Credit: Alamy
Thu 19 February 2026 18:15, UK
From the moment Pink Floyd hit the big time, Roger Waters wasn’t interested in making typical rock and roll songs.
There were already countless artists that played up the sex, drugs and rock and roll angle a little too much, and even when Waters did give into his stadium-rock tendencies, half of The Wall was about making fun of those larger-than-life musicians that made every show feel like a spectacle. Then again, he did have more than a few moments where he could bring some carnal sounds into play.
Then again, take a look at any publicity shot of Pink Floyd. Do any of them necessarily look like the ‘sex god’ type? No, I didn’t think so. They weren’t ugly men by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a lot better for them to create stunning visuals with their music than for Waters to start incorporating Mick Jagger-style dance moves or for David Gilmour to incorporate any of Freddie Mercury’s moves.
They worked with what they had most of the time, but when Waters decided to go off on his own, he had a bit of a musical wakeup call to worry about. Floyd was bigger than any one member could have been, and even if The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking had a few great songs on it, it’s not like people were going to choose a Roger Waters solo show over hearing classics like ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘Comfortably Numb’ in a stadium with an amazing light show behind it.
If Waters wanted to get back on top, he would need a little bit of help, and his reinvention of The Wall in 1990 gave him an idea. This was a who’s who of the greatest talent that Waters could think of, so if he wanted to draft another concept, he wanted to invite everyone he could find. Amused to Death was still his record, but it was going to be transformed the minute that people like Jeff Beck got involved.
The guitar legend hadn’t lost an ounce of shine since he started, and even when working in a support role, he was still making the guitar cry better than anyone else in the world. But given that Waters has never been the greatest singer in the world, it was better for him to have people like Don Henley help him through some of the best songs on the record like ‘Watching TV’. It wasn’t uncommon for him to have backup singers, but getting Rita Coolidge on the record was a stroke of genius.
She may have only turned up on the final track, but Waters felt that her voice tied the whole record together, saying, “I always thought, ‘Oh God, with my voice it’s gonna get really dull. There are songs that lend themselves well to other singers. I’d tried a number of singers singing the background parts and none of them were quite sexy enough. And Rita Coolidge has the sexiest voice in the history of rock. I’d always been a big fan so I took the opportunity to ask her if she’d do it.”
But this isn’t exactly the same kind of seductive songs that you’d expect out of a typical rock and roll record. Coolidge is a fantastic singer no matter what she was singing on, but since the entire song is about how mankind as a species is amusing itself to death, the seductive part of the song is a lot more dangerous than it seems, especially with the dour way that the album wraps up.
It’s not the most optimistic ending in the world, but a voice like Coolidge is there to represent how easy becoming desensitised can be. Waters could have easily worked with anyone that he wanted, but whenever he calls upon someone like Coolidge or Beck or Henley, it’s not always about getting another voice for the hell of it. He wanted to make music the same way a painter used paint, and every voice served as another bit of colour.