Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

All discussion related specifically to Roger Waters.
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theaussiefloydian
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Re: Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

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battra wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:47 pm I would make the claim though...he may have perfected it with The Wall stage show.
Y'know I can see where you're coming from there.
battra wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:47 pm But invented? No. About 100 dudes (all of whom are important) created little things here and there to create the rock spectacle. Before the 70's, you had to impress the crowd with just your music....
Fully agree.
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Re: Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

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For all of his bitching about MTV refusing to play his music videos, or radio stations not playing his singles, or people in general simply ignoring his work, you'd think creator of the rock'n'roll spectacle would devise a way to circumvent those platforms and reach more people.
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Re: Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

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ZiggyZipgun wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 4:53 am For all of his bitching about MTV refusing to play his music videos, or radio stations not playing his singles, or people in general simply ignoring his work, you'd think creator of the rock'n'roll spectacle would devise a way to circumvent those platforms and reach more people.
Agreed or at least have a song too get peoples attention too his new release as a majority of solo material does not appeal to the mainstream radio and "hits" His formula is here is my album buy it like what ever song you like probably is where he suffered most marketing wise. While PF sold out venues and the radio stations played LTF OTTA to promote their tour.

Thats where David's solo tours and PF have always been strong at post waters. Marketing and getting stuff out to promote the new tour or album in David's case which has stuck too since AMLOR.

Did any of Rogers promo videos for Amused too Death Kaos, P&C get played on MTV regularly at the time or did they just show snippets from those EPK's when talking about Roger or the split
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Re: Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

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azza200 wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:56 pm Did any of Rogers promo videos for Amused too Death Kaos, P&C get played on MTV regularly at the time or did they just show snippets from those EPK's when talking about Roger or the split
I do remember seeing the What God Wants vid a few times on MTV. Three Wishes was also shown but I think I saw it only once or twice. KAOS and P&C was before my MTV time.
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Re: Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

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azza200 wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:56 pm Did any of Rogers promo videos for Amused too Death Kaos, P&C get played on MTV regularly at the time or did they just show snippets from those EPK's when talking about Roger or the split
"Radio One won't play my fucking single (What God Wants) because they know it's no good. They know it's not as good as Erasure or Janet fucking Jackson. They know that the British public shouldn't be listening to it. It makes my blood boil! If you're not 17 with a baseball hat on back to front, they don't want to know."

He'd already burned a lot of bridges by 1984, when he did a lengthy interview with MTV but would not talk about Pink Floyd, so they never aired it. This trend continued, with his typical comments like the one above - because guess what, now they're never going to play your songs! His whole solo career has consisted of miscalculations and self-sabotage. Get off the cross, we need the wood!
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Re: Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

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ZiggyZipgun wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:08 pm
azza200 wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:56 pm Did any of Rogers promo videos for Amused too Death Kaos, P&C get played on MTV regularly at the time or did they just show snippets from those EPK's when talking about Roger or the split
"Radio One won't play my fucking single (What God Wants) because they know it's no good. They know it's not as good as Erasure or Janet fucking Jackson. They know that the British public shouldn't be listening to it. It makes my blood boil! If you're not 17 with a baseball hat on back to front, they don't want to know."

He'd already burned a lot of bridges by 1984, when he did a lengthy interview with MTV but would not talk about Pink Floyd, so they never aired it. This trend continued, with his typical comments like the one above - because guess what, now they're never going to play your songs! His whole solo career has consisted of miscalculations and self-sabotage. Get off the cross, we need the wood!
His ego got the better of him in the 80's and its effected him ever since. He also slagged David off for playing "his songs i.e popular floyd hit songs" in the last tour tours yet fast forward end of the decade and most of the 00's & 10's he has done the same thing he slated David for doing 94. But like i said his ego is his biggest enemy
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Re: Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

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And, in that unaired MTV interview, he mentions where he nicked the triple-screen idea for The Wall tour:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dwRq-STdlE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmZGmv3hHrk
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Re: Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

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battra wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:47 pm Before the 70's, you had to impress the crowd with just your music....
So how do you explain all of the lights, films, theatrics and LSD at the 60s rock shows?
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Re: Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

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Kerry King wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 5:05 am
battra wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:47 pm Before the 70's, you had to impress the crowd with just your music....
So how do you explain all of the lights, films, theatrics and LSD at the 60s rock shows?
I would explain that lights aren’t theatrics.

I would explain rock hadn’t gotten theatrical yet.

I would explain that LSD wasn’t a sanctioned part of a show.
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Re: Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

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battra wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 8:18 pm
Kerry King wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 5:05 am
So how do you explain all of the lights, films, theatrics and LSD at the 60s rock shows?
I would explain that lights aren’t theatrics.

I would explain rock hadn’t gotten theatrical yet.

I would explain that LSD wasn’t a sanctioned part of a show.
Theatrics are theatrical. I didn't lump it in with lights. The Merry Pranksters were theatrical. Low budget but still theatrical. Concert promoter Bill Graham was managing a mime troupe who opened for rock bands. And LSD was legal for most of 1966. It WAS a sanctioned part of some shows. It was not just about music.
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Re: Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

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Kerry King wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 8:43 pm
battra wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 8:18 pm

I would explain that lights aren’t theatrics.

I would explain rock hadn’t gotten theatrical yet.

I would explain that LSD wasn’t a sanctioned part of a show.
Theatrics are theatrical. I didn't lump it in with lights. The Merry Pranksters were theatrical. Low budget but still theatrical. Concert promoter Bill Graham was managing a mime troupe who opened for rock bands. And LSD was legal for most of 1966. It WAS a sanctioned part of some shows. It was not just about music.
OK. :)

Image

Bad add theatrical rock show here brought to you by LSD.

Image

Whoooof!!!

Man. Look at that light show.

Image

YEEZUM CROW!

Theatrical rock.

Image

Damn, look at this band leaning into the show being more about theater than the music.

You're right, G.

This stuff looks just like what came later. Seriously, did you not get the point I was making?

Comparing the stage show of the 60's to what came in the decades afterwards is like comparing little league to the World Series.

(Seriously... you really think that anybody in the 60's could lean more into the show than the music they were playing or were you just being pedantic?)
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Re: Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

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^ These are some of the worst examples you could've chosen to make your point - especially The Doors, which borrowed heavily from...what was that called? The Living Theatre. And the photo of Pink Floyd, filming their intentionally lightshow-less bit of theater in 1971.

Look at footage of the Monterey Pop Festival. Hendrix set his guitar on fire. The Who had a circular screen, a light show, performed their mini-opera "A Quick One While He's Away", and set off smoke bombs while they smashed the speakers. All in June of 1967.
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Re: Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

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I thought it was Mike Leonard who created their first light at the UFO in 1967 which Syd took advantage of during their shows. So technically Roger did not it was their projectionist at the time Mike. Roger over time advanced the spectacle.
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Re: Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

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ZiggyZipgun wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:35 am ^ These are some of the worst examples you could've chosen to make your point - especially The Doors, which borrowed heavily from...what was that called? The Living Theatre. And the photo of Pink Floyd, filming their intentionally lightshow-less bit of theater in 1971.

Look at footage of the Monterey Pop Festival. Hendrix set his guitar on fire. The Who had a circular screen, a light show, performed their mini-opera "A Quick One While He's Away", and set off smoke bombs while they smashed the speakers. All in June of 1967.
Indeed. :)

You really think that those artists had shows anything like what came after in the next decade or two?

Because, that's my point.

If you're arguing anything else, then you're just spouting.
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Re: Roger Waters - I invented the Rock'n'roll spectacle

Post by ZiggyZipgun »

battra wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:29 pm Because, that's my point.
Unless you're claiming that Roger Waters invented any one of those elements, or was even the first to bring them all together, then none of this is relevant. Even Roger wasn't claiming that, as his comments clearly point to their 1974 and later tours as the start of the "spectacle", in which case, I'll direct you back to my post about Bowie's elaborate tour that same year.