The truth is Waters and Gilmour (really all the band) came from what would have been considered the middle upper crust, privileged part of society in post WWII England. Many others Brits were in poverty in a very depressed economic time. Musically you can compare what was produced by the poor, blue color (heavy metal) industrial Birmingham area (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, etc.) vs. Pink Floyd and the “progressive bands” of the time. As a guitar player who has been heavily influenced by Gilmour I tended to side with Gilmour over Waters, but as time has gone on in the last 10 to 20 years I realized Gilmour as much as Waters were both stubborn egotists with nasty dispositions if their feathers got ruffled. Gilmour is more passive aggressive while Waters lays it all out there. I guess his literary side can’t help itself. So Gilmour seemed to always come off as the nice guy especially among younger folks who didn’t realize there was a whole life (arguably the most important) of the band prior to The Wall. Politically they’re both typical elite types with ridiculous opinions.
Having said this I will always be a huge fan and love the Waters, Gilmour, Wright, Mason Pink Floyd as one of the best bands ever. As far as Waters artistic credibility, I remember him saying that “many people can write a single verse that might be of some interest, but try writing a second just as good or better and then another and even another having them all connect in some way and come together to form a story…”Not many can do that”!
P.S.
And for those who think Gilmour was such a nice guy and was all about the band and music…
“In 1986, Gilmour began recruiting musicians for what would become Pink Floyd's first album without Waters, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. There were legal obstacles to Wright's re-admittance to the band, but after a meeting in Hampstead, Pink Floyd invited Wright to participate in the coming sessions. Gilmour later stated that Wright's presence "would make us stronger legally and musically", and Pink Floyd employed him as a musician with weekly earnings of $11,000.“
Just a hired hand…sounds like he didn’t really care much for Wright just like Waters during the last stages. I think Richard Wright was a critical part of the band. It was his Jazz influenced chords and turn arounds on DSOTM that make many parts of that all time great recording. Also Gilmour’s PF pt.2 took many other outsiders (Engineers, Producers) to make it what it was. Lyrically Gilmour just can’t write a good song. The Division Bell lyrics are almost 100% his wife’s.
One more thing we should never forget is a guy named Alan Parsons that was key in PF’s best material. Although I do think Animals is on par with the previous.
…Edited for silly spelling and grammatical errors
But it is stunning and in the middle of the most lamenting tone and visual imagery there’s the very typical sardonic humor of the pig silhouette floating across the screen. The whole Pig thing is all Waters all the way from Animals and the Battersea Power Station photo with it coming loose and floating across London disrupting Heathrow Airport up until present day.
