Behind the scenes

Roger Waters – as is well known – is one of the architects of Pink Floyd’s greatest masterpieces, achieved especially during the '70s, after the departure of the band's original leader Syd Barrett. Before reaching those heights, however, the group didn't shy away from some reckless and unlikely experiments, which the former leader later disowned in toto.

There's one track in particular that Waters ended up despising outright. A track that even pushed him to abandon the attempt to craft a single and instead take the time needed to build something far more complex. It's the song “Point Me At The Sky”, which the English bassist loathed because he felt he was trying to imitate Barrett's vocal tone instead of finding his own. When asked about the track, he described it as “A notable failure”.

“Point Me At The Sky” ended up on a Pink Floyd 45 alongside “Careful With That Axe Eugene”, released on December 17, 1968. Written by Roger Waters and David Gilmour, the track didn't then appear on any Pink Floyd compilation until 1992, when it was included in the box set “Shine On”, specifically on the bonus disc “The First Singles”. Every version of “Point Me At The Sky” available to this day is in mono; no stereo mix of the track exists yet.

The song tells the story of a pilot who crashes after his plane suffers a mechanical failure.

It was right after “Point Me At The Sky” that Waters found his definitive vocal tone and understood what kind of music he really wanted to make. “We didn't know how to play, so we had to do something stupid and 'experimental'”, he would later say about some of those early '60s experiments.

But, as is equally well known, although there were a few early Pink Floyd songs that Waters didn't love, most of the tracks he openly declared he despised came after his departure from the group in 1985. Waters had no kind words for the songs on “A Momentary Lapse Of Reason” or “The Division Bell”, which he essentially described as David Gilmour's clumsy attempt to imitate the Pink Floyd sound at its peak. “With all due respect to the people who went out and bought those records, it's just garbage”, Waters said, speaking of his contempt for the songs written after his exit from the band.

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15/02/2026