(Credit: Alamy)
By the time an artist reaches the limelight, life-altering moments become rare. Sure, there are the occasional awe-inspiring crowds or a song that reignites their passion, but sometimes, the experience takes an unexpected turn—leaving them questioning why they ever stepped into the industry at all. Roger Waters had nothing left to prove when he parted ways with Pink Floyd, yet sometimes, a few simple words of encouragement can shift an entire perspective.
Because back then, Waters was always bound to have an uphill battle with his solo career. He may have had enough of an ego to think that he owned the Pink Floyd name because he wrote the songs, but once David Gilmour stood his ground and walked away with the copyright, Waters was left to his own devices during his solo career.
But it’s not like he couldn’t make any music on his own. The Wall was meant to be his own concept from back to front before he showed it to the group, and since The Final Cut saw him working as an arranger of everyone’s parts half the time, The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking should have been another take on that. As it turns out, though, blocking someone like Gilmour or Nick Mason is usually a bad idea for any artist.
Despite being known as the spirit behind Floyd during their glory period, Waters did have a hard time adjusting to solo success. If The Wall was him using Pink Floyd as his canvas, this is the moment most people realised he didn’t have as much to go on, especially when bringing in backup singers that make the whole album sound too tacky.
If Waters wanted to get everything over the finish line, he was going to need another living legend behind the scenes. He and Gilmour might not have been on glowing terms, but bringing in Eric Clapton was the next best thing for the time, especially since he hadn’t lost an ounce of polish on his trademark licks.
Beyond playing the odd guitar solo, though, Waters remembered Clapton giving him a piece of advice that turned his entire world around, saying, “I never learned [music]. I still don’t really consider myself a musician in that sense. And [when] this came up, my sense of inadequacy in terms of playing an instrument. And he said, ‘Stop right there! You’re a great player, don’t let anyone ever tell you any different.’ That changed my life to some extent, ’cos this guy really is a proper player.”
While Clapton did have a point in making Waters see his worth as a musician, it can also work in the opposite direction. Many people need to be reminded of the power that they have as artists, but there were also many times when Waters went too far the other way, like thinking that he was artistic enough to reimagine Dark Side of the Moon in his own image by making a spoken-word version of the album with syrupy muzak in the background.
Still, Clapton’s advice was bound to do more good than harm for any musician who heard it. There is no shortage of people who suffer from imposter syndrome in this industry, but no matter how much you think you don’t deserve the position you’re in, you got there for a reason, and your job is to prove to everyone why you deserve to stay there.
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