Pink Floyd – Another Brick In The Wall

The song, the film, and the wall that became a protest

Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) began as a solitary acoustic demo by Roger Waters, a reflection on suffocating schooling and the emotional walls it creates. When the band began recording The Wall in 1979, producer Bob Ezrin urged them to reshape it into something with mass appeal. He added a disco-inspired groove to David Gilmour’s guitar riff and insisted on bringing in a children’s choir from Islington Green School. Their chilling chant of “we don’t need no education” transformed the track into one of the most unforgettable protest songs of the rock era.

Released in November 1979, the single quickly shot to the top of charts worldwide, hitting No.1 in more than 10 countries, including the UK and US. Its success was unusual for a band associated with concept albums rather than radio singles, but the fusion of Waters’ biting lyric, the infectious groove, and the haunting choir struck a nerve at the end of the decade.

The song’s definitive visual identity came later. In 1982, Alan Parker’s feature film Pink Floyd – The Wall brought the music to the screen, and the sequence combining The Happiest Days of Our Lives and Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)became the official music video. It blended Gerald Scarfe’s grotesque animation with live-action drama: Bob Geldof as Pink, the tyrannical schoolteacher, children marching in unison before revolting, and the infamous shot of faceless students funneled into a giant meat grinder. After the film’s release, this hybrid sequence was broadcast as the video and remains the most widely recognized visual companion to the song.

The track is only one part of a larger three-piece suite across the album, tracing the life of the character Pink: from his father’s death in World War II, to his alienation under bullying schoolteachers, to the psychological breakdown that drives him into isolation. Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) stands as the anthem of rebellion in this cycle, but it’s framed by the quieter devastation of Part 1 and the militaristic frenzy of Part 3. The concept itself culminates not with rage, but with redemption. The album closes on Outside the Wall, an acoustic coda played by session musicians on mandolin, clarinet, and concertina, with a different children’s choir joining in. Waters described the song’s meaning to Rolling Stone: “We are redeemed when we tear our walls down and expose our weaknesses to our fellow man… sit around the fire and talk.” It’s a reminder that the protest of Part 2 is only one step in a larger journey from trauma to catharsis.

The live performances of The Wall in 1980–81 turned these metaphors into towering spectacle. Across the first half of each show, a massive 340-brick wall was constructed on stage, sealing the band off from the audience before being demolished in the finale. It was one of rock’s most ambitious stage productions, merging music and theater into a total experience.

The imagery lived on in major cultural events. On July 21, 1990, Roger Waters staged an all-star charity performance of The Wall at Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz, commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall. The production included surreal inflatables, like the towering “Teacher,” and even featured electronic musician Thomas Dolby in a grotesque teacher’s costume. When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame opened in 1995, its exhibits included elements from this staging: props, figures, and a reconstruction of the wall itself as a monument to one of rock’s defining works.

Beyond its theatrical and musical achievements, Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) became a political flashpoint. In apartheid-era South Africa, Black students adopted it as a protest anthem against segregated schooling. The government responded by banning both the song and the film in 1980, cementing its legacy as not just a rock hit, but a genuine rallying cry against oppression.

More than four decades later, Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) remains Pink Floyd’s only U.S. No.1 single, but its importance far surpasses chart positions. It represents the moment progressive rock crossed into mass consciousness, carrying with it not just sound and vision, but a message that continues to resonate wherever voices are raised against dehumanizing systems.