Amused to Death

7th February, 2007.

I've made this my featured deviation because after seeing Roger Waters live, I have no choice.

It offends me that I have to put this in a "Miscellaneous" category.

I wonder how many people know who Roger Waters is?

I’d say more people would be familiar with Pink Floyd, although these days, not many more.

It’s a shame that music is no longer a form of art, more a form of consumerism. A way of selling products and getting talent-less ‘beautiful’ people in the spotlight for a few seconds of fame.

I find it difficult to express just how horrific and offensive I find the fact that the likes of Paris Hilton can release a digitally processed, totally artificial facsimile of what was once music and have it played on all the popular radio stations, while real music quietly dies in a corner.

It is with some satisfaction that I note Roger Waters has done more for music than hacks like Paris Hilton and her ilk, and winners of (insert country name here) Idol ever will.

Just like television, it shows us what the majority want to see. Reality Game Shows, tedious American sitcoms, repetitive “dramas”. Nobody is interested in the real world, what is really going on. Fuck wars and plagues and death, nevermind all that, just make sure you show Big Brother every night and we’re happy.

I am grateful for people like Roger Waters who actually attempt something meaningful in their music. Keep fighting, Roger, the world needs more people like you.

This can be considered a sequel to Brain Damage. Although clearly this one is more Roger Waters orientated than the first, but the wall and the prism of light is mirrored in this new picture.

Roger is holding a microphone and a pen, and although I do admit that when someone compared him to a shrieking cat when he sings can be pretty correct, there is something about his voice that appeals to me. The pen represents his writing, having written the lyrics to some of Floyd’s (and his own) best albums.
The bass is for his main instrument, being the brooding bass player of Pink Floyd.

The albums I have attempted to pay tribute to:

The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking: The naked woman with the backpack. Yeah I basically traced her off a scan of the album, slack am I.
This album was Roger’s first solo album, the title track is my favourite here. Great album to listen to while driving

Radio KAOS: The radio tower on top of the wall, also the nu-clee-ar explosion. Another concept album, not exactly my sort of thing, but I do like the way the last three tracks blend together.

Amused to Death: Again the nuclear explosion could apply here, also the spaceman and television. This is my favourite Roger Waters album. Perfect Sense kicks ultimate arse.

Wish You Were Here: The diamond in the sky, which has replaced the prism from the album of Dark Side of the Moon with the refracted beams of light.

The Wall: Well, the wall clearly. The first Floyd/Waters album I ever heard. God dammit, from that point on, I was hooked.

Ça Ira: The little group of people waving the red flag. An opera in three acts. I love to listen to this at work when I’m alone in the factory and crank the volume right up.

To Kill the Child/Leaving Beirut: I wish I had included something for these songs, but all I got in was the lyrics about George Bush...

Those three men in the distance are David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright, the remaining members of Pink Floyd, the ghostly figure beside them is Syd Barrett.

The graffiti on the wall is all taken from lyrics of various Roger Waters’ penned songs.


And when they found our shadows
Grouped 'round the TV sets
They ran down every lead
They repeated every test
They checked out all the data on their lists
And then, the alien anthropologists
Admitted they were still perplexed
But on eliminating every other reason
For our sad demise
They logged the only explanation left
This species has amused itself to death