January

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

Although Pink Floyd were not defending their heavyweight title in the ring anymore, they were no longer anonymous figures and enjoyed all the personal trappings of being one of the world’s most successful and influential bands. On 17 January 1996 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York Gilmour, Wright and Mason were inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame by Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan. After receiving the award Nick Mason returned to his seat, whilst Gilmour, Corgan and Wright performed an acoustic version of ‘Wish You Were Here’ (which may have been directed at Roger Waters).

June

Gilmour Plays On Quadrophenia

On 29 June 1996 Pete Townshend staged the first full live performance of his 1973 rock opera Quadrophenia for the Prince’s Trust charity at London’s Hyde Park in front of an estimated 150,000 people. An all-star cast featured Phil Daniels as the narrator, Gary Glitter as the rocker, Trevor McDonald as the newsreader and Dave Gilmour as the bus driver. Gilmour played guitar and shared vocal duties on ‘The Dirty Jobs’ and wore for the first – and possibly the last – time a pair of braces on stage. Apart from that, this was a busman’s holiday indeed!

October

Wright’s Broken China

In October 1996 Richard Wright released a very personal solo album. Although the name was lyrically coded, Broken China explored the depression suffered by his third wife, Mildred. ‘I wanted to express my feelings about what I was seeing,’ he told an interviewer at the time. Musically, the sound of the album contained elements of the ambient Floyd sound and Wright was assisted by an impressive list of collaborators including Floyd touring guitarists Tim Renwick and Dominic Miller, drummer Manu Katche and bass player Pino Palladino. Sinéad O’Connor featured as guest lead vocalist on two tracks, ‘Reaching For The Rail’ and ‘Breakthrough’.

Personalities | Introducing Pink Floyd
Personalities | Pink Floyd | The Post-Break Up Era (1999) | Key Events