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‘They use bricks to use less “toilet water”… this is constructive… while in the Pink Floyd version he had to take the bricks out of the wall. The times they are a changing ;-). Now you figure it out about the lights…’
– YouTube users discuss Eric Prydz, Proper Education
I was just ten years old in 1979, but when Pink Floyd released Another Brick in the Wall Part II, the effect could not have been more dramatic. It’s hard to believe that it was only number one for five weeks over Christmas. Debate was so ferocious, we had a special assembly and class discussion. I remember teacher asking if anybody knew what ‘dark sarcasm’ was and, nervously, whether we thought she was sarcastic. The class girly swot said something very similar to YouTube user zzmann1982 (don’t worry, someone more in tune with Mista2112 gave her a slap after school).
Much was made of the fact that some Pink Floyd band members had received a good quality private education. The school suggested that Pink Floyd were singing for themselves; they didn’t need an education because they already had one. I don’t think Miss went as far as teaching us to spell ‘hypocrisy’ but she came damn close. But even ten-year-olds could see there was more to this music video than met the eye; hoards of faceless kids falling into a mincer was an easy message to understand. We lived close to where it was filmed and many lived in council flats exactly like those in the video.
The school had few answers for rebellious types inclined to challenge the system by pointing out that nobody is ever going to ask you to recite a times table in the real world.
Eric Prydz rebellion takes a somewhat different form. Here the kids break into teacher’s house not to shit on his pillow, but to install energy saving light bulbs (he’s too busy shagging to notice) and switch off electrical appliances left on standby. The little rascals!
