The collaborative process within Pink Floyd was never simple. Despite producing results such as The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon, which cemented their place in history, achieving greatness required tremendous sacrifice. By the end of their tenure, the friction had reached an unsustainable level. And it was clear that something had to give.
After Pink Floyd released The Wall and toured it around the world, it would have been the ideal time to retire gracefully. However, we can only see in hindsight with 20/20 vision. Pink Floyd was unwilling to give up while they believed they were at the height of their powers. For all they knew, their next album might have surpassed the quality of The Wall.
They started working on The Final Cut in 1982, which was released the following year. But the band’s relationship quickly deteriorated. Roger Waters took the creative reins, much to David Gilmour’s chagrin. It was clear they could no longer collaborate in the same way they had before.
They both had conflicting ideas for the record, so Gilmour was forced to take a back seat while Waters essentially made a solo album. This technique had previously worked well for the band on previous albums. But their luck had run out, and Gilmour was unwilling to put him through a similar ordeal again.
During an interview with Record Collector in 2003, Gilmour explained: “I knew what had happened to my band at the time. I was just trying to get through it. It was not pleasant at all. If it was that unpleasant but the result was worthwhile, I might reconsider. “I wouldn’t actually.”
Gilmour then revealed The Final Cut only contains three tracks he likes, continuing: “I don’t think the results are an awful lot. At the very least, there are a few decent tracks. I voted for ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ to appear on Echoes. I like it. ‘Fletcher’, ‘The Gunner Dream’, and the title track are the three decent tracks on there. The rest of The Final Cut is dross.” The rest of The Final Cut is dross.”
When a band member only likes three songs from an album, it reveals dissatisfaction within the Pink Floyd camp during the recording of The Final Cut.
While Waters, who steered the ship on the album, was pleased with the result, he was dissatisfied with the recording process. However, he directly blames Gilmour for making the experience unpleasant.
During a Q&A session on his YouTube channel, Waters stated, “I made The Final Cut, which was in 1982, 40 years ago.” That wasn’t much fun because all I had was what’s his name sitting in the back playing Donkey Kong and telling me how ridiculous it was. And so it was difficult. Though it was great to work with James Guthrie and Michael Kamen.”
At one stage, their hearts once danced to the sound of the same beat. However, when they reached The Final Cut, those days were firmly over, and the duo were no longer compatible.
