Roger Waters Talks About ‘The Wall’ and Pink Floyd on ’60 Minutes’
Roger Waters, who's been breaking attendance records during his 'The Wall' tour, sat down with CBS' '60 Minutes' on Sunday night to talk about the tour, leaving Pink Floyd, and how much he wishes everyone would just leave their cell phones at home already.
Interviewer Steve Kroft calls Waters "prickly" (and says in the video below that some others don't bother with the "ly" at the end), but adds that even at 68, the legendary songwriter is also "gracious" and "totally committed to his work."
Asked why 'The Wall' has had such staying power with fans, Waters replied, "I think it strikes some chords that may be just beneath surface in most of us. What it's about is the walls that exist between human beings, whether on a family level or on a global level. And I think that resonates with people."
Waters has taken great pains in the stage show to reproduce the sound of the original record, even using several artists to replicate -- note for note -- what Pink Floyd's singer and guitarist David Gilmour did. That made Kroft ask the obvious question: did Waters ever think about pulling his old bandmates back in?
He barely had the question out of his mouth before Waters stopped him.
"There must have been a reason back in 1985 why I left Pink Floyd, left the name, left that big umbrella of comfort ... and there was a reason for why I did, okay," he said. "And [that reason] didn't go away, certainly, in the intervening 25 years or however long it's been."
But something Waters feels has changed are concert-goers -- specially, the ones who wield cell phones at his shows. "It drives me insane," he said, adding that he doesn't understand why people are so focused on taking photos of the show and staring at a tiny screen when there's "this huge spectacle" going on in front of them.
Bitching aside, though, Waters loves his job -- and has no illusions about the life of a rock star.
"People always used to say, it must be so hard you know, how do you do it? You know, it must be so hard being on the road, being in a rock and roll band. It's amazing that you survived. And I would look at them like, what are you talking about?" he said.
"It's the easiest job in the world ... I mean, compared with something really hard, like for instance, looking after a two-year-old child, it's an absolute doddle."
Watch Roger Waters on '60 Minutes' and '60 Minutes Overtime'