August 6th, 1982: The Wall Premieres (film)

Pink Floyd is still known today for their amazing concept albums, and The Wall is considered one of the best ever created.  Because it was mostly penned by Roger Waters and it personally meant a lot to him, he received full rights to the album after the messy break up. He decided to make a film around the auto-biographical album.

The Wall tells a dark story of a boy growing into a man while constructing a wall around him, blocking him off from society and the world.  It contains some of Pink Floyd’s most famous songs, such as Comfortably Numb and Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2, but it also holds a deep message that is most apparent in the final words on the album (in the song Outside the Wall):

All alone, or in two’s,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists 
Make their stand.

And when they’ve given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it’s not easy
Banging your heart against some mad bugger’s wall.

The movie does a good job at portraying the metaphorical concept of the wall through its main character, Pink, who is meant to represent a version of Waters himself.  His childhood is scarring due to his overprotective mother and mean teachers, and this leads to a series of problems for the matured Pink, who has found himself in the midst of fame and rock and roll.  His ‘wall’ has been building his whole life, and when his wife leaves him, he finishes the wall and removes himself from the rest of the world.

Comfortably Numb is shown below.  By this stage in the movie, Pink’s wall has been built and he sees no point in trying to escape from it.

This movie is not for everyone, as the concepts can be explained in a way that seems weird and sometimes disturbingly.  But it is a very smart movie, with endless symbolism and great use of Pink Floyd’s songs to tell the story of a man’s life.  If you’re a Pink Floyd fan, it’s a must watch.  It turns one of their finest works into a visual story that brings more life and meaning to their already powerful songs.

Related articles

• The Best of Pink Floyd (restoringtherock.net)
• Movie Review: Pink Floyd’s The Wall (videoaslife.wordpress.com)
• Pink Floyd “The Wall” (fmgreviews.wordpress.com)

45 Years Ago: Yellow Submarine (film)

The whimsical, psychedelic animated film by the Beatles was released on this day, July 17th, in 1968.  By ’68, the Beatles were nearing the end of their time together as a band, but new and all together different material was still being released at an astonishing pace.   For Yellow Submarine,  a few new songs, such as Hey Bulldog and All Too Much were recorded and used in the film with an assortment of others that had already been apart of their catalog for some time. The production company United Artists approached the band with the idea of this movie, and throughout the process the Beatles played a minor part in the making. Other than the writing and recording of new material, they feature in one short scene for the ending.  The Beatles in the film were voiced by professional actors, who brought the animation to life.

The centerpiece of the plot is the song Yellow Submarine which appeared on their ’66 album Revolver and was penned by Lennon/McCartney. The movie opens up on the wonderful and musical Pepperland, many leagues under the sea, where Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band serenades the citizens. But when they are attacked by villains called ‘the blue meanies’, the yellow submarine is sent out to fetch the Beatles in hopes that they will save the day.  What follows is a journey filled with the band’s classic tunes such as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, and All You Need is Love.  The way some songs are presented are especially interesting, like Nowhere Man below.

Yellow Submarine met great reviews and good reception when it first released- a boost that the Beatles needed after their expensive flop Magical Mystery Tour. Forty-five years later, it’s still considered a great kids film (even with the loud and bright psychedelia) with songs that everyone enjoys.  For Christmas, I gave this movie to my not-so-into-the-Beatles brother, and he watches it at least every few weeks now.  Personally, my favorite part of the film is Hey Bulldog (which only appears in the remastered addition), where the two bands (the Beatles and Sgt. Pepper’s) run into each other and ‘find themselves’. They then proceed to trick everyone by running around with their doppelgänger.

Yellow Submarine is great, witty, and a testament to the mark left by the Beatles, even forty-five years later.  What’s your favorite part of the film?