![\"Roger](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Roger-Waters-1977-Pink-Floyd-Bass-Far-Out-Magazine-F-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n
Thu 14 August 2025 3:00, UK <\/p>\n
Any band can get scared of the dreaded word \u201cpretentious\u201d coming out of fans\u2019 mouths when they pick up one of their records. No one is safe from getting a little too high on their own hubris, but Roger Waters<\/a> knew there was always room for bands to dream big while still holding onto their ideals.\u00a0<\/p>\n Because if there weren\u2019t any grand concepts for Pink Floyd, there\u2019s a good chance that they would have fallen apart after Syd Barrett had to leave the group. There was no reason for them to continue on without their leader, but Waters knew that the best way to move forward would be to look at music from a different lens. They had once been a psychedelic band, and while they still had that as part of their sound, they could easily switch things when they started making longer pieces.<\/p>\n Some fans weren\u2019t too happy, and they may have had to dodge a couple of drinks thrown at them when they didn\u2019t play songs like \u2018Arnold Layne\u2019 and \u2018See Emily Play\u2019 live, but they were going to bet on themselves once the 1970s arrived. They knew they had the potential to make a fantastic piece of art, and while they took their sweet time getting to a track like \u2018Echoes\u2019, it became ground zero for what would become their classic period.<\/p>\n From Dark Side of the Moon onwards, the band had a hot streak going that completely transcended any of their previous work. Although some of their albums may have been a lot to take in, it was always worth it to go on the journey, but looking back, Waters had to admit that some ideas may have been considered a little too outlandish for a band to take on.<\/p>\n According to the frontman, many of their most celebrated works were the definition of pretentious, saying<\/a> in 1992, \u201cMaybe my pretentions to grandeur are ill-founded. However, in some way, Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall were both pretentious and grand in their day, and one of them 20 years later and the other 12 years later, they stand up, they\u2019re good pieces of work. So I can\u2019t worry about that.\u201d<\/p>\n But that kind of pretentiousness can only be a good thing in Waters\u2019s mind. He certainly recognised the \u201cdanger\u201d that came with people calling him out for making grand statements, but if there was something that he felt passionate about enough to create an album that runs a little too long or has multiple arrangements behind them, it was because that\u2019s what the concept demanded out of him.<\/p>\n