Radio K.A.O.S

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  The Music Slut Committee

  Steve

  "I know you all know this about me, but I'll repeat it anyway so its on the record. Pink Floyd is my favorite band and Roger Waters is the reason for that. While I do think Roger and David bring out the best in each other (neither of them did anything solo that was as good as their joint stuff), I am firmly in the camp of "Pink Floyd would be nothing without Roger." He basically defined to me what music could be and what it should strive to be. He taught me that songs can be bitingly political and witty/funny at the same time, that music can tell an expansive story, and that it can kick ass all the way through.

  Despite this, I also think he is one of the goofiest human beings on planet earth. I don't think I can think of an artist whose work I revere as much, and who I also simply cannot take seriously. He's a freak! A lunatic! Deeply unserious! This mfer really said "Dear Ukrainian Woman, you should stop resisting and let Russia come in, that way the violence would be over. By the way, send me pics of ur dog."

  Radio K.A.O.S. is the ultimate embodiment of that dynamic. It's a rock opera that is extremely earnest and heartfelt, Roger clearly has stuff he wants to say, and a lot of the messaging does land for me. BUT. It's also the cheesiest corniest silliest fucking thing I've ever listened to. The whole premise of a dude in a wheelchair picking up radiowaves in his head is such a bonkers stupid (offensive?) concept, but Roger commits fully to it in a way that almost comes across as endearing.

  I'm sitting here laughing at the album. Even in Radio Waves, I'm just thinking like "Man, Roger, why do you sound so old and tired? We're not that far removed from Floyd?" Or Home, like Nick said, a signature Roger Waters listicle song. Or Me or Him, which ends in such a fucking Roger way with TV commercials and cars going by...this dude has been doing the same stupid audio tricks for a decade!

  AND YET I LOVE THEM EVERY TIME. I turned on a Waters album and the second I hear advertisements crackling over static, I'm always like "Hell yeah brother, you change that channel!" To me, this is such a perfect distillation of who Roger Waters is. A guy that has serious things to say, pours his heart into it, but still comes across like a goofball because he is a fucking goofball. It's perfect." - Alex