Us & Them: The Great Pink Floyd Debate Returns [POLL]

Ring The Division Bell, it's time to dust off one of rock & roll's greatest debates: Is David Gilmour disrespecting Roger Waters by making another Pink Floyd album without him?

Mike Portnoy took the match and lit the fire, I’m gonna stoke that fire some more. Portnoy, the former drummer for Dream Theater and currently with The Winery Dogs, said the following on his Facebook page last week:

“What’s this about a new ‘Pink Floyd’ album? Last I checked, [Roger] Waters is no longer in the band and [Richard] Wright and [Syd] Barrett are dead … If these are leftovers from ‘The Division Bell’ sessions, then just put ‘em up on a ['The Division Bell'] special edition release! It’s disrespectful to Roger and everything he built for all those years! Just do a solo album, Dave [Gilmour]…”

With all due respect to Portnoy, who must be a passionate Pink Floyd fan otherwise he wouldn’t feel so strongly about this topic, he’s not making any sense.

Any long-time Pink Floyd fan will tell you that Syd Barrett was not only a founding member of the band but he also came up with the band’s name and, more importantly, wrote and composed most of the songs in the early days including Arnold Layne and See Emily Play, two early Pink Floyd hits.

After Barrett was out of the band, Pink Floyd continued.

This is where Portnoy’s point loses its thunder.

If Gilmour is disrespecting Waters then that must mean Waters disrespected Barrett for continuing the band way back in 1968. As far as I know Barrett never gave Waters his blessing to do that. He never gave any of the band members permission to continue. He didn’t take Waters, Gilmour, Wright and drummer Nick Mason to court for continuing under the name Pink Floyd. You’ll recall Waters did just that to Gilmour and company back in 1986.

No doubt that Pink Floyd was legendary when it was Waters and Gilmour working with, against or off each other in the studio. It was magic. Dark Side Of The Moon is, in my opinion, the greatest rock album ever. But Pink Floyd can go on with or without Waters.

If fans like Portnoy don’t like it they don’t have to buy the album or download the songs. They’re also entitled to their opinions. My problem is Portnoy’s opinion just doesn’t add up.