Roger Waters' best political songs ranked by Ultimate Classic Rock

Ultimate Classic Rock has ranked the best political songs written by Roger Waters, according to OndaRock. The list draws on Pink Floyd albums and on the English musician's solo career, from “Pigs (Three Different Ones)” (1977) to “Picture That” (2017).

The magazine notes that Waters' early Pink Floyd songs leaned towards fantasy and wonder at the natural world. Things changed after “The Dark Side Of The Moon” (1973) and “Wish You Were Here” (1975): on “Animals” (1977), “The Wall” (1979) and “The Final Cut” (1983), his last albums with the band, he took aim at the power-hungry, moralists, war criminals and the rich. Solo, he was far less prolific, with only four rock albums of new material up to the 2010s, but he commented sharply on current events, above all on “Radio K.A.O.S.” (1987) and “Is This The Life We Really Want?” (2017). The magazine also recalls that his outspoken support for Palestinians has drawn repeated accusations of antisemitism.

The list features “Two Suns In The Sunset” and “Southampton Dock” (from “The Final Cut”), “Watching TV” and “The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range” (from “Amused To Death”, 1992), “Smell The Roses” and “Picture That” (from “Is This The Life We Really Want?”), “The Powers That Be” and “Home” (from “Radio K.A.O.S.”), along with “Pigs (Three Different Ones)”.

Born in 1943 in Great Bookham, Roger Waters co-founded Pink Floyd. His newest studio album is “The Dark Side of the Moon Redux” (2023), according to MusicBrainz. In October mbuzz reported that Waters attacked Metallica's James Hetfield on a podcast, and in September that he and his son Harry announced 58 North American dates in 2027 for “Legacy – A Pink Floyd Show”.