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Flint’s Classic Rock – 103.9 The Fox

Pink Floyd – ‘Run Like Hell’

  • Writers: Roger Waters and David Gilmour
  • Producers: Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour and Roger Waters
  • Recorded: April-November 1979 in France, New York, and Los Angeles
  • Released: November 1979
  • Players:
    Roger Waters — vocals, bass
    David Gilmour — vocals, guitar
    Rick Wright — keyboards
    Nick Mason — drums
  • Album: The Wall (Columbia, 1979)
  • Also On:
    The Delicate Sound Of Thunder (Columbia, 1988)
    The Wall Live In Berlin (Mercury, 1990)
    Pulse (Columbia, 1995)
    Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live (Capitol/EMI, 2000)
  • The climactic rocker of Pink Floyd‘s epic The Wall, “Run Like Hell” peaked at Number 53 on the Billboard Hot 100.
  • Guitarist David Gilmour came up with the music for this track while recording his first solo album in 1978. Bassist Roger Waters added the menacing lyrics while the group was recording The Wall.
  • When “Run Like Hell” was played during the original concerts for The Wall, it was accompanied by one of Pink Floyd’s most famous props — the flying pig.
  • “Run Like Hell” has become one of the most popular songs in Pink Floyd’s repertoire, played on all of the band’s tours since its release, used in the film soundtrack for La Carrera Panamericana, and given a dance remix by Waters in 1990.
  • Prior to recording the album, Waters presented his bandmates with two possible concepts — The Wall, which they chose, and another set of songs, which went on to become his first solo album, The Pros And Cons of Hitch Hiking.
  • The Wall was recorded in several studios, including Super Bear in France (where Gilmour and keyboardist Richard Wright had recorded solo albums), CBS in New York, The Producers Workshop in Los Angeles, and the group’s own studio in London. Work at the latter was not declared for tax reasons.
  • At the time of the recording, in fact, Pink Floyd was in dire financial straits following the collapse of their accounting firm, which had placed much of the band’s money in poor investments.
  • The Wall hit Number One on the Billboard 200 in January 1980 and stayed there for 15 weeks.
  • It has sold more than 23 million copies in the U.S. alone.
  • The Wall hit Number One in every other country except Japan and, surprisingly, in Pink Floyd’s homeland of England.
  • Tensions were high within the band at this point, with Gilmour, Wright, and drummer Nick Mason fighting Waters’ control of the band. Waters even insisted that Wright leave the band or he would scrap the project — meaning the group wouldn’t be able to recoup their financial losses. Wright reluctantly agreed.
  • Wright and Mason were also mistakenly left off the album’s credits in its first printing. The error was corrected on subsequent editions.
  • In addition to the Floyd members, a number of uncredited studio musicians also contributed to The Wall.

FAST FORWARD:

  • Pink Floyd staged a massive performance for The Wall, which included the construction of a foam brick wall at the front of the stage during the show, which was symbolically knocked down. Because of its size, The Wall concert was only performed in New York, Los Angeles, and London in 1980 and in Germany and London in 1981.
  • A film adaptation, directed by Alan Parker and starring Boomtown Rats frontman and Band Aid/Live Aid founder Bob Geldof, was released in 1982.
  • Waters staged an all-star performance of The Wall in 1990 in Berlin, to commemorate the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and to raise money for the Memorial Fund For Disaster Relief.
  • Pink Floyd was the subject of a nasty legal battle between its members in the late ’80s. After Waters announced that he quit the band in December 1985, Gilmour, Mason, and Wright announced that they would carry on using the name. Waters sued to keep them from working as Pink Floyd, but he was unsuccessful.
  • Pink Floyd last toured the world in 1994, in support of their album The Division Bell.
  • Pink Floyd was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
  • In November 2003, Gilmour was given a Commander Of The British Empire Award (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in London. The CBE is an honorary title that ranks just below knight.
  • Over the past couple of years, Gilmour has donated millions of dollars to Crisis, the U.K. organization that deals with issues affecting homeless people.

Pink Floyd regrouped to perform at the London Live 8 concert in 2005. No further reunions are planned. .