The Wall

The Wall is a rock opera presented as a double album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on November 30, 1979. It was subsequently performed live, with elaborate theatrical effects, and made into a film.

Following in the footsteps of their previous albums, The Wall is a concept album — specifically, it deals largely with the theme of isolation from one's peers. The concept was largely inspired by the band's 1977 tour promoting the album Animals, with regards to an incident where Roger Waters' frustration with the audience reached a point where Waters spat in the face of a fan who was attempting to climb on stage; this, in turn, led him to lament that such a wall exists. With its significantly darker theme, The Wall featured a notably harsher and more theatrical sound than their previous releases.

The Wall is a rock opera that centres on the character "Pink". Largely based on Waters' personal life, Pink struggles in life from an early age, having lost his father in war ("Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1)"), abused by teachers ("The Happiest Days of Our Lives"), nurtured by an overprotective mother ("Mother"), and deserted by his wife later on ("Don't Leave Me Now") — all of which factored into Pink's mental isolation from society, figuratively referred to as "The Wall". Once Pink is behind his Wall, he slowly becomes insane due to his isolation from his fellow man. This culminates at a concert held by Pink, where he sets his "men" on fans he deems unworthy. He then puts himself on trial ("The Trial") and finds himself guilty for causing his problems. The album then ends with a monologue by Waters; the fate of Pink is unknown.

The Wall quickly became a bestseller and was eventually certified 26x platinum. It is the Floyd's second-best-selling album after Dark Side of the Moon. However, The Wall contributed heavily to the split in the group that came soon after its release. Roger Waters (lead vocalist) fired keyboardist Rick Wright part way through the recording sessions and assumed most of the creative control over the album. Pink Floyd produced just one more album, The Final Cut, which was practically a Waters solo project, before Rogers finally left the band in the early 80's.

The Wall is one of the best-known concept albums. With over 30 million copies sold, it is the second best-selling album in the band's catalogue (behind The Dark Side of the Moon), the best selling double-album of all time, and one of the best-selling albums of all time overall. Some of the outtakes from the recording sessions were used on the group's next album, The Final Cut (1983). In 2000, it was voted number 30 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. In 2003, 2012, and 2020, it was included in Rolling Stone's lists of the greatest albums of all time. From 2010 to 2013, Waters staged a new Wall live tour that became the highest-grossing tour by a solo musician.