-style music.
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Roger Waters has to be stupid
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And Roky Erickson, Peter Green, Brian Wilson, Ian Curtis... all considered geniuses. All had mental illness issues that have been glamourized needlessly by fans and critics alike. Captain Beefheart skirted around the fringes of this glamourization, to the extent that he was critically panned when he brought the 'Tragic Band' to the UK and made relatively straight country rock for a while. People preferred Beefheart to be pants-on-head crazy and keep making Trout Mask-style music.
I never really was able to get into him, honestly.
While he appear to have the same quirky approach to songwriting as Syd, his music shares the same authentic expressionistic aesthetics and it is possible that they might be equally gifted artists, the limited material I listened to by Daniel Johnston doesn't seem to me as of being of the same high musically and lyrically standards and quality as Syd's.
In my defense it is a while back since I gave his music a fair chance though, so I might have matured on that point since.
Can you recommend me something by him?
This is my answer on Quora, on the question: Invalid Link Removed
"
I can say one thing though. It wasn’t only the fact that Waters wanted to make concept albums and big tours, with elaborate sets and everything, while Gilmour wanted to go out and play. It was also what each one wanted to say.
Now, in case you haven’t noticed, Waters is really into politics, into human society, its pains and tribulations. When DSOTM came out, not only was it a concept album, but it was also a human-centered concept album. Other bands had concept albums, but they were talking about suns and moons and stars. Pink Floyd talked about money, time, death and what drove people crazy. Then WYWH talked about Syd and the musical industry, and how it drove him, a really sensitive artist, crazy.
After that, Animals was recorded which was influenced by Orwell. Dark and broody, highly political, cauterizing British society of the late 70s and more. The Wall was anti-war, anti-fascist and talked about almost the same things that the previous three albums did, but it was even darker. Roger was still feeling guilty about Syd, still feeling sad about his dad and grandfather, and because Gilmour and Wright were not so much involved, it started to go down musically.
Wright at that time was going through a divorce and a heroin addiction, and the last thing he wanted was his bandmate playing dictator. Imagine Waters being in Def Leppard. He would have found a new drummer after his old one lost his arm. So, seeing that he thought he didn’t really needed Wright, he kicked him out of the band after The Wall and hired him as a session musician for the tour. His vision didn’t need bandmates, just musicians.
Think about Gilmour now. He was (and still is) one of the best guitar players in the world. He was rich, he could fill any stadium he wanted, but he was never political. David wanted to play music. Roger wanted to make a statement. Both mens careers after The Final Cut show exactly that. So, David started to get bored with Roger whining all the time, because to him what Roger did was whining. “Ooh, I treated Syd like poopie” (funny thing, you did the same to Richard), “Ooh, my father died in WW2”, “Ooh, Thatcher is a PoS”, “Ooh, all world leaders are PoS” and so on, and so on. David didn’t care about Brezhnev or Thatcher, as long as they rhymed.
Roger started showing signs of megalomania. His lyrics, his vision, his musical themes, his band. Richard was out of the picture, David was bored, Nick was replaceable, he (Roger) went solo. David wanted to do something lighter, he also went solo, but then he missed his pals and wanted to continue as PF. And to be honest, David never treated them badly. Even later, when he was the main exhibit, it was always PF, never David Gilmour and Co.
But, to conclude, I think that their main difference was that Roger wanted to talk about the same issues, again and again, issues that never touched David. It was fun doing DSOTM once. It was fun doing WYWH once. The same with Animals. Once. Then Roger wanted to do the Wall and the Final Cut and that felt like redoing the same things, because obviously to Roger, people should always hear about these issues and have their lives rotate around them. David was “meh!”. And then everything went downhill between them."
Apart from that, there is one thing that I want to add. I hate the fact that after so many years of solo career, Roger decided to just piss on it and tour with the Wall again, and also dub himself "The creative genius of Pink Floyd". Up to the "In the flesh" tour he used to do some of his stuff. Now? Forget it.
But when I went to see David at the MSG last year, I had to endure all his mushy solo songs, because he obviously likes them and thinks they are good enough for touring. That concert also showed me that David is a musician. The light works are toned down, he did some mistakes, he is not playing the Floyd solos note-by-note and he just wants the people to have a good time. When I went to see Roger's "The wall" in 2011, I didn't feel the same way.
Btw, I always believed that David Gilmour has the best live guitar tone around. I confirmed it last year, but this video is where I lose it, every time. Especially during the funky part, where his sound is really heavy.
"
I can say one thing though. It wasn’t only the fact that Waters wanted to make concept albums and big tours, with elaborate sets and everything, while Gilmour wanted to go out and play. It was also what each one wanted to say.
Now, in case you haven’t noticed, Waters is really into politics, into human society, its pains and tribulations. When DSOTM came out, not only was it a concept album, but it was also a human-centered concept album. Other bands had concept albums, but they were talking about suns and moons and stars. Pink Floyd talked about money, time, death and what drove people crazy. Then WYWH talked about Syd and the musical industry, and how it drove him, a really sensitive artist, crazy.
After that, Animals was recorded which was influenced by Orwell. Dark and broody, highly political, cauterizing British society of the late 70s and more. The Wall was anti-war, anti-fascist and talked about almost the same things that the previous three albums did, but it was even darker. Roger was still feeling guilty about Syd, still feeling sad about his dad and grandfather, and because Gilmour and Wright were not so much involved, it started to go down musically.
Wright at that time was going through a divorce and a heroin addiction, and the last thing he wanted was his bandmate playing dictator. Imagine Waters being in Def Leppard. He would have found a new drummer after his old one lost his arm. So, seeing that he thought he didn’t really needed Wright, he kicked him out of the band after The Wall and hired him as a session musician for the tour. His vision didn’t need bandmates, just musicians.
Think about Gilmour now. He was (and still is) one of the best guitar players in the world. He was rich, he could fill any stadium he wanted, but he was never political. David wanted to play music. Roger wanted to make a statement. Both mens careers after The Final Cut show exactly that. So, David started to get bored with Roger whining all the time, because to him what Roger did was whining. “Ooh, I treated Syd like poopie” (funny thing, you did the same to Richard), “Ooh, my father died in WW2”, “Ooh, Thatcher is a PoS”, “Ooh, all world leaders are PoS” and so on, and so on. David didn’t care about Brezhnev or Thatcher, as long as they rhymed.
Roger started showing signs of megalomania. His lyrics, his vision, his musical themes, his band. Richard was out of the picture, David was bored, Nick was replaceable, he (Roger) went solo. David wanted to do something lighter, he also went solo, but then he missed his pals and wanted to continue as PF. And to be honest, David never treated them badly. Even later, when he was the main exhibit, it was always PF, never David Gilmour and Co.
But, to conclude, I think that their main difference was that Roger wanted to talk about the same issues, again and again, issues that never touched David. It was fun doing DSOTM once. It was fun doing WYWH once. The same with Animals. Once. Then Roger wanted to do the Wall and the Final Cut and that felt like redoing the same things, because obviously to Roger, people should always hear about these issues and have their lives rotate around them. David was “meh!”. And then everything went downhill between them."
Apart from that, there is one thing that I want to add. I hate the fact that after so many years of solo career, Roger decided to just piss on it and tour with the Wall again, and also dub himself "The creative genius of Pink Floyd". Up to the "In the flesh" tour he used to do some of his stuff. Now? Forget it.
But when I went to see David at the MSG last year, I had to endure all his mushy solo songs, because he obviously likes them and thinks they are good enough for touring. That concert also showed me that David is a musician. The light works are toned down, he did some mistakes, he is not playing the Floyd solos note-by-note and he just wants the people to have a good time. When I went to see Roger's "The wall" in 2011, I didn't feel the same way.
Btw, I always believed that David Gilmour has the best live guitar tone around. I confirmed it last year, but this video is where I lose it, every time. Especially during the funky part, where his sound is really heavy.
I think it is all outlined pretty well in Poles Apart off the Division Bell:
Did you know, it was all going to go so wrong for you
And did you see it was all going to be so right for me
Why did we tell you then
You were always the golden boy then
And that you'd never lose that light in your eyes
Hey you, did you ever realize what you'd become
And did you see that it wasn't only me you were running from
Did you know all the time but it never bothered you anyway
Leading the blind while I stared out the steel in your eyes
I don't know who wrote it but I always assumed it was how David and the rest felt toward Roger.
Did you know, it was all going to go so wrong for you
And did you see it was all going to be so right for me
Why did we tell you then
You were always the golden boy then
And that you'd never lose that light in your eyes
Hey you, did you ever realize what you'd become
And did you see that it wasn't only me you were running from
Did you know all the time but it never bothered you anyway
Leading the blind while I stared out the steel in your eyes
I don't know who wrote it but I always assumed it was how David and the rest felt toward Roger.
I agree he's an acquired taste, so to speak, hit or miss. This is one of his tunes done quite nicely by Yo La Tengo.
It's weird how you've spent several hours trying to insist that your fantasy is reality.
Despite the fact that the words of the people that were there and saw what happened, paint a clear picture of his insanity.
Might want to stick with WoW, and not music history. Since that seems to be more your speed.
No one glamourized Peter Green's insanity or Rory's or Ian's. Yet many of the brainwashed glamorize Syd's.
Brian Wilson is a weird case of PTSD, drug use and flat abuse/manipulation. But again. No glamourizairon there.
Don't want to be the only guy not to contribute....
I'm a bit of a Floyd fan - Dark Side is just incredible and I have a few of their other albums from that era. I don't go incredibly deep and can't say that I love everything they did, but respect their stabs at out of the box stuff. If Waters is responsible for writing stuff of that era, then: hats off, great job. But his bass work is average at best.
Of the two, I'm a much bigger fan of Gilmour then Waters in the post Floyd era. Neither has really inspired me, but I enjoy Gilmour's style and haven't seen or heard a single thing about Waters that impresses me on any level. Not counting the drunken impromptu bar gig video that was posted early on in this thread, I saw a Floyd reunion video with both Gilmour and Waters and Waters looked like he was trying too hard to be cool. Lots of dramatic, flagrant neck wags when he wasn't even doing anything special. Gilmour was his typical, stoic self - which I'm fine with.
I've never been overly impressed with over the top stage antics - if it doesn't show up on the recording, it's not important to me. So the fact the Gilmour is a statue and Waters roams the stage with "passion" is meaningless to me. It kind of seems like Waters is a "look at me" kind of guy where Gilmour is a "listen to me" sort.
The fact the Mason and Wright continued to hang with Gilmour and not Waters, speaks volumes to the nature of the personalities...
I'm a bit of a Floyd fan - Dark Side is just incredible and I have a few of their other albums from that era. I don't go incredibly deep and can't say that I love everything they did, but respect their stabs at out of the box stuff. If Waters is responsible for writing stuff of that era, then: hats off, great job. But his bass work is average at best.
Of the two, I'm a much bigger fan of Gilmour then Waters in the post Floyd era. Neither has really inspired me, but I enjoy Gilmour's style and haven't seen or heard a single thing about Waters that impresses me on any level. Not counting the drunken impromptu bar gig video that was posted early on in this thread, I saw a Floyd reunion video with both Gilmour and Waters and Waters looked like he was trying too hard to be cool. Lots of dramatic, flagrant neck wags when he wasn't even doing anything special. Gilmour was his typical, stoic self - which I'm fine with.
I've never been overly impressed with over the top stage antics - if it doesn't show up on the recording, it's not important to me. So the fact the Gilmour is a statue and Waters roams the stage with "passion" is meaningless to me. It kind of seems like Waters is a "look at me" kind of guy where Gilmour is a "listen to me" sort.
The fact the Mason and Wright continued to hang with Gilmour and not Waters, speaks volumes to the nature of the personalities...
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