"Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" by Pink Floyd

#1 Alert!

Gold Record Alert!

Song#:  0021
Date:  01/19/1980
Debut:  77
Peak:  1 (4 weeks)
Weeks:  25
Genre:  Rock, Prog-Rock



Pop Bits:  Here it is - the first song to debut in the 80s that made it to #1. Even though they sold scads of albums, Pink Floyd's songs were rarely single-worthy. Their only other chart entry before this song was almost seven years earlier when "Money" reached #13. So I imagine it was a bit of a shock to see this part of their classic rock opera "The Wall" climb to #1. By this time in their career, Roger Waters was pretty much in control and "The Wall" was truly larger than life with an extravagant stage show and even a movie version. But turmoil was brewing behind the scenes and the 80s brought changes to Floyd and even a momentary breakup.

ReduxReview:  I was in junior high when "The Wall" came out and the album and this song just screamed bad-ass. All the cool kids were into it so you either owned this album or at least was listening to it somewhere. It was rock and art that was complex yet approachable and druggy and psychedelic and rebelious. At the time...I didn't get it. Yeah, I wasn't one of the cool kids. And I still don't get a lot of the Pink Floyd stuff, but over the years I've come to appreciate it a much more - especially this song. 

ReduxRating:  8/10

Trivia: When it was time to do a new album, Roger Waters approached the band with two conceptual ideas. The first, which he already had a demo for, was called "Brick in the Wall." Obviously, the band chose this path. The second idea ended up being put to good use on Waters' debut solo album in 1984, "The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking."

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