David Gilmour Says Being ‘Rude and Insulting’ Helped Pink Floyd

David Gilmour believes success hindered Pink Floyd’s ability to accept criticism.

During a conversation with The Sun, Gilmour explained how the band’s creative dynamic changed.

“After you achieve these dizzying heights, people tend to show you way too much deference,” the guitarist explained. “It becomes hard to retrieve the setup you had when you were young.”

As Gilmour pointed out, success made it difficult for members of the group to accept opinions different than their own.

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“In the earlier stages of Pink Floyd, we could be as rude and insulting to each other about our personalities and our music as we wanted,” the rocker noted, “and yet everything would be all right in the end.”

Of course, then the day came that things were no longer all right.

“No one ever stomped off permanently — until that bloke did.”

“That bloke” who Gilmour is referring to is Roger Waters, the band’s bassist and primary songwriter, who acrimoniously quit Pink Floyd in 1985.

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“We never managed to come to a common view of the dynamic that existed within the band, of who did what and whether or not it was right,” Waters declared to Rolling Stone two years later. “It was an irritation to start with, and it became an impossible irritation towards the end.”

Pink Floyd’s most famous lineup would only reunite one more time. In 2005, Gilmour, Waters, Richard Wright and Nick Mason performed a brief set at the Live 8 benefit concert in London.

What Is David Gilmour Doing Now?

Gilmour’s fifth studio album, Luck and Strange, is set for release on Sept. 6. It marks the musician’s first solo LP in nine years.

According to The Sun, the guitarist claimed the new album is his most satisfying work since The Dark Side of the Moon.

“There’s a wholeness to it that I can’t pin down,” Gilmour explained. “It goes all the way through without any concept album bullshit.”