My First Time Listening to Pink Floyd's "The Wall"

It's a great album to listen to when I am in the mood for it. That said. Whenever I hear the Wall songs played on classic rock radio I turn the channel. Don't need to hear Numb or Young Lust anymore or any of the others,but that's just me sick of radio.

I suggest delving into Dave's About Face album. That's not songs you hear almost anywhere.YMMV.

Cheers!

 

When I said I haven't listened to it, I meant the whole album. I have heard the songs "Another Brick in the Wall", "Hey You", and "Comfortably Numb", and have for 37 years (I think it came out in late 1979, so it really hasn't been 38 years yet). There may (or may not) be other songs I have heard for which I don't recognize from the title.

As far as the other stuff (film, tours, concerts, reissues) -- nada. Never interested me in the least.

 

I have fond memories of a release party (not the official one ) or perhaps better to name as a celebration party with friends where ‘The Wall’ was the only record to be played.

The deal was the last person standing (still awake) would be the one to keep the album playing, I remember a few ‘weak’ individuals
bedding down at various times although this I’m sure was more to do with the resinous substance from the east (perhaps Lebanon) than the actual music.

I don’t envy that an entire catalogue of releases can now be purchased in one fell swoop, as I think it was a special time to await the next great album (by any artist) in the context of the times, past or present.

The Wall was a colossus in 1979 as it still is today, if you like that kind of thing.

 

"Look mummy, there's an aeroplane up in the sky..."

...exploding bird.

The album and the movie both got so many listenings/viewings they have fused...

(But Goodbye Blue Sky is the most underrated track...)

 

My personal favorite Floyd. A masterpiece from end to end.

 

Funny that you should say that. I was thinking the same thing.

I'm sure I've heard the whole thing, but I don't think I ever sat down and listened to the whole thing from end to end.

 

DSOTM to me is a better "experience" but on a song by song basis, the best stuff off The Wall blows it away.

OP: You should probably go for Wish You Were Here next... although it is one of those very rare albums where literally every song has its share of classic rock airplay, but it's a great record that combines the atmosphere of DSOTM with the great standalone songs of The Wall.

 

I too have only very recently purchased this album on CD and listened to it for the first time start to finish. I'd say I've listened to it half a dozen times. Musically it has some great moments, some not so great. I generally turn it off after Run Like Hell. I haven't read any commentaries on the story. The story/lyrics, to the extent that I understand them and get a jist of what's going on, seem like a lot of whining.

 

Don't like good music?

 

Not mine! I was dead set against drugs when I first heard The Wall at 15 years old in November 1979.
Loved it then, and still love it now. I saw it performed live in February 1980 and December 2010!
A remarkable achievement and a compelling listen.

 

I was in college when this came out and knowing it was a rock opera I like it OK but I really didn't enjoy it until I watched the movie. The movie put everything into perspective. But to this day I haven't been much of a Roger Waters fan, his work is a little "Dark" for me.

 

I was just starting high school when it came out, and it was a rallying cry for many of us as we would always chant the ''We don't need no education!'' as we left the school grounds, heading towards my best friend's father's awaiting car. Then one day, after dinner at my friend's place, his father brought us over to the livingroom, sat us down in front of his mega sound system that we weren't allowed to even look at, and pulled out a copy of the wall. What an amazingly cool dad, I thought. He played us that song, and in a matter-of-fact tone, said, ''You see boys, Pink Floyd wants you to have an education. By employing a double-negative, they are in fact saying that you need an education.'' Since I was so young and unaware of slang, and being French-speaking (where you can employ a double-negative), I was devastated by the logic. It was only years later that I discovered his dad's ruse. I still smile about that every time I listen this album.

 

Next time, I'll be sure to set up a new thread when listening to Physical Graffiti.

 

The Wall. To me it really is kind of a fascinating sprawling mess-exactly what I look for in a double album by a major artist. I cringe at the thought of this or other albums like Exile or Physical Graffiti being discussed as being edited to make a stronger single album. I love when artists/bands reach big, experiment, and partially fail due to overreaching. While not perfect I think The Wall still works for me if anything in that the production is still killer, there are some absolutely brilliant musical pieces scattered throughout and David Gilmour's guitar sound(s) and solo's still make the hair on the back of my neck stand up at times.
Saw Rogers The Wall tour when it came around and it was amazing.

 

I haven't listened to it in ages but I might have to change that soon.

 

Absolutely. And its almost as if the double album is a thing of the past, unfortunately. Last one I recall was RHCP's Stadium Arcadium.

 

Never liked the second half of the album. It falls into theatrical pomp and the songs gets lost.

Worked in the film though.

 

Yeah I listened to it in the car and I definitely have to give it another listen at home and do nothing else but listen

 

I turned 10-years-old weeks after it dropped in 1979. My parents bought a copy for me at the PX in Ft. Hood, Texas. When I think about it now I can't decide which is more amazing, that my Frank Sinatra-era parents bought this crazy album for me or that it was available on a military base. Like many, I'd heard the singles on the radio, thought "Another Brick Pt. 2" was the great anthem of my generation, and I played those vinyls like crazy. It's still on my shelf, a first pressing.

I saw Roger Waters perform the album in Dallas in 2010. He was fantastic.

 

I love side 2. I was 18 when it came out. I was obsessed with it for a while. Had a girlfriend that liked it so I recorded it on a cassette tape for her and drew, by hand, the images and lyrics from the album and lyric sheet for her and made her a book. I even got the inky, drippy font painstakingly right.

I haven't listened to it in many years. Some of the politics and other issues that it contains seem to be contained in the time of its release. It hasn't aged well for me, kind of like a Doonesbury cartoon that had a lot to say about things when it was drawn, but now there is no context.

The three Floyd albums that came before it are timeless, like a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon.

WYWH is a favorite of mine. Their best work IMHO.

 

Well, I finally listened to it. The first half of the album had me in a pretty tight grip. It was pretty easy to follow the story and the songs were great. After Comfortably Numb, it lost me a bit. Started to succumb to the overblown concept album plague. The ending is really clever, though. I thought something was wrong with the file on Google Play, but I went to YouTube and saw a comment that reminded me that the first and last tracks loop into each other. Nice one there.
Overall, I like the album well enough. Definitely didn't have the pull in factor that DSOTM and WYWH had on me, though.

 

Booooooooooo

 

I didn't like it my first time hearing it. (big PF fan) I still don't care for it. Just does nothing for me.

My first time hearing "Meddle" however was mind blowing and is still my favorite!

 

This was all over NYC rock radio even before the official release date. So many of the cuts were being played that it was a no-brainer to buy--my first Floyd purchase, actually. I bought the set the first week it was out at a department store, and for the next several months was totally immersed by the rather noisy first edition pressing. Played the entire thing through over and over. Comfortably Numb, and particularly all of side 4, I just couldn't get enough of.

A bonafide work of art. It made such an impact on me I still vividly remember picking it up for the first time from the display at the store. The clear identifying sticker on top of the shrinkwrap. What I'd like to forget is my utter stupidity selling it with a load of other vinyl in the 1980s, after swallowing the "superior" digital hype BS.

 

I actually think "The Trial" is a master piece of rock opera and very cleverly done. Yeah it's overblown and pompous, but that's precisely what it needs to portray at that stage of the story.