Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” is one of the best selling albums of all time. Released in 1973, the orchestral-oriented theme album has sold 25 million copies, although some claim 45 million internationally and with streaming.
Since Luminate (formerly SoundScan) began counting, the number is up almost 12 million — similar to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”
But few people have wanted a new version of “Dark Side of the Moon” from one of its collaborators, Roger Waters. Yesterday, Waters’ Twitter account announced that his version — released on October 6th — would be available in a number of formats including vinyl LP. (Ironic that October 6th was the night of the Hamas attack on Israel. Coincidence? Read on.)
Why? Waters’ record has sold around 18,785 copies, which isn’t very much. Of that number, only 13,809 represent actual albums downloaded or sold as CDs. The 2.0 version of “Dark Side” is an unmitigated failure.
Someone responded to me on Twitter that I was wrong about Waters’s lack of customers. But numbers don’t lie. (I will not make a lame Brain Damage joke.)
Waters has systematically destroyed his career. His touring is successful because he’s the closest thing to a Pink Floyd cover band any of the group’s die hard fans can hope to see. Otherwise, the Floyd is over. Dave Gilmour and Nick Mason have no contact with Waters, and Gilmore’s wife has attacked him an anti-semite.
Indeed, Waters is happily antisemitic and Pro-Palestinian and has been for a long time. He’s a leader of the BDS movement (which I call Big Dumb Shits) that try to stop music acts from playing in Israel. In addition to speaking out against Israel constantly, Waters recently appeared on stage in a Nazi uniform.
So that’s it for the new “Dark Side of the Moon.” For older fans, we have put aside his bigotry to still enjoy the original version. When we hear it, we all secretly think, That’s before Roger Waters went crazy.
