Pink Floyd's Roger Waters Says He's "Far More Important" Than These Music Stars
He's not happy that two pop stars have gotten more media coverage lately than he has.
Fans of two of the most popular artists in music right now may take issue with this one. In a new interview with the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters touted that he's "far more important" than two Canadian pop stars who receive more media coverage than he does. The interview came after the Toronto stops on the rocker's "This Is Not a Drill" tour, which Waters claimed weren't covered in the news as much as another musician's gig. Read on to find out which artists the Pink Floyd frontman slammed and what else he had to say.
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Waters is no longer with Pink Floyd.
Waters is one of the co-founders of Pink Floyd, which formed in 1965. The band then underwent some lineup changes, and Waters left in the mid-1980s. He returned for one show when the band performed at the Live 8 concert in 2005. Currently, Pink Floyd consists of the two other living members of the band, David Gilmour and Nick Mason. Gilmour and Waters have been at odds for years.
Addressing the idea of getting back together with the band, Waters told Rolling Stone in 2020, "Obviously if you're a fan of those days of Pink Floyd, well, then you have a different point of view. But I had to live through it. That was my life. I know in the wake of it I've been cast as something of a villain … so be it. I can live with that. But would I trade my liberty for those chains? No [expletive] way."
He complained that his Toronto shows weren't covered by local papers.
For a long time now, Waters has been a solo artist, and in July 2022, he set off on his "This Is Not a Drill" tour. In the interview with The Globe and Mail, Waters questioned why journalists from Toronto publications weren't there to cover his performances.
"What's interesting about you being here with me now is that none of the newspapers in Toronto sent anybody to review my shows," he told the interviewer, Brad Wheeler. "What I'd like to know, what I'd like you to ponder on, and maybe ask your readers, is if they have any theories as to why that may be?"
Waters called out another musician.
Wheeler said that while The Globe and Mail attended one of Waters' show, they were sent to cover the Weeknd's concert on the night of Waters' first show on July 8. The "Blinding Lights" singer's concert was postponed due to a network outage.
"But the Weeknd was cancelled. And my show was for two nights," Waters continued about not getting the coverage he hoped.
Then, he said of his fellow musician, whose given name is Abel Tesfaye, "I have no idea what or who the Weeknd is, because I don't listen to much music. People have told me he's a big act. Well, good luck to him. I've got nothing against him. Would it not have been possible to review his show one night and my show another night?"
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He said he is "far, far, far more important" than modern pop stars.
When Wheeler clarified that the newspaper doesn't do as many concert reviews as it once did and that an interview with Waters was something they were still interested in, Waters said, "Good, I'm glad to hear that, and I look forward to reading this in the pages of your newspaper."
He continued, referencing another popular Canadian musician, "I'm not trying to make a personal attack. I'm just saying it seemed odd. And, by the way, with all due respect to the Weeknd or Drake or any of them, I am far, far, far more important than any of them will ever be, however many billions of streams they've got. There is stuff going on here that is fundamentally important to all of our lives."
As noted by Page Six, the Weeknd averages 75 million listeners on Spotify per month, Drake averages 67 million, and Waters averages 550,000 monthly listeners.
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He seemed to be referencing his tour's political messages.
When Waters said, "There is stuff going on here that is fundamentally important to all of our lives," he seemed to be referring to the political messages in his shows. In the Globe and Mail interview, he went on to talk about a pro-Palestine event he was participating in while in Canada. As noted by Brooklyn Vegan, Waters displays a message during his show that reads, "If you're one of those 'I love Pink Floyd but I can't stand Roger's politics people,' you might do well to [expletive] off to the bar right now." Twitter users have posted photos from the concerts that show other messages such as "Trans Rights," "[Expletive] your guns," "[Expletive] the patriarchy," and "Reproductive rights."
The Globe and Mail interviewer told Waters that they heard a woman leaving the concert say that his show wasn't as upbeat as she hoped.
"Well, thank you madam," Waters responded. "I don't know who you are, but I thank you for noticing that it wasn't just a singalong party of old hits. I don't go to those kinds of shows, because I don't like them. The old bands go out and trundle through their hits year after year after year."
