Weeks: 4
Ah, I remember seeing the music video for the full version of "Another Brick in the Wall" when I was way too young for it. There's some good old-fashioned nightmare fuel right there.
I've never particularly liked this song. Maybe it's due to that traumatic childhood memory, evoking the video every time I hear it. Maybe it's because I generally enjoyed school. Maybe it's because the song has been taken out of context and misappropriated as an anti-education anthem, and I'm not generally a fan of people who are anti-education. Or people who take things out of context, for that matter.
According to what I've read, the writer, Roger Waters, was specifically writing about his own grammar school experience in 1950s England. "He hated his grammar school teachers and felt they were more interested in keeping the kids quiet than teaching them." (SongFacts.com). That's fair. I certainly felt that way sometimes in school. But I don't think the lyrics successfully communicate that feeling. Instead the song makes education synonymous with thought control, and shouts "Teachers, leave those kids alone." The actual message seems to have been lost during the writing, and it's just anti-school now.
The music is dark 70s guitar rock. It's full of minor chords, and is actually kind of unpleasant to listen to. Obviously that's the artistic intent and I won't fault Pink Floyd for making art. But that doesn't make it good pop music. In fact, this is exactly the kind of song that seems fine within the artistic context of an album, but once it escapes its context it loses a lot of value.
My verdict: Don't like it. Listening to it again now hasn't changed my mind about the points I made above.
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