In the late 1980s, rock giants David Gilmour and Roger Waters engaged in a contentious and lengthy legal battle over their fracturing band, Pink Floyd—an esteemed name in the musical world that Gilmour had no plans to give up, much to Waters’ chagrin. Although Waters would later say the lawsuit was a mistake, it was an infamous milestone in the band’s career as the dueling frontmen fought over who got to decide what happened to “Pink.”
Amidst all the logistics and legalities of the case, Gilmour held firm to one simple reason for not being willing to give up on Pink Floyd.
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David Gilmour Kept Pink Floyd Name For One Simple Reason
Throughout Pink Floyd’s prolific career, there was a consistent tug-of-war between the eccentric and abstract-minded Roger Waters and the more pop-sensible David Gilmour. It’s not unreasonable to assume the infamously headstrong Waters maintained a sense of ownership over the band that he started with Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright in 1965. David Gilmour joined shortly after to replace original frontman Barrett.
Nevertheless, Gilmour was at the helm for the rest of the band’s stunning career, providing his signature guitar licks and smooth voice to Pink Floyd’s greatest musical achievements, from Dark Side of the Moon to Wish You Were Here. After Waters decided to leave the band in the mid-1980s, citing that the group was “creatively spent” and ready to be put away for good, Gilmour went against Waters’ wishes and continued on without him.
“I have spent 20 years of my life working on building that name up, Gilmour said in a 1988 interview. “It doesn’t actually make sense to me to start all over under a new name or my own solo name or anything and have to work as hard as we worked for so many years at the beginning. It does take an intense amount of work and effort to achieve the sort of thing that we’ve managed to achieve, and I see no reason whatsoever why I should give that up just because one guy says he doesn’t want to do it anymore.”
Gilmour’s comments came after Waters attempted to sue his former bandmates and EMI Records for their continued use of the Pink Floyd brand. Waters lost the legal battle, and years later, he would admit it should have never happened in the first place.
Roger Waters Said He Regretted His Decision To Sue
Roger Waters has never been one to hold back his true feelings, including when the members of Pink Floyd attempted to carry on with the band after his 1985 departure. The band ultimately settled out of court on Christmas Eve 1987. Just over two decades later, Waters admitted he had made a mistake in a 2013 interview with the BBC.
“I was wrong! Of course I was. Who cares?” Waters glibly remarked, adding, “It’s one of the few times that the legal profession has taught me something. When I went to these chaps and said, ‘Listen, we’re broke, this isn’t Pink Floyd anymore,’ they went, ‘What do you mean? That’s irrelevant. It is a label, and it has commercial value. You can’t just say it’s going to cease to exist. You obviously don’t understand English jurisprudence.”
Gilmour and Waters’ relationship has still been tense over the years, but given both of their prolific musical careers, we’d say they both have plenty of projects to distract themselves from butting heads with their ex-bandmates.
Photo by Gus Stewart/Redferns