History Music / TheWall

The album was later adapted into a feature film, entitled ''Pink Floyd The Wall'' in 1982, directed by Alan Parker and featuring Bob Geldof as Pink. It set the music and story of Pink to [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel high-octane-nightmare-fuel-loaded]] scenes that shifted from live-action to the aforementioned animation by Scarfe. Most memorable were the animated scenes of marching hammers and nightmarish blitz-era London. Scarfe drew upon his bedridden childhood to come up with the grotesque imagery featured prominently in the concerts and film.

* BlackComedy: "Mother". There are also isolated lines every now and then that manage to provoke some nervous laughs amidst all the HighOctaneNightmareFuel, like ''Mother will they try to break my balls?''

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Pink's childhood is based on Roger Waters' early life, including his father dying in the war. Pink's SanitySlippage as an adult is based on Syd Barrett's own CreatorBreakdown. He really did shave his eyebrows.

''The Wall'' was heavily inspired by the RealLife trials of lead singer Roger Waters, who came up with the idea for the album after a concert in Montreal during the 1977 tour in support of the band's album ''Animals''. During the concert he spat in the face of an unruly fan who was climbing the fence between the crowd and the band. The fan was overjoyed to be spat on. This event caused Waters to realize that he was starting to distance himself from others and that this "wall" was turning him into a cold and destructive person.

* GainaxEnding: Ohhh yes.

* NoSexPleaseWereBritish: Heavily implied so as to be stupidly obvious--the wife cheats on Pink because he doesn't "put out", but this is because he's had The English Way™ pounded into his head all his life.

* PuttingOnTheReich: The uniform the Pink dons in "In The Flesh" is blatantly based off of Nazi uniforms. This goes well with his descent into fascism.

* NoSexPleaseWereBritish: Heavily implied so as to be stupidly obvious--the wife cheats on Pink because he doesn't "put out", but this is because he's had The English Way(TM) pounded into his head all his life.

* {{No Sex Please, We're British}}: Heavily implied so as to be stupidly obvious--the wife cheats on Pink because he doesn't "put out", but this is because he's had The English Way(TM) pounded into his head all his life.

* BreakawayPopHit: "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2", a #1 in the US and UK. The film is well known, but the song even moreso. It's also the band's BlackSheepHit, since they never did anything as dancey as "ABITW Part 2" before or since.

* EpicRiff: "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" and "Comfortably Numb" (though more on bass than in guitar)
** Not enough examples? Ok, how about the bass riff near the end of "Waiting for the Worms", accompanied by [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome the iconic goosestepping hammers sequence]] as well as "Run Like Hell"?

* NoAntagonist: The album is really about Pink's inner demons, how they got there and how they [[MindScrew may have been overcome]]. THere's no real antagonist for Pink.

The album was later adapted into a feature film, entitled ''Pink Floyd The Wall'' in 1982, directed by Alan Parker and featuring Bob Geldof as Pink. It set the music and story of Pink to [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel unleaded-nightmare-fuel-loaded]] scenes that shifted from live-action to the aforementioned animation by Scarfe. Most memorable were the animated scenes of marching hammers and nightmarish blitz-era London. Scarfe drew upon his bedridden childhood to come up with the grotesque imagery featured prominently in the concerts and film.

** This bit can also double as FridgeBrilliance since in the context of the album, it's a bit of {{Foreshadowing}} about Pink's mental breakdown. Also, one ''[[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory incredibly detailed]]'' analysis of the album points out that Waters abandoning the message to pick up the phone reinforces the entire album's theme about the importance of communication.

''The Wall'' started as a RockOpera released as a [[ConceptAlbum concept]] [[DistinctDoubleAlbum double album]] by the English Progressive band Music/PinkFloyd late in 1979. The theme of this album is similar to the one found in the band's earlier work ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' as it involved descent into insanity.

* [[BannedInChina Banned In South Africa]]: The album and movie were banned in South Africa due to anti-apartheid protesters' use of lyrics from "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" to criticize racially biased propaganda and curricula employed by the nation's education system.

* DoingItForTheArt: Pink Floyd's tour promoting ''The Wall'' ended up costing more money than it took in partially as a result of Waters's refusal to play in stadium venues. Roger Waters' 2010 tour, which reproduced the original, was ''the most expensive concert tour in music history'', costing approximately $1 million U.S. per performance.
** Subverted in the second instance; Waters has stated he was only persuaded to do the tour when it looked like he could make money off of it.

* HeyItsThatGuy
-->'''Michael Ensign:''' He's a maniac!
-->'''Bob Hoskins:''' He's an ''artist''!
** And, of course, Joanne Whalley as the groupie who gets assaulted by Pink.
* HeyItsThatVoice: On "The Show Must Go On", the backup vocals are done by Bruce Johnston of the BeachBoys and Toni Tennille.

* SubliminalSeduction: The song "Empty Spaces" contains the amusingly self-referential if kind of hard to make out since it's so buried in the mix backwards message

* ThrowItIn: This was the reaction of director Alan Parker to Bob Geldof's accidental cutting of his hand while filming the destruction of the hotel room for the song "One of My Turns."

* TroubledProduction

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Music/TheBeachBoys were scheduled to add backing vocals to "The Show Must Go On", but on the day of the session, Waters inexplicably cancelled and settled for just Bruce Johnston and Toni Tennille.
* WordOfDante: It's widely believed by fans that Pink's name is actually "Floyd Pinkerton", and that "Pink Floyd" is a stage name. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Floyd_(fictional_character) His page]] on Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} even states this. This is never explicitly stated, but the plaque in the church gives his father's name as "J.A. Pinkerton".

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness (Particularly after Pink's revival)

''TheWall'' started as a RockOpera released as a [[ConceptAlbum concept]] [[DistinctDoubleAlbum double album]] by the English Progressive band PinkFloyd late in 1979. The theme of this album is similar to the one found in the band's earlier work ''TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' as it involved descent into insanity.

The album and movie share the exact same story. The first half of the movie and album introduce us to Pink and his insanely craptastic childhood. Events and circumstances in his childhood life--an overbearing/overprotective mom, a father who died in WW2, and insane Scottish math teachers--cause him to shun human interaction because he's afraid he'll be hurt. Instead, he "fills the empty spaces" of his wall as an adult super famous rock star with the typical vices of the rich and famous--drugs, cheap women, and fanatical groupies (''free'' women).

!!'''TheWall provides examples of:'''

* BookEnds - The first song starts with quiet music and someone saying "--we came in?", the last song ends with the same quiet music and someone saying "Isn't this where--".
* BreakAwayPopHit - "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2", a #1 in the US and UK. The film is well known, but the song even moreso. It's also the band's BlackSheepHit, since they never did anything as dancey as "ABITW Part 2" before or since.

* ContemplatingYourHands - Appears in "Comfortably Numb" when Pink is on drugs.

* CutSong - In the film, there is no segment for "Hey You", one of the album's best known songs. One was filmed, but not included. The work print of the scene appears on the DVD. "The Show Must Go On," which appeared on the album, also did not appear in the film.
** On the album there was "What Shall We Do Now?". While it was played in it's full length at the live concerts and in the film, it was reworked into a shorter version called "Empty Spaces" on the album due to the time restraints of the vinyl format.
* DarkReprise - "Another Brick in the Wall Part 1" receives two Dark Reprises in the forms of Parts 2 and 3; whereas Part 1 is merely sad, Part 2 is angry, and Part 3 marks the point where Pink snaps and enters HeroicBSOD.

* DerangedAnimation - And this is the same guy that did [[Disney/{{Hercules}} Disney's Hercules]]...

* DoubleStandard - By a character, not the producers. Pink seriously considers cheating on his wife before going briefly AxeCrazy and scaring the groupie off instead, and it's at least suggested that he has done so (and gone through with it) many times in the past. But as soon as he even suspects his wife of cheating on ''him'', his cheese slips off his cracker completely.

* EnforcedMethodActing - The phone call heard at the end of "Young Lust"? Roger was actually calling Nick Mason, the drummer, who assumed he was getting crank called (the operator ''was'' asking for "Pink Floyd", after all) and promptly hung up; between that and the operator's confused reaction, it was just what Roger needed.

* EpicRiff - "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" and "Comfortably Numb" (though more on bass than in guitar)
** Not enough examples? Ok, how about the bass riff near the end of "Waiting for the Worms", accompanied by [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome the iconic goosestepping hammers sequence]] as well as "Run Like Hell"?
* EvilTeacher - Pink's old math teacher. Somewhat sympathetic in that his hatred of his students is part of the ViciousCycle theme of the movie/album

* FauxSymbolism - A relative aversion in that the mind screw imagery actually has well thought out meaning behind it. [[YourMileageMayVary Your mileage ''will'' vary]], of course.
* FreudianExcuse -Subverted-while the first pieces of Pink's wall were the result of childhood trauma, the movie, album, and Waters himself make it very clear that it's his fault for maintaining his Wall instead of coming to terms with his world and that his unhappy marriage and cheating wife were implied to have been at least partially his fault.
* FreudWasRight: The massive amount of phalic/vaginal-looking forms, [[OedipusComplex particularly in the scenes involving Pink's mother]].

* GoodbyeCruelWorld - TropeNamer, though Pink [[ThisIndexIsNotAnExample doesn't commit suicide]].
** [[spoiler: [[WildMassGuessing That depends on your interpretation]]]]

** [[MondeGreen Which sounds awfully like]] ''[[FridgeBrilliance Ein, Zwei, Drei, Hammer!]]''

* HeroicBlueScreenOfDeath - especially "Comfortably Numb" and, well, the rest of the album.

* HeyItsThatVoice - On "The Show Must Go On", the backup vocals are done by Bruce Johnston of the BeachBoys and Toni Tennille.

* ImAHumanitarian - "Ya can't have any PUDDIN' if ya don't eat yer Meat!" The "Meat" is made of students, though this IS all in Pink's mind. And is only in the movie, but still.
* JokerJury - "The Trial"
* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind - The "Trial" portion takes place well inside a very disturbed mind.

* LyricalDissonance - "Mother", "In The Flesh".
* MindScrew - AND HOW!!

* MyBelovedSmother (Of COURSE Momma's gonna help build your wall...)

* ANaziByAnyOtherName - Pink's Hammers -''snicker''- take cues from Mussolini's black shirts, SS troopers, and the KKK/skinheads.
* NoNameGiven - We're never told Pink's full (or real) name. There are hints (the operator at the end of "Young Lust" tries to connect "a collect call from Mr. Floyd to Mrs. Floyd"; his father's name on the death scroll is "J. A. Pinkerton"), but not enough to put it all together.

** When he's putting the bullet on the traintrack, his friends refer to him as "Pinky"
* PrecisionFStrike: According to the 2010 tour, the answer to the question "Mother should we trust the government?" is "NO FUCKING WAY".

* RealLifeWritesThePlot - Pink's childhood is based on Roger Waters' early life, including his father dying in the war. Pink's SanitySlippage as an adult is based on Syd Barrett's own CreatorBreakdown. He really did shave his eyebrows.

** Pink Floyd, to be fair, made Ezrin sign a contract forbidding him from revealing details and plot points about the stage show, which Ezrin violated via a radio interview. This incensed Waters (and to a lesser extent, the other bandmembers) to the point that Bob was not allowed to attend any of the shows, and his credits on the album were taken off for a while. They did patch things up with him to the point that Ezrin was asked to produce Roger's ''Radio KAOS'' (Ezrin declined as it was taking him away from his family) and eventually did produce Gilmour's Floyd albums (to Waters' disgust) and Gilmour's ''About Face'' solo album.

* ShoutOut - The poem Pink's math teacher mocks is Pink Floyd's earlier hit, "Money".

** The Another Brick in The Wall sequence is a shout out to {{Metropolis}}, with schoolchildren playing the part of the workers from said movie.
** ''TheWall'' is given a reference in ''{{Stilyagi}}'' during the Komsomol meeting, which is shot the same way.

** This bit can also double as FridgeBrilliance since in the context of the album, it's a bit of {{Foreshadowing}} about Pink's mental breakdown. Also, one ''[[EverybodyIsJesusInPurgatory incredibly detailed]]'' analysis of the album points out that Waters abandoning the message to pick up the phone reinforces the entire album's theme about the importance of communication.

* TitleDrop: "When the Tiger Broke Free Part 2".
-->''It was dark all around/There was frost in the ground/When the Tigers Broke Free.''
** "All in all it's just Another Brick In The Wall."
*** Let's face it, apart from "In The Flesh(?)", "The Happiest Days Of Our Lives", "Young Lust", "Run Like Hell" and "The Trial", every song in the album has its TitleDrop (though some of them like "The Thin Ice" or "One Of My Turns" make it more subtle).

* VillainSong - "In the Flesh," "Run Like Hell," and "Waiting for the Worms" can be seen as this, given they're sung from the point of view of Pink's fascist persona.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen - TheBeachBoys were scheduled to add backing vocals to "The Show Must Go On", but on the day of the session, Waters inexplicably cancelled and settled for just Bruce Johnston and Toni Tennille.
* WordOfDante: It's widely believed by fans that Pink's name is actually "Floyd Pinkerton", and that "Pink Floyd" is a stage name. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Floyd_(fictional_character) His page]] on TheOtherWiki even states this. This is never explicitly stated, but the plaque in the church gives his father's name as "J.A. Pinkerton".
* WriteWhatYouKnow - Aside from taking Roger's inner troubles and piling on the symbolism, the operator at the end of "Young Lust" was inspired by an incident on tour when Roger randomly called his ex-wife and had a man answer the phone.

* YouAreWhatYouHate - A recurring theme. Pink becomes a fascist, the very thing his father had died fighting against, as noted in the later songs "In The Flesh", "Run Like Hell", and "Waiting For The Worms". And he tries to rebel against the conformity of his school by becoming a rock star, only to realize that his teenage fans are so mindlessly devoted to him that they've forgotten how to think for themselves--making him, in his own way, just as oppressive as his [[SadistTeacher teachers]] once were.

* WordOfDante: It's widely believed by fans that Pink's name is actually "Floyd Pinkerton", and that "Pink Floyd" is a stage name. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Floyd_(fictional_character) his page]] on TheOtherWiki even states this. This is never explicitly stated, but the plaque in the church gives his father's name as "J.A. Pinkerton".

* WordOfDante: It's widely believed by fans that Pink's name is actually "Floyd Pinkerton", and that "Pink Floyd" is a stage name. This is never explicitly stated, but the plaque in the church gives his father's name as "J.A. Pinkerton".

''TheWall'' started as a RockOpera released as a [[ConceptAlbum concept]] [[DistinctDoubleAlbum double album]] by the English Progressive band PinkFloyd late in 1979. The theme of this album is similar to the one found in the band's earlier work ''TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' as it involved descent into insanity and madness.

* WordOfDante: It's widely believed by fans that Pink's name is actually "Floyd Pinkerton", and that "Pink Floyd" is a stage name. This is never explicitly stated, but the plaque in the church gives his father's name as "J.H. Pinkerton".