Remember When: Roger Waters Told Joe Rogan He “Couldn’t Care Less” About AC/DC, Van Halen

Former Pink Floyd member and co-founder Roger Waters has never shied away from giving his opinion. However, Roger Waters once said something about AC/DC and Van Halen was pretty shocking, even to his own fans.

Back in 2022, Waters was a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience. He talked about his career, life, and general Roger Waters thoughts for almost three hours with host Joe Rogan. During that chat, he mentioned that he was writing a book about his life but wanted to save the Pink Floyd era for the very end, as it was difficult for him to write about.

Rogan chimed in that Pink Floyd’s infamous breakup might be the biggest band breakup of the 20th century. Rogers somewhat agreed, but also noted that he wasn’t exactly well-versed in rock history.

“Maybe,” said Rogers. “I’m not very up on rock history, because I’m not very interested in most popular music. I mean, there are certain people that I’m a great fan of. Mainly the writers, the singer-songwriters, you know. So, Bob Dylan and Neil Young. But I won’t start a long list, because I probably could, but it’s that end of the spectrum that I’m more interested in.”

The Comment That Surprised Roger Waters’ Fans and Rock Fans in General

Despite being part of one of the biggest psychedelic/prog-rock music acts of all time, Waters went on to say that he wasn’t really interested in loud rock music. This led to a comment about AC/DC and Eddie Van Halen that was pretty shocking to hear.

“[I’m] not really interested in loud rock ‘n’ roll,” he said. “Which some people are and they love it, but I couldn’t care less about AC/DC or Eddie Van Halen or any of that stuff. […] And I’m sure Eddie’s brilliant and a great guitar player and wonderful. It just doesn’t interest me.”

If Roger Waters wanted to outright insult AC/DC or Van Halen, he would have definitely said something a bit more cheeky. The fact that he alluded to Van Halen’s brilliance shows that he’s more or less just not interested in the “new” stuff.

We can’t really blame him. Rock music has evolved substantially in the last century. Even though Pink Floyd influenced countless new acts and genres, you can’t expect everyone to love hard rock.

Photo by Kate Izor

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