Amused to Death
Studio album by Roger Waters
Released	September 1, 1992
Recorded	1988 - 1992 (?)
Genre	Rock
Length	72:45
Label	Columbia Records
Producer(s)	Roger Waters, Nick Griffiths, Patrick Leonard
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Rolling Stone NR link
Roger Waters chronology
Radio K.A.O.S. (1987) Amused to Death (1992) In the Flesh Live (2000)

Amused to Death is a solo album by former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters, released in 1992 (see 1992 in music). Roger Waters - Amused to Death album cover Used on Wikipedia under fair use guidelines: Low resolution copy of the album cover 223x223 RedWolf 00:27, Jun 12, 2004 (UTC) This is an album cover. ... A studio album is a collection of previously unreleased, studio-recorded tracks by a recording artist. ... George Roger Waters (born September 6, 1943) is an English rock musician; singer, guitarist, bassist, songwriter, and composer. ... September 1 is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years). ... Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Rock is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars, and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles, however saxophones have been omitted from newer subgenres of rock music since the 90s. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Columbia Records is the oldest brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888, and was the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... George Roger Waters (born September 6, 1943) is an English rock musician; singer, guitarist, bassist, songwriter, and composer. ... Patrick Leonard is an American songwriter, keyboardist and music producer, known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna on many different recordings. ... The All Music Guide (AMG) is a metadata database about music owned by All Media Guide. ... Image File history File links 4_stars. ... This article is about the magazine. ... George Roger Waters (born September 6, 1943) is an English rock musician; singer, guitarist, bassist, songwriter, and composer. ... This article is about the Roger Waters album. ... Returning from a 12 year long hiatus from the road, the In The Flesh tours were a showcase of Roger Waters best known work from his days with Pink Floyd to his recently released solo album Amused to Death. ... Pink Floyd are an English rock band that earned recognition for their psychedelic rock music, and, as they evolved, for their avant-garde progressive rock music. ... George Roger Waters (born September 6, 1943) is an English rock musician; singer, guitarist, bassist, songwriter, and composer. ... See also: 1992 in music (UK) Musical groups established in 1992 Record labels established in 1992 other events of 1992 list of years in music 1990s in music // 1992 was a pivotal year in the development of music. ...

Overview

Most consider this his best solo work. Featuring Jeff Beck on guitar, Amused to Death further explores Waters' disillusionment with modern Western society, focusing specifically on the influence of television and the mass media. The album was inspired by the book Amusing Ourselves to Death, a critique of television and its related culture by Neil Postman. Geoffrey Arnold (Jeff) Beck (born June 24, 1944 in Wallington, Greater London, England) is an English guitarist and songwriter. ... Disillusionment is the process of removal of an illusion from the human mind. ... For alternative meanings for The West in the United States, see the U.S. West and American West. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985), is a controversial book by Neil Postman in which he argued that mediums of communication inherently influence the conversations carried out over them, that television is the primary means of communication for our culture, that television has... Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... Neil Postman (March 8, 1931 - October 5, 2003) was a prominent American educator, media theorist, and cultural critic. ...

In typical Waters fashion, Amused to Death is a concept album— this one organized loosely around the idea of a monkey randomly switching channels on a television— but explores numerous political and social themes, including a critique of the First Gulf War, in which Waters has a loud choir sing his "global anthem" : "Can't you see? It all makes perfect sense. Expressed in dollars and cents, pounds, shillings, and pence." The song "Watching TV" explores the influence of mass media on the Chinese protests for democracy in Tiananmen Square. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Approximate worldwide distribution of monkeys. ... Combatants UN Coalition Republic of Iraq Commanders Norman Schwarzkopf, Peter de la Billière, Khalid bin Sultan, Saleh Al-Muhaya, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Saddam Hussein Strength 883,863 360,000 Casualties 378 dead, 1,000 wounded see section below The Gulf War or the Persian Gulf War (16 January 1991... United States one-dollar bill Canadian one-dollar coin (Loonie) One New Taiwan dollar Australian one-dollar coin 500 old Zimbabwean dollars The dollar (often represented by the dollar sign: $) is the name of the official currency in several countries, dependencies and other regions. ... A two-cent euro coin A United States penny, or 1¢ In currency, the cent is a monetary unit that equals 1/100 of the basic unit of value. ... ISO 4217 Code GBP User(s) United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies Inflation 2. ... Before decimalisation in 1971, a shilling had a value of 12d (old pence), and was equal to 1/20th of a pound: there were 240 (old) pence to the pound. ... Above: A variety of coins considered to be lower-value, including an Irish 2p piece and many US pennies. ... The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 were a series of demonstrations led by students, intellectuals, and labour activists in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) between April 15, 1989 and June 4, 1989. ...

The album is mixed in QSound to enhance the spatial feel of the audio, and the many Waters-style sound effects on the album - rifle range ambience, sleighbells, cars, planes, distant horses and dogs all make use of the 3-D facility. This album's stellar audio quality also caught the attention of renowned audio mastering guru Bob Katz, who placed Amused to Death on his Honor Roll List of Good-Sounding Pop CDs (as seen at digido.com). A limited "MasterSound" edition was also made. QSound is a sound enhancement system from QSound Labs to create 3D audio effects from a stereo source. ... The space we live in is three-dimensional space. ... Bob Katz is an audio mastering engineer who is known for his influential textbook on audio mastering[1] and his recording of jazz and classical music. ...

Amused to Death reached #21 on The Billboard 200, aided by "What God Wants, Part I", which hit #4 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks in 1992. The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. ...

Miscellanea

• The first song, The Ballad of Bill Hubbard, features a sample of World War I veteran Alfred 'Alf' Razzell, a member of the Royal Fusiliers (much like Waters' father Eric Fletcher Waters had been in the following war) who describes his account of finding fellow soldier William 'Bill' Hubbard – to whom the album is dedicated – severely wounded on the battlefield. After failed attempts to take him to safety, Razzell is forced to abandon him in no-man's land. This sample is continued at the end of the title track, at the very end of the album, providing a more upbeat coda to the tragic story.

• The second song, What God Wants (Part I), follows and greatly contrasts the moving words of Razzell by opening with the TV being tuned instead into an excerpt that sounds like it's taken from a vox pop with an oblivious young woman. She says, "I don't mind about the war. That's one of the things I like to watch, if it's a war going on. Cos then I know if, um, our side's winning, if our side's losing…" she is then ironically interrupted by the channel change and a burst of ape-chatter.

• The third song, Perfect Sense (Part I), begins with a loud, unintelligible rant, and after that one can hear backwards-uttered words scattered about for the first two minutes of the song. Played on reverse, this message tells that Roger has decided to record a backwards message. "Julia, however, in the light and visions of the issues of Stanley,we changed our minds. We have decided to include a backward message.Stanley,for you,and for all the other book partner's". The message climaxes with the loud screaming, which interestingly enough makes no more sense in reverse (although it can be said that it sounds angry in the way of cartoon swearing). Waters stated in an interview with Rockline on 8 February 1993 that he wanted to use samples of HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey on the album. Stanley Kubrick, the director, turned him down on the basis that it would open the door to many other people using the sound sample.[1] He has since then used audio of HAL describing his mind being taken away when performing the song live (as an intro, specifically during his In the Flesh concert tours, after Kubrick's death).

• Also in Perfect Sense, Pt.2, Marv Albert gives a mock commentary on the destruction of an oil rig with torpedoes fired by a submarine.

• Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea recorded a part for the album (specifically for a different, more uptempo version of It's a Miracle), but this was not used.

• Waters wrote portions of the lyrics by verbally improvising over the music.

• In The Bravery of Being Out of Range, Waters sings, "I looked over Jordan and what did I see. Saw a U.S. Marine in a pile of debris" – which echoes his similar line in Sheep (from Pink Floyd's Animals (1977): "I've looked over Jordan, and I have seen things are not what they seem."

• BBC Radio 1 refused to play the first single from the album, What God Wants (Part I) due to its lyrical content, outraging Waters. Two other singles along with What God Wants were released in Europe as Three Wishes and The Bravery of Being Out of Range. These two singles (as well as a video for Three Wishes) were slated for release in the US but were eventually cancelled.

• On The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the first song written by Roger, Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk, opens with the lyric, "'Doctor, Doctor" – although probably a coincidence, the concluding, title track Amused to Death begins with the same line.

• Don Henley contributed harmony vocals to the song Watching TV

• Charles Fleischer (better known as the voice of Roger Rabbit) performs the greedy evangelist's sermon at the beginning of What God Wants (Part II).

• The album title Amused to Death was attached to material that Waters began working on during the Radio KAOS tour. A prototype album cover was reportedly distributed to his record company, which included caricatures of three figures resembling David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright, floating in a martini glass. However, it was several years before the album was finally released, and it is unknown how much the material was changed in the interim. At the very least, the songs criticising the first Gulf War and President George Bush snr ("Old timer, who you gonna kill next?" "Does the recoil remind you of sex?" etc. in The Bravery of Being Out of Range), and Tiananmen Square were new or heavily rewritten, as those events occurred after the original writing.

• In Neil Postman's book The End of Education he remarks on the album: "The level of education required to appreciate the music of Roger Waters is both different and lower than what is required to appreciate, let us say, a Chopin étude... There is in short something missing in the aesthetic experience of our young."

“The Great War ” redirects here. ... The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a regiment in the British Army. ... Eric Fletcher Waters (born 1913 - died February 18, 1944) was a soldier in World War II. He was the father of Roger Waters, an English rock musician and songwriter, and was a major influence on his songwriting, despite never having met him. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Note: No mans land may also be understood as Terra nullius. ... Vox populi, which means literally in Latin voice of the people, is often used in broadcasting for interviews of members of the general public; usually the interviewees are shown in public places, and supposed to be giving spontaneous opinions in a chance encounter — unrehearsed persons, not selected in any... A cartoon is any of several forms of illustrations with varied meanings that evolved from its original meaning. ... February 8 is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... HAL 9000 (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) is a fictional character in Arthur C. Clarkes Space Odyssey saga. ... Returning from a 12-year long hiatus from the road, Roger Waters In The Flesh concert tours were a showcase of his best known work from his days with Pink Floyd to his recently released solo album Amused to Death. ... Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig on June 12, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American television and radio sportscaster, honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and is commonly referred to as the voice of basketball. ... Natural gas drilling rig A drilling rig or oil rig is a structure housing equipment used to drill for and extract oil or natural gas from underground reservoirs. ... The torpedo, historically called a locomotive torpedo, is a self-propelled explosive projectile weapon, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater toward a target, and designed to detonate on contact or in proximity to a target. ... Alvin in 1978, a year after first exploring hydrothermal vents. ... The Red Hot Chili Peppers are a multiple Grammy Award-winning American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1983. ... For other uses, see Flea (disambiguation) Michael Peter Balzary (born October 16, 1962 in Melbourne, Australia), better known by his nickname/stage name Flea, is an Australian-American bassist for the alternative rock/funk rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers and a frequent session musician for other music acts. ... Pink Floyd are an English rock band that earned recognition for their psychedelic rock music, and, as they evolved, for their avant-garde progressive rock music. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For any of the numerous radio stations with the name Radio 1, see Radio 1 (disambiguation) BBC Radio 1 is a British radio station operated by the BBC, specialising in popular music aimed at the 14-26 age bracket. ... The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is Pink Floyds debut album and the only one made under Syd Barretts leadership, although he made some contributions to the follow-up, A Saucerful of Secrets. ... Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk is a song by British psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd, and appears on their debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967). ... Donald Hugh Don Henley (born July 22, 1947 in Gilmer, Texas) is an American rock musician who is the drummer and one of the lead singers and songwriters of the band the Eagles. ... Charles Fleischer (born August 27, 1950 in Washington, DC, USA) is an American actor and voice artist, best known as the voices of both Roger Rabbit and Benny the Cab in Touchstone Pictures 1988 animation/live action hybrid film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. ... Baby Herman (right) and Roger Rabbit, as they appeared in the Roger Rabbit short Tummy Trouble. ... Radio K.A.O.S. is a 1987 concept album album by former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters. ... For the book of comics by Daniel Clowes see Caricature (Daniel Clowes collection) A common caricature of Charles Darwin focuses on his beard, eyebrows, and baldness, while often giving him the features of an ape or monkey. ... For the Canadian writer and television journalist, see David Gilmour (writer), for the British politician see David Gillmore. ... Nicholas Berkeley Nick Mason (born January 27, 1944 in Birmingham, England) is the drummer for Pink Floyd. ... Richard William Rick Wright (born July 28, 1943 in Hatch End, London, England) is a self-taught pianist and keyboardist best known for his long career with Pink Floyd. ... Combatants UN Coalition Republic of Iraq Commanders Norman Schwarzkopf, Peter de la Billière, Khalid bin Sultan, Saleh Al-Muhaya, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Saddam Hussein Strength 883,863 360,000 Casualties 378 dead, 1,000 wounded see section below The Gulf War or the Persian Gulf War (16 January 1991... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from 1989 to 1993. ... The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 were a series of demonstrations led by students, intellectuals, and labour activists in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) between April 15, 1989 and June 4, 1989. ... Neil Postman (March 8, 1931 - October 5, 2003) was a prominent American educator, media theorist, and cultural critic. ... George Roger Waters (born September 6, 1943) is an English rock musician; singer, guitarist, bassist, songwriter, and composer. ... Frédéric François Chopin as portrayed by Eugène Delacroix in 1838. ...

Quotes

The album title came from a short book by Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, which is about the history of the media, particularly as it relates to political communication - i.e., how things have changed since such works as Lincoln's speeches were made available for the general public to read. Neil Postman (March 8, 1931 - October 5, 2003) was a prominent American educator, media theorist, and cultural critic. ... Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985), is a controversial book by Neil Postman in which he argued that mediums of communication inherently influence the conversations carried out over them, that television is the primary means of communication for our culture, that television has... For other uses, see Abraham Lincoln (disambiguation). ...

And I had at one point this rather depressing image of some alien creature seeing the death of this planet and coming down in their spaceships and sniffing around and finding all our skeletons sitting around our TV sets and trying to work out why it was that our end came before its time, and they come to the conclusion that we amused ourselves to death.

Things coalesced slowly as I became more and more interested or obsessed, pick your word, with the inordinately powerful and all-encompassing effect that television seems to have on the human race. My general view is that television when it becomes commercialized and profit-based tends to trivialize and dehumanize our lives.

So I became interested in this idea of television as a two-edged sword, that it can be a great medium for spreading information and understanding between peoples, but when it's a tool of our slavish adherence to the incumbent philosophy that the free market is the god that we should all bow down to, it's a very dangerous medium. Because it's so powerful. The incumbent, in politics, is the current holder of a political office. ... The philosopher Socrates about to take poison hemlock as ordered by the court. ... A free market is an idealized market, where all economic decisions and actions by individuals regarding transfer of money, goods, and services are voluntary, and are therefore devoid of coercion and theft (some definitions of coercion are inclusive of theft). Colloquially and loosely, a free market economy is an economy...

I think the motivation is at the root of its current evil, i.e. it's because they have to compete in an open marketplace that their standards get reduced so the programming tends to end up as the cheapest possible saleable item. I don't believe that wanting to beat the opposition makes for good programming, but it's an ideology that is still rigidly adhered to.

— Roger Waters, speaking about the album to the LA Times, September, 1992

The Los Angeles Times (also L.A. Times) is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California and distributed throughout the Western United States. ...

Track listing

1. "The Ballad of Bill Hubbard" – 4:19
2. "What God Wants, Part I" – 6:00
3. "Perfect Sense, Part I" – 4:16
4. "Perfect Sense, Part II" – 2:50
5. "The Bravery of Being Out of Range" – 4:43
6. "Late Home Tonight, Part I" – 4:00
7. "Late Home Tonight, Part II" – 2:13
8. "Too Much Rope" – 5:47
9. "What God Wants, Part II" – 3:41
10. "What God Wants, Part III" – 4:08
11. "Watching TV" – 6:07
12. "Three Wishes" – 6:50
13. "It's a Miracle" – 8:30
14. "Amused to Death" – 9:06

All songs written and composed by Roger Waters. What God Wants is a series of songs written and released by ex-Pink Floyd frontman, Roger Waters on his third solo album, Amused to Death. ... What God Wants is a series of songs written and released by ex-Pink Floyd frontman, Roger Waters on his third solo album, Amused to Death. ... What God Wants is a series of songs written and released by ex-Pink Floyd frontman, Roger Waters on his third solo album, Amused to Death. ...

Personnel

• Roger Waters - synthesizer, bass, guitars, vocals
• Jeff Beck - guitar on tracks 1, 2, 11, 12, 13, and solos on tracks 10 and 14
• Rita Coolidge - vocals
• Don Henley - vocals on track 11
• Michael Kamen - arranger, conductor
• John Patitucci - bass and electric guitars
• Andy Fairweather-Low - acoustic, rhythm and electric guitars, vocals
• Geoff Whitehorn - guitar
• National Philharmonic Orchestra
• Marv Albert - voices
• Charles Fleischer - voices
• P.P. Arnold - vocals
• Graham Broad - percussion & drums
• Luis Conte - percussion
• John "Rabbit" Bundrick - organ
• Denny Fongheiser - drums
• Jeff Porcaro - Drums
• B.J. Cole - steel guitar
• Bruce Gaitsch - guitars
• Rick DiFonzo - guitar
• James Johnson - bass
• Kenneth Bowen - conductor
• John Dupree - arranger, conductor, string arrangements
• Doreen Chanter - vocals
• Linsey Fiddmont - vocals
• N'Dea Davenport - vocals
• Natalie Jackson - vocals
• Steve Lukather - electric guitar
• Jon Joyce - vocals
• Katie Kisoon - vocals
• Lynn Fiddmont - background vocals
• Jim Haas - background vocals
• Private William "Bill" Hubbard (1888-1917) - Eighth Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, City of London Regiment; dedicatee
• Alfred Razzel - voice; Royal Fusiliers

George Roger Waters (born September 6, 1943) is an English rock musician; singer, guitarist, bassist, songwriter, and composer. ... Geoffrey Arnold (Jeff) Beck (born June 24, 1944 in Wallington, Greater London, England) is an English guitarist and songwriter. ... Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945, in Lafayette, Tennessee) is an American singer. ... Donald Hugh Don Henley (born July 22, 1947 in Gilmer, Texas) is an American rock musician who is the drummer and one of the lead singers and songwriters of the band the Eagles. ... Michael Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer (especially of film scores), orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, song writer, and session musician. ... John Patitucci (born 1959) is an American jazz double bass player, specializing in hard bop, contemporary and Brazilian jazz. ... Andy Fairweather Low with his copies of Blues Matters! magazine ([1]) (Taken on November 4 2006) Andrew Andy Fairweather-Low (born 2 August 1946, in Ystrad Mynach, Hengoed, Wales) is a British guitarist, songwriter and vocalist. ... The National Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra created exclusively for recording purposes. ... Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig on June 12, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American television and radio sportscaster, honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and is commonly referred to as the voice of basketball. ... Charles Fleischer (born August 27, 1950 in Washington, DC, USA) is an American actor and voice artist, best known as the voices of both Roger Rabbit and Benny the Cab in Touchstone Pictures 1988 animation/live action hybrid film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. ... Pamela Arnold, professionally known as , was a British soul singer in the 1960s. ... Graham Broad (born on) is an accomplished drummer who has been playing professionally since the age of 15. ... John Rabbit Bundrick (born November 21, 1948) is a prominent American-born rock keyboardist, pianist, and organist, having played on albums by The Who, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Roger Waters, Free, and Crawler, among several others. ... Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was a highly regarded session drummer and a founding member of the Grammy Award winning band Toto. ... This article about a musical group, band, singer, musician, album, or song does not make it clear whether the subject meets the WikiProject Music criteria for notability. ... Year 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a regiment in the British Army. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a regiment in the British Army. ...

Charts

Album - UK

Album - Billboard (North America) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. ...

Singles - Billboard (North America) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. ...

External links

• Song-by-song analysis of the album

• [http://www.digido.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=45