The Wall overrated?

The wall is a great album but i dont think it deserves all the recognition. imo it was a sell out album because:
1. Every song had lyrics
2. Every song was under 9 minutes
3. most songs were structured like typical mainstream songs (verse chorus verse chorus)

call me crazy but what do you guys think?

I don't think it's a sell-out album. Not every Pink Floyd song has to be 20 minutes long and full of spacy instrumentals. I like that kind of Floyd, but I think The Wall was more to the point (shorter songs, more lyrics, and typical song structures) to get the story across in a simpler way.

I think you're crazy...but as much entitled to your opinion as am I.
Welcome and enjoy the boards.

I don't think it was sell-out, just poorly concieved. Roger went over his head, and nobody else was really into it. That's why its full of short songs with lyrics. Also it has no epic. The whole thing is an epic.

50% of it is still shit tho.

I think you're a bit crazy too.

It was an ambitious (and in my mind...quite successful) attempt at describing an ENTIRE psychological / emotional position. The gradual building of the wall is really well portrayed by the music on the first CD. Particularly with the additional little bits on ITAOT.

I agree, and i relate, and all, but it could have been a little more, um, fat-cut from it.

Yeah, Bring the Boys Back Home, and Vera Lynn and all that stuff doesn't gel really well for mine.

IMO it IS overrated. I will never say it's crap, matter of fact it's good, but it is not a perfect Floyd work as Dark Side or WYWH. Musically it has several weak parts and it suffers the limits of the LP format. ITAOT is better because it has more music, more solos, more space for David and Rick, more feel, they were actually playing together. Pink Floyd were collapsing at that time and you can feel it in the studio version.

I agree with NNJ, it would have made a much better album if some of the "fat" had been trimmed, however, it produced the most awesome gig I've ever seen and I'd hardly refer to the album as a "sellout".

1. The Wall is overrated. Yes, it's a great album but it usually unfairly overshadows better albums like Dark Side of the Moon. People often act like it's the only worthwhile Pink Floyd album. I would normally say Pink Floyd is underrated (they're usually thrown in with the 'classic rock' crowd), but the Wall is overrated.

2. It wasn't a sell-out album. Pink Floyd were already huge, and had been since 1973, so they didn't need to sell-out.

Just a few Q's...

Overrated? Who over-rates it? It is what it is - a hugely popular double album with some great stuff and some not-so-great stuff.

"Deserves all the recognition". What recognition is it getting that it doesn't deserve. It's just a hugely popular double album with some great stuff and some not-so-great stuff.

Other than Roger, the band doesn't hold the album in the same high regard as, say, WYWH or DSotM. Even on this site, we fanatical PF fans don't hold it as high as WYWH, DSotM, or possibly some of the others (I'd like to see a Meddle/Wall poll).

IMHO, it's an album (or CD) that I am glad to have in my collection (along with ITAOT). Roger displays his sheer brilliance in song-writing and psychological insight with songs like Nobody Home, ABITW (pt 1 and 3 in particular), Empty Spaces/What Shall We Do Now, etc. And Gilmour's additions to the album are top notch. I can't imagine what seeing them over the last two tours would have been like w/o CN and Run Like Hell to close out the shows!

I think the fans are the ones overrating it. God knows its not the critics.

I like The Wall, but yes, it is over-rated. It does over-shadow their earlier releases like DSOTM, WYWH etc. Whenever I talk to someone about Pink Floyd, the only album they know of is The Wall. Or they just know the song Another Brick in The Wall part 2. It's sad that their earlier releases were erased from some minds because of The Wall's massive success.

To casual fans maybe but I reckon the rest of us are a bit more discerning.

I can't see how, The Wall overshadows DSOTM at all...didn't it spend years on BillBoard charts? I personally, have never felt that it was overrated. Now, critics, may feel differently, but I really don't care what the reviews say. The Wall, is deeply entwined with mental, abusive, painful issues. Roger opened himself to anyone who'd listen. Why? So people could say his life was overrated? I don't think so. (sorry, I am having a bad day)