# Roger Waters is a tankie **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 7, 2022, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234 "2022-08-07T05:05:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/201 "2023-02-09T01:53:50Z")
Yeah, me too! ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/202 "2023-02-09T03:30:47Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I have to admit, I’ve been wanting to listen to his solo stuff lately. I should quit reading this thread. the last good thing he did, dates back to 1992 … he had another record coming out in 2019 (ish) … which was unremarkable, just like the las PF disc was … ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/203 "2023-02-09T05:50:37Z")
Bleah, I honestly don’t think any of them has done much worthwhile since The Wall, and that wasn’t really awesome, IMHO. Still, it hurts when your heroes of the past are so unremarkably stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/204 "2023-02-09T12:08:24Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > I honestly don’t think any of them has done much worthwhile since The Wall You take that back. “Learning To Fly” is a _jam_. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/205 "2023-02-09T12:11:30Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > “Learning To Fly” is a _jam_. Sure is! But what does Tom Petty have to do with anything? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/206 "2023-02-09T12:12:31Z")
Heh. _Both_ songs by that title are indeed jams. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/207 "2023-02-09T12:30:38Z")
Waters is a good example of how some “rebels” are really not rebels at all - they’re simply aligning with some other tyrant. He fancies himself some sort of brave non-conforming rebel against the West…by being a confirming tankie stooge for the Russian regime. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/208 "2023-02-09T14:24:19Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > You take that back. > > “Learning To Fly” is a _jam_. Ugh, no, it is boring as hell. For that matter, I could whittle The Wall down to an EP as well. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/209 "2023-02-09T14:29:31Z")
I think the first 3 tracks of Momentary Lapse of Reason are better than the sum of their parts. Signs of Life, Learning to Fly, and Dogs of War work well with each other almost as good as the first side of DSotM, even if each individual track is not as good as the ones on Dark Side. And the album does go downhill from there. The Wall also goes downhill but only on the fourth side, when Pink goes on his “ironic” fascist kick and the Trial happens etc. The first three sides are amazing. Just the throwaway guitar soloes are better than most guitar soloes by other bands that are the summit of their careers. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/210 "2023-02-09T16:01:40Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > it hurts when your heroes of the past are so unremarkably stupid I am not a huge Van Morrison fan, but some of his stuff is above par, taken in proper doses. He seems to have declined into some sort of weird dementia of late. We were pissed about what Kurt did all those years ago (has it been that long?) but it seems to have been the right career move. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/211 "2023-02-09T16:31:45Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I am not a huge Van Morrison fan, but some of his stuff is above par, taken in proper doses. He seems to have declined into some sort of weird dementia of late. I’m a huge Van Morrison fan, but he’s always had the reputation of a difficult if not unpleasant and hard to work with guy. What he pulled after Covid broke makes him the grumpiest, bitterest and stupidest guy in rock, besides Eric Clapton and of course the subject of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/212 "2023-02-09T16:33:44Z")
WTF is the UN Security Council doing giving an aging rocker a platform for his inane views in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/213 "2023-02-09T16:43:54Z")
Russia has a permanent seat on the Security Council. That’s by design, really. Russia gets an international platform to present their side of things, and no matter what he may believe or claim, Waters is clearly a useful yet ignorant stooge for them. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/214 "2023-02-09T17:20:13Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > We were pissed about what Kurt did all those years ago (has it been that long?) but it seems to have been the right career move. If you mean Cobain, and that suicide was the right move … just, whoa. Plenty of rockers have aged gracefully without lapsing into quasi-fascism, including Cobain’s bandmate Dave Grohl. The choice isn’t “kill yourself or become an asshole.” Forgive me if I’ve mistaken your meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/215 "2023-02-09T17:22:01Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I’m a huge Van Morrison fan, but he’s always had the reputation of a difficult if not unpleasant and hard to work with guy. What he pulled after Covid broke makes him the grumpiest, bitterest and stupidest guy in rock (…) Hijack: I’ve tried to figure a connection between Morrison’s Covid stance, and his strange tuberculosis meditation, “T.B. Sheets”. It’s beyond me, and I just fall back to thinking, “He’s pissed that his concert income stream was interrupted.” “[T.B. Sheets” summary from Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.B._Sheets): John Collis described the song’s meaning as: "First of all, the singer chides the terminally ill invalid for crying. ‘It ain’t natural,’ he says. The woman cries all night and the observer, trapped in the death room, is embarrassed and helpless. Later in the song, the sun bouncing off a crack in the window pane ‘numbs my brain’ … And then there’s the crushing claustrophobia of the sickroom – ‘Let me breathe,’ he demands of the woman whose breath is failing, bubbling in cheesy lungs. There is a street below, a street she’ll never walk in again, and he is getting desperate to be down there, to rejoin the living, because ‘the cool room is a fool’s room’. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/216 "2023-02-09T17:37:26Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > I honestly don’t think any of them has done much worthwhile since The Wall, I prefer The Division Bell to MLoR. Learning to Fly comes across to me like “Here’s my new hobby, Isn’t it grand!” I think What Do You Want From me and Keep Talking are _almost_ Pink Floyd songs. The whole album is so close. What it needs is Waters’ bite. But I prefer Waters-less PF to PF-less Waters. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/217 "2023-02-09T17:54:23Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > and I just fall back to thinking, “He’s pissed that his concert income stream was interrupted.” I don’t think it is about the money, I honestly think he was pissed because playing music on the stage is what he’s been doing since he was 15 and so is second nature to him, and he needs the applause. Doesn’t excuse his stupidity about it, though. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/218 "2023-02-09T17:58:38Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > If you mean Cobain, and that suicide was the right move … just, whoa. Not everything I say is entirely serious. There is an old “joke” about “death as a career move” that I was kind of riffing on. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/219 "2023-02-09T18:15:07Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > “death as a career move” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8jrZ06mI-NE/maxresdefault.jpg "Goodbye Eddie, Goodbye") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jrZ06mI-NE&t=67s) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234/220 "2023-02-09T18:49:43Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > There is an old “joke” about “death as a career move” that I was kind of riffing on. It worked for Hotblack Desiato, at least for tax purposes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-waters-is-a-tankie/969234.md?page=12)