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YMMV / Roger Waters

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See also YMMV.Pink Floyd.


  • Aluminum Christmas Trees: The title of Radio K.A.O.S. might sound like one of Waters' more on-the-nose political allegories, but there really is a college radio station in the state of Washington that uses the call-letters KAOS, which was established a decade before Waters recorded his album.
  • Americans Hate Tingle: In a sad turn of events, he got this in Poland, where he always had a very large fanbase. His views on the (internationally condemned and by and large considered unprovoked) Russian invasion of Ukraine attracted controversy, as he essentially victim-blamed Ukraine by accusing them and NATO of causing the invasion by "provoking" Russia, while Poland has provided a lot of military material and humanitarian help to its direct neighbor country and welcomed millions of refugees. After Waters wrote an open letter encouraging Ukraine to surrender, the authorities of the city of Kraków canceled his forthcoming 2023 concerts on the spot and declared him a non-wanted person in the city. Waters tried to have his concerts moved to another Polish city, but no local promoter was interested in cooperating with someone so outspokenly critical of Ukraine and defensive of Russia, a country whose relationship with Poland has never been sunny.
  • Anvilicious:
    • Everything he has written, starting from The Dark Side of the Moon. Especially The Final Cut and Is This the Life We Really Want?
    • Radio K.A.O.S to an extent, but later can be seen as rather outdated due to the issues being mentioned in the album becoming dated by the time the 90s came around.
    • The Dark Side of the Moon Redux was made because in Waters' eyes, "not enough people recognised what [the Pink Floyd album was] about, what it was I was saying then". His re-recording of the entire album adds several monologues that spell out the messages of greed, conflict, religion, mortality and mental illness directly to the audience. Album opener "Speak to Me" even includes a recitation of the lyrics to a different Pink Floyd song, "Free Four", which itself is a summation of all of Dark Side in four minutes.
  • Fan Nickname: "Rog", or alternately "Reg", the latter after the cartoon dog in the live version of Pros and Cons.
  • Funny Moments: Now has its own page.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: The song "Each Small Candle" about the suffering caused by The Yugoslav Wars, in light of Waters' own opinions on Ukraine since the full scale unprovoked invasion of the country in 2022 by Russia, which he blamed Ukraine and NATO for "provoking".
  • Ho Yay: Roger Waters & Syd Barrett, according to some fans.
  • Narm: The song "The Tide Is Turning (After Live Aid)" is actually quite moving on its own, but the idea that Live Aid restored Billy's faith in humanity so he decided not to bomb the world is pretty ridiculous.
    • The lyrics and concept of Radio KAOS fall into this in general, especially when Waters starts listing people seemingly towards the end of "Home."
  • Overshadowed by Controversy:
    • While Pink Floyd is still best known for their music, Waters himself is better known for his on-and-off feuding with his former bandmates.
    • There's also the frequent accusations of antisemitism thanks to his vocal support for Palestinian liberation in Israel (not helped by remarks on the Israeli government that paralleled antisemitic rhetoric, which Waters claimed was unintentional).
    • His vocal opinions on the Russo-Ukrainian war, especially since the Russian invasion that started in 2022, in which he has blamed NATO and Ukraine for "provoking" Russia and called Ukraine to surrender, embracing Russian narratives for the war that is otherwise by and large considered an unprovoked Russian aggression by international law. It led to many people calling him a mouthpiece for Vladimir Putin.
    • He's also achieved notoriety as a serial monogamist, currently on his fifth marriage, though nowhere near Larry King or Elizabeth Taylor levels.
  • Tear Jerker: Many, both in Pink Floyd and solo. Notable examples from his solo career include "5:06 AM (Every Stranger's Eyes)" from Pros and Cons, the story of Bill Hubbard that Book Ends Amused to Death (although the ending section doubles as a Heartwarming Moment), and the images on the wall during "Bring the Boys Back Home" during The Wall tour.
  • Unintentional Period Piece: Radio K.A.O.S. hasn't aged well, due to its production and subject matter being rooted firmly in The '80s.
  • Values Dissonance: Waters was using racial slurs in his songs as late as 1992, though he has always been explicitly anti-racist in his beliefs.
  • Vindicated by History:
    • His solo albums and tours originally sold poorly, but Waters is now a top concert attraction.
    • The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking flopped on its release but eventually went gold. Even many fans at the time of its release thought it was a pretentious vanity project, but over the years, they've come to appreciate the personal nature of Roger's songwriting on this album.
    • Amused to Death, nowadays seen as a worthy Creator-Driven Successor to Waters' Floyd-era material (to the point where he himself rated in 2014 as equal to The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall), was pretty low-selling compared to the Gilmour-era Floyd releases, and the controversy of "What God Wants, Part 1" and its accompanying music video led to MTV and radio passing on promoting the album (Waters also refused to tour behind it). However, it has since gained in status, to the point where it received a high-resolution remaster in 2015.

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