What Makes Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ So Weird
Classic rock and disco were once seen as at-odds, but, if we’re being honest, they cross-pollinated a lot. For example, Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” fuses the progressive rock and disco in a bizarre way. Here’s what makes the song so weird.
Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)’ portrays an emotion that’s rare in disco
Lots of rock bands made disco songs. Paul McCartney & Wings did “Silly Love Songs,” The Rolling Stones did “Miss You,” and Kiss did “I Was Made for Lovin’ You.” They stuck to typical disco subject matters like love and sex. Meanwhile, Pink Floyd made a protest song about the British education system.
On top of that, the song is angry. How many disco songs — or other dance songs — are angry? How do you even dance while angry? I guess some underpaid Broadway performers would know.
Pink Floyd got more personal than most disco acts
In addition, a lot of disco tracks don’t appear to be autobiographical. It’s hard to imagine that Carl Douglas’ “Kung Fu Fighting” or Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots’ “Disco Duck” were drawn from real-life situations. However, Pink Floyd’s disco track is an exception to the rule.
During a 2010 interview with Hot Press, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters discussed the meaning of the song’s parent album, The Wall. “Well, a lot of it is based upon things from my life,” he explained. “I drew on incidents in my life when I was writing it. And in fact, the incidents that started the whole thing, all those famous things when I was in Pink Floyd and we were doing big stadium gigs… it was then, in the ’70s, that I did this little drawing on a piece of exercise paper that showed a wall. I had the theatrical idea to build a wall across the stage at a rock ‘n’ roll gig, which is what I’m still doing now.”
Waters said that redemption was a theme of the album. “The redemption, such as it is, lies in the reminder of how important it is to remain attached to one’s humanity in the face of all the walls that divide us one from another as human beings,” he opined. “It’s not easy being a human being. The pressures that we come under to scrabble futilely over the bodies of others to attain some goal. I guess redemption lies in remaining focused.”
‘Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)’ took over the world
“Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” became Pink Floyd’s only chart-topper in the United States. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks and stayed on the chart for 25 weeks in total. The tune appeared on The Wall, one of the most acclaimed and successful albums ever. The record was No. 1 for 15 of its 160 weeks on the chart. It was the band’s biggest studio album in the U.S.
The Official Charts Company reports that “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” was Pink Floyd’s second top 10 hit after “See Emily Play.” “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” was No. 1 in the U.K. for five weeks and lasted on the chart for 12 weeks altogether. Meanwhile, The Wall reached No. 3 and charted for a relatively modest 68 weeks.
“Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” is one of the oddest No. 1 hits ever — and the world is better for it.
