Pink Floyd Accept Award for Polar Music Prize

With the official 2008 Polar Music Award ceremony being held in Stockholm yesterday, Roger Waters and Nick Mason have been seen all over the Swedish media. Pink Floyd were joint winners of this year's award for their contribution to popular music, alongside American soprano Renee Fleming. Roger and Nick were there to receive the award, and said that David Gilmour and Richard Wright were sorry they could not attend. 

During the ceremony, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt gave his own tribute to the band, saying that their work was "a monumental contribution, and captured the mood and spirit of a whole generation in their reflections and attitudes." He even broke into an impromptu 'Another Brick In The Wall', to which Roger Waters looked a little nonplussed and uncomfortable with! You can view this unusual performance through the links below. 

On receiving the award, Roger dedicated the award to his 96-year-old mother: "If there is any humanity and empathy in my work, which I think there is, I would rather owe it to her." 

At the press conference the day before, Roger noted that the prize - one of just a few such honours the band have won over the years was "very important to me. We seem to be a bit thin on prizes." 

Nick added: "It's not that I feel we need or deserve an award. But it makes you feel like you are a part of history." 

Nick said that the prize money - one million Kroner, or US$157,000 - would be shared between all the band, and donated to their chosen charities. 

Pink Floyd - "The Wall"

After this one, you may be thinking that I have “a thing” for concept albums. And you’d be right, I do - both because I like albums that tell me something, rather than just being “pleasant to listen to”, but also because concept albums tend to come from a single vision, being more “personal”. This is certainly the case here.

What more can anyone add about “The Wall” after all these decades? There are thousands and thousands of reviews out there, some of them brilliant (and some of them even on Amazon.com). Unless you think the album, or Floyd in general, are “pretentious” (a term which I’ve found usually means “too intense” or “too good” - how many times have you seen it applied to, say, Dream Theater?), if you know the album, you probably consider it a masterpiece.

So, were I doing a review, I wouldn’t have much to add. Fortunately, this is not a reviews site.

Unlike some other albums, I didn’t exactly love “The Wall” at first. Some good songs, sure, but also some shorter “interludes”, acoustic pieces, and “silences”. It’s not that I don’t like those, but, to me, for them to work, I have to start thinking about it as “an album” instead of “a collection of songs”. And, yes, “The Wall” is certainly meant to be listened as a single piece, though, of course, some songs also work on their own (like “Comfortably Numb” or “Run Like Hell”).

But, after half a dozen listens, and especially after watching the movie (which is like a video for the album), I really began to “get” it, to understand it, to know the lyrics and the story behind them.

And, yes, it’s a work of art. One of the best of the 20th century. One I can’t seem to get tired of listening to, these days. Sometimes more of an opera than a “rock album”, “The Wall” is personal, emotional, intense, with fantastic lyrics and imagery.

Pink Floyd discography - Albums and singles

1967 Single Arnold Layne/Candy And A Currant Bun home

1967 Single See Emily Play/Scarecrow

1967 Album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

1967 Single Apples And Oranges/Paintbox

1968 Single It Would Be So Nice/Julia Dream

1968 Album A Saucerful Of Secrets

1968 Single Point Me At The Sky/Careful With That Axe, Eugene

1969 Album More

1969 Album Ummagumma

1970 Album Atom Heart Mother

1971 Album Relics

1971 Single Arnold Layne/If

1971 Album Meddle

1971 Single One Of These Days/Fearless

1972 Album Obscured By Clouds

1972 Single Free Four/The Gold It's In The...

1973 Album The Dark Side Of The Moon

1973 Single Money/Any Colour You like

1973 Single Money/Us And Them

1974 Album A Nice Pair (re-release of the first two albums)

1975 Album Wish You Were Here

1976 Single Have A Cigar/Shine On You Crazy Diamond part1

1977 Album Animals

1979 Single Another Brick In The Wall Part 2/One Of My Turns

1979 Album The Wall

1980 Single Run Like Hell/Don't Leave Me Now

1980 Single Comfortably Numb/Hey You

1981 Album A Collection Of Great Dance Songs

1981 Single Money/Any Colour You Like

1982 Single When The Tigers Broke Free/Bring The Boys Back Home

1983 Album The Final Cut

1983 Single Not Now John/The Hero’s Return Part 1 & 2

1983 Single Money/Any Colour You Like

1987 Album A Momentary Lapse Of Reason

1987 Single Learning To Fly/One Slip/Terminal Frost/Terminal Frost

1987 Single On The Turning Away/Run Like Hell

1988 Single One Slip/On The Turning Away

1989 Album Delicate Sound Of Thunder

1992 Single Another Brick In The Wall part 2/One Of My Turns

1992 Box Shine On

1993 Album The Dark Side Of The Moon 20th anniversary edition

1994 Album The Division Bell

1994 Single Take It Back/Astronomy Domine/Take It Back

1994 Single High Hopes/Marooned

1994 Single High Hopes/Keep Talking/One Of These Days

1995 Album Pulse

1995 Single Wish You Were Here/Coming Back To Life/Keep Talking

1997 Album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn 30th anniversary mono edition

1997 Single 1967 The First 3 Singles

1999 DVD The Wall

2000 Album Wish You Were Here 25th anniversary edition

2000 Album Is There Anybody Out There Out There? The Wall Live 1980 1981

2001 Album Echoes, The Best OF Pink Floyd

2003 DVD Live At Pompeii

2003 Album The Dark Side Of The Moon 30th anniversary SACD edition

2004 Album The Final Cut (re-release with When The Tigers Broke Free)

2005 DVD Live8

2006 DVD Pulse

2007 Album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn 40th anniversary 2cd/3cd editions

2007 Box Oh By The Way

2008 DVD A Technicolor Dream

Pink Floyd discography

Pink Floyd are an English rock band. Their discography consists of fourteen studio albums, four live albums, seven compilations, five soundtracks, thirty-five singles, eleven music videos, four video albums and three box sets.

Formed in 1964, Pink Floyd initially earned recognition for their psychedelic or space rock music, and, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music. They are known for philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative cover art, and elaborate live shows. One of rock music's most successful acts, the group have sold over 210 million albums worldwide, including 74.5 million albums in the United States alone.

As a psychedelic band led by Syd Barrett in the late 1960s, Pink Floyd had moderate mainstream success and were one of the most popular bands in the London underground music scene; however, Barrett's erratic behaviour eventually forced his colleagues to replace him with guitarist and singer David Gilmour. After Barrett's departure the band released Ummagumma. The album was released as a double disc, the first disc contained songs performed live the other disc contained the new studio recorded songs. Singer and bass player Roger Waters gradually became the dominant and driving force in the mid-1970s, until his eventual departure from the group in 1985. The band recorded several albums, achieving worldwide success with The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), and The Wall (1979) with all of them peaking at number one on the United States record chart with the exception of Animals. The Dark Side of the Moon is the third best-selling studio album in the world (not counting compilations and various artists soundtracks) . The Wall is considered as the best selling multiple-disc album of all-time in the U.S. In 1985, Waters declared Pink Floyd "a spent force", but the remaining members, led by Gilmour, continued recording and touring under the name Pink Floyd. Waters sued the remaining members for the rights to the name, Waters lost and the band enjoyed worldwide success with A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994).

Pynk Floyd - The Wall - General Information

UK Release Date - November 30, 1979
US Release Date - December 8, 1979

UK Chart - #3; US Chart - #1

David Gilmour - Guitar & Vocals

Roger Waters - Bass Guitar & Vocals

Nick Mason - Percussion

Richard Wright - Keyboards

Lyrics by - Roger Waters
Young Lust - Roger Waters & David Gilmour
Comfortably Numb - David Gilmour & Roger Waters
Run Like Hell - David Gilmour & Roger Waters
The Trial - Waters & Ezrin


Produced by - Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour & Roger Waters
Co-Produced by - James Guthrie


Engineered by - James Guthrie
Other Engineers -
Nick Griffiths
Patrice Quef
Brian Christian
Rick Hart
John McClure

Backing Vocals -
Bruce Johnston
Toni Tenille
Joe Chemay
John Joyce
Stan Farber
Jim Haas
Islington Green School

Orchestra Arranged by - Michael Kamen & Bob Ezrin
Sound Equipment - Phil Taylor
Recorded at -
Super Bear Studios- Miravel,France
CBS-New York
Producers Workshop-Los Angeles
Between April and November 1979

Sleeve Design by - Gerald Scarfe and Roger Waters