Roger Waters' role in Pink Floyd cannot be overstated. The bassist took a backseat to original frontman Syd Barrett during the band's early days, but Barrett's dimishing mental health led to him being booted in 1968. Waters stepped up in his friend's absence, and proceeded to turn Floyd into one of the defining rock bands of the 1970s.
Waters was the principal songwriter and conceptualist for most of the band's most iconic albums, including The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975) and The Wall (1979). Dark Side and The Wall remain near the top of the list when it comes to the best-selling albums of all time. Success did not breed camaraderie, however.
Roger Waters departed Pink Floyd in 1985
Roger Waters and guitarist David Gilmour, who had been added to the band when Barrett was fired, bumped heads during the making of The Final Cut (1983). Waters wanted to use some of the musical ideas that didn't make The Wall, while Gilmour pushed the band to record new material. Waters got his way in the end, and many view the album as a glorified Waters solo release.
The experience was so unpleasant, however, that Roger Waters decided to leave the band in 1985. He went on to release a string of critically acclaimed solo albums in the subsequent years, the most notable being Radio K.A.O.S. (1987) and Amused to Death (1992). When he wasn't recording, however, he was taking legal action against the other members of Pink Floyd.
Waters was frustrated by the fact that Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason and keyboardist Richard Wright continued to use the name Pink Floyd, and perform songs largely written by Waters during their tour sets. Waters felt he had been pushed out of the band, while Gilmour felt like Waters tried to hasten its demise by claiming subsequent Floyd releases were inauthentic.
Waters and Pink Floyd briefly reunited in 2005
Waters and the other band members eventually the suit, and the former even admitted that he had regret over filing it in the first place. He came to recognize that the name Pink Floyd carried weight, and that the other members deserved to use it as he did. "I was wrong," Waters told BBC News.
The bassist even reunited with Pink Floyd for the Live 8 Global Awareness event in 2005. It marked the only time he played with the band onstage since 1981, and it proved to be the last, as founding members Barrett and Wright died in 2006 and 2008, respectively.
Waters continues to tour, and perform the songs he wrote for Pink Floyd. His Dark Side of the Moon tour, which spanned 2010-13, became the highest grossing tour by a solo artist for a brief period. He also released a rerecorded, "redux" version of the classic album in 2023.