“The producer is looking at me across the room, eyebrow askew. Finally he says, ‘I don’t think so’”: The story of how Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess didn’t play on Pink Floyd’s The Wall

OSLO, NORWAY - JANUARY 21: Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater performs on stage at Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway on January 21, 2020 in Oslo, Norway. (Photo by Per Ole Hagen/Redferns)

(Image credit: Getty Images/EMI)

In 2016 Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess told Prog how close he’d come to appearing on Pink Floyd’s classic 1979 album The Wall – and why it didn’t happen.

“Many years ago I had a friend by the slightly unusual name of Bleu Ocean. He was a very good drummer; I believe he had been one of the studio drummers for The Monkees, playing with them behind the scenes.

Anyway, Bleu got the job of assembling a marching band that would appear on the Pink Floyd song Bring The Boys Back Home. I was hanging out at his place one day and he said, ‘Come on man – come to the studio and watch the recording of the track. You could even be a part of it!’

Well, I wasn’t a drummer – by that point I’d have been around 18 years old and I’d long since decided that keyboards would be my life – but I’d played some very basic snare drum when I was in third grade.

Bring the Boys Back Home - YouTube

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So I went with him to the session. I walked in and someone gave me a drum and some sticks. I’m playing along, and having a really good time. But as I’m doing so I become aware that Bob Ezrin, the producer, is looking at me across the room, eyebrow slightly askew. Finally he says: ‘I don’t think so.’

After he’d picked me out I went and sat in the control room; and long before anyone else we got to hear a playback of that track – though of course we had no idea of what it meant or where it would fit in the overall puzzle of Pink Floyd’s album.

I was fine with Bob’s decision. I was a very poor drummer. But there’s a part of me that still wishes I’d been able to appear on The Wall. That would’ve been very cool indeed!”

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Dave Ling was a co-founder of Classic Rock magazine. His words have appeared in a variety of music publications, including RAW, Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, Prog, Rock Candy, Fireworks and Sounds. Dave’s life was shaped in 1974 through the purchase of a copy of Sweet’s album ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’, along with early gig experiences from Status Quo, Rush, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Yes and Queen. As a lifelong season ticket holder of Crystal Palace FC, he is completely incapable of uttering the word ‘Br***ton’.

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