Out of the blue, a new Pink Floyd single has arrived. Spurred on by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was launched to raise funds for humanitarian aid in the country.
The internet, being the internet, has had its say. And based on much of the response, one could be forgiven for thinking that a favorite band releasing new music for a good cause wasn’t worth celebrating.
We are talking about the crushing boredom of the lineup which bores, of course, those for whom the absence of Syd Barrett, or Roger Waters, or Rick Wright (who have been cumulatively absent from the band for over a century) makes some sort of music produced by any other formation in the group other than their chosen illegitimate favorite.
“No Waters, no Floyd!”, they bleat. “It’s not Pink Floyd!” they groan, slowly turning threads that started with positive humanitarian action news into the usual toxic mush of social media. It’s exhausting. And his so dull.
As always, there is a bigger picture. Releasing the song under the Pink Floyd banner is spinning Hey hey get up in a far bigger story than what was published by “David Gilmour and Friends,” and a big story is exactly what is needed when raising money to alleviate a real humanitarian crisis. So when thousands have been killed and millions fled their homes, complaining about the absence of a member of the band that left 37 years ago is rude at best. At worst, it is to despise suffering.
Pink Floyd may be back for just one single, but it’s entirely possible that for someone displaced from the ruins of kyiv – or Kharkiv, or Lviv, or Mariupol – the money raised from the release of Hey hey get up might make more of a difference in their lives than The Dark Side of the Moon or The wall never done.
Then listen to the single. Broadcast it on a loop. Tell your friends to do the same. Celebrate the release, even if you hate the song. Because it’s for a good cause, and that’s the only thing that matters.
Flow Hey hey get up (opens in a new tab).
