Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and Roger Waters Feud Explained

If you are a rock music lover and you listen to Pink Floyd then you must be familiar with David Gilmour and Roger Waters and their feud. Pink Floyd is one of the most popular rock bands in history and this band was very popular and influential during the 1970s and early 1980s. However, the band is still popular and they still have millions of fans around the world.

The band was founded by Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright back in 1965 however, in 1967 Gilmour joined the band replacing the founding member Syd Barrett. Everything was great or at least everyone thought it was until Roger Waters left the band in 1985.

So why did Roger leave the band? what feud does he have with David Gilmour and the rest of the members of Pink Floyd? we will be talking about their dispute in this piece.

What really happened between Roger Waters and Pink Floyd?

After David Gilmour joined the band, the creativeness of Waters and Gilmour collided, and because of their creative differences Waters ultimately left the band in 1985. Waters thought that band was his and that without the band will be dead. However, Gilmour was not letting it happen hence he and other members continued the band without Waters.

The following year in 1986, Waters sued his bandmates and their legal battle lasted for a long time. So why did Waters sue them? because he thought he was the main person of the band and Pink Floyd shouldn’t be continuing without him. Furthermore, he also stated that Pink Floyd was “a spent force creatively.”

That was what Waters thought while Gilmour and the drummer of the band Nick Mason stated that Waters could not decide on whether the band will continue or not as he already left the band and moreover, they were creating new music. In 1987, Waters and Pink Floyd came to an agreement and ended their legal battle.

Later in an interview with BBC, Waters admitted that he was wrong but still he did not care he said, “I was wrong! Of course, I was, who cares? It’s one of the few times that the legal profession has taught me something. Because when I went to these chaps and said, ‘Listen we’re broke, this isn’t Pink Floyd anymore,’ they went, ‘What do you mean? That’s irrelevant, it is a label, and it has commercial value. You can’t say it’s going to cease to exist; you obviously don’t understand English jurisprudence.”

It has been over decades since their legal battle ended, however, Gilmour and Waters still are not on good terms and have hard feelings. So did they come together again later?

Pink Floyd and Roger Waters reunited temporarily

Although Waters had differences and was on bad terms with Gilmour he (Waters) and the band came together temporarily for the 20th Live Aid anniversary (Live 8) in 2005. Both Gilmour and Waters came together and even though it was for a short period of time, they put aside their differences.

Gilmour and Waters performed “Comfortably Numb” and as their fans, we all wanted one thing and that was their reunion so it is without saying that seeing them perform together the audience went crazy. Furthermore, back in 2010 Gilmour and Roger again reunited for “Hoping Foundation.” As per the reports, they performed two songs together for the charity.

Many thought that there is still some hope of them getting together and we know that we find peace in false hope. Yes, that’s what it is because Waters and Gilmour are never getting back as they once were back in the 60s or 70s.

The feud between David Gilmour and Roger Waters continues

As mentioned although the music legends may have reunited temporarily, they still have their differences and they still have hard feelings. Back in 2020, Waters shared a video on his Twitter account where he mentioned that he does not have any access to any Pink Floyd social media pages. He said, “One and half million of you have viewed our new version of ‘Mother’, which is lovely, it really warms my heart, but it does bring up the question: why is this video not available on a website that calls itself The Pink Floyd website? Well, the answer to that is because nothing from me is on the website – I am banned by David Gilmour from the website.”

Moreover, Waters further said, “David thinks he owns it. I think he thinks that because I left the band in 1985, that he owns Pink Floyd, that he is Pink Floyd and I’m irrelevant and I should just keep my mouth shut.” He also said that even David’s wife can use the Pink Floyd social media accounts and promote her novels but he can’t. He says that as the contributor and former member of the band he should have “equal access” to reach the Pink Floyd audience.

He then said, “We’re not allowed to even mention [my projects] on the official Pink Floyd website, This is wrong. We should rise up…or, just change the name of the band to Spinal Tap, and then everything will be hunky-dory.”

An announcement from me. And when I mention the @pinkfloyd website, I also mean the Facebook page and all the rest. pic.twitter.com/x9T8CIAAMp

— Roger Waters ✊ (@rogerwaters) May 19, 2020

Furthermore, Waters also wrote on his official website that he is “banned by Dave Gilmour from posting on Pink Floyd’s Facebook page.”

Now some may even think that Waters is the one with the hard feeling but this is not reel life okay? it is not like one of them is a saint and another one is savage, it is real life and both of them have hard feelings towards each other. Back in 2014, Gilmour said in an interview with Rolling Stone, “Why on Earth anyone thinks what we do now would have anything to do with him [Roger] is a mystery to me. Roger was tired of being in a pop group. He is very used to being the sole power behind his career.”

Moreover, back in 2018 the drummer of the band Nick Mason also talked to Rolling Stone about Gilmour and Waters’ dispute and he said, “I think the problem is Roger doesn’t really respect David. I think it rankles with Roger that he made a sort of error in a way that he left the band assuming that without him it would fold.”

Mason also said that he finds their dispute somewhat disappointing, he said, “I think it’s really disappointing that these rather elderly gentlemen are still at loggerheads.” He didn’t take a side but said that he is close to both Gilmour as well as Waters. He said, “I actually get along with both of them.”

Waters tried making peace with Gilmour

Although their feud has been known to everyone but did they try making peace with each other? of course, they did, many might not know but Waters tried making peace with Gilmour. Most probably back in 2019, Waters was in an interview with Rolling Stone where he said, “We spoke in June, we had a big meeting where I came up with a big peace plan that has come to nothing, sadly.”

Moreover, in another interview he was asked “Last year, you had some kind of attempted peace meeting between you and David Gilmour. What happened there?” and he told, “I wrote out a sort of a plan, but my plan didn’t bear fruit, It was just, ‘Can we release the remastered vinyl version of Animals without it turning into the third world war?’ I said, ‘Why don’t we have a vote, and at least we can just get on with it?’ But they wouldn’t have that. God knows why.”

So overall this is all the known feud between Gilmour and Waters and they have been disputing for many decades now. Is there any hope for them to get back together as they once used to be? it is very unlikely sadly but the truth is that they both have moved on and they are never going to get back together. Do we get to see Gilmour and Waters perform together ever again? well, that is a million-dollar question, but since they have already worked together keeping aside their differences, it might be possible for them to perform together but their relation, well Gilmore was asked by Kory Grow (Rolling Stone writer) what hope does he have on their “détente” to which Gilmore replied, “pretty unlikely, I’m afraid.”