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Pink Floyd icon returns with "Roger Waters The Wall"

With Waters’ vision, Pink Floyd became one of the most influential rock bands ever
New film "Roger Waters The Wall" follows Pink Floyd co-founder 06:39

Under the leadership of Roger Waters, Pink Floyd became one of the most influential rock bands ever.

Its breakthrough album, "The Dark Side of the Moon," spent 15 consecutive years on the Billboard charts. In 1979, the group released another album, "The Wall," which was certified platinum 23 times.

Nearly four decades later, the iconic album comes to life once more in the documentary "Roger Waters The Wall," in which the founding member weaves his recent theatrical tour through an intensely personal road.

"I started touring 10, 15 years ago, and I did a number of solo tours, and I've done a tour that was based on 'The Dark Side of the Moon' ... and thought well, maybe revisit 'The Wall,'" Waters said Wednesday on "CBS This Morning" about his decision to make the documentary.

Waters also gave credit to the late Mark Fisher, an architect who had designed the band's stage sets throughout the years who, Waters said, was "absolutely adamant" that he do the tour as they had done it in 1979.

"You have to physically build the wall and do the bricks, and that's the drama of the theater," Waters recalled Fisher saying.

But Waters said he didn't want to replicate exactly what they had done in 1979, which he described as "very much a personal narrative," and wanted to deliver a larger message.

"I said, 'We have to make this a more general statement about the state of the world and the need that people have to cooperate with one another beyond the barriers of faith or politics ... whatever those barriers might be,'" he said.

Waters spoke about his tradition of inviting 20 wounded men to his shows, calling it a "rewarding" experience to spend intermission talking to them.

One time he had a very emotional encounter with one of them just moments before he took the stage for the second half of the show.

"Just as I was leaving, he sort of stood in the way and put his hand out, and then he looked me in the eye, and he wouldn't let go of my hand ... and said, 'Your father would be proud of you,'" he recalled, still overcome by the emotions of that moment.

The film also tells Waters' personal experience of losing his father when he was just 5 months old and believing as a child that if he had tried hard enough, he could "somehow get him back."

Commenting on his controversial departure from the band after 20 years of success, Waters said that he felt he needed to "get out from underneath the umbrella."

"People grow in different ways, and we change as the years go by, and the time had come where we had diverged musically, physically and maybe politically," he said.

"Roger Waters The Wall" will be shown in select theaters on Sept. 29.

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