Pink Floyd facts: Another six in the Wall

Pink Floyd's "The Wall" is one of the biggest albums in rock history, spawning a film, a 1990 concert in Berlin celebrating the fall of the real wall and, of course, architect Roger Waters' latest concert tour, which stops at Nassau Coliseum Tuesday and Wednesday.

But here are six facts you may not have known about Waters, Floyd and the big white brick thing.

1. "The Wall" has sold 23 million copies in the United States, behind only Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and the Eagles' "Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975," both at 29 million.

2. Even at 67, Waters won't say what it all means. The antiauthoritarian passions of "The Wall," he has told interviewers, come from strife within Pink Floyd, his divorce at the time and his father's combat death in Italy during World War II.

3. The first single, "Another Brick in the Wall," almost wasn't a hit. Dick Asher, an executive at Pink Floyd's record label, Columbia, decided in 1979 to avoid using shady independent promoters who leaned on radio programmers to break singles. When "Brick" suffered, according to Fredric Dannen's "Hit Men," Floyd's manager complained, Asher caved, promoters were hired and the single became huge after all.

4. For "Comfortably Numb," guitarist David Gilmour originally insisted on a basic bass-drums-guitar track, but, producer Bob Ezrin told Guitar World in 1993: "I fought for the introduction of the orchestra on that record - the expansion of the Floyd's sound to something that was more orchestral, theatrical . . . 'filmic' is the word. Roger sided with me."

5. The giant inflatable pig, a "Wall" live staple, belongs to Waters. He copyrighted it in 1976, but he and Gilmour went to court over ownership. In the end, Waters kept the rights, but Gilmour used the pig onstage anyhow on future Pink Floyd tours (without Waters), adding an exaggerated appendage to make it . . . creatively unique.

6. During the performance of "Goodbye Blue Sky," a cartoon B-52 drops bombs resembling the Star of David, corporate logos and dollar signs. The Anti-Defamation League declared "anti-Semitism," but Waters responded to a London newspaper that they're "representative of religious and national and commercial interests, all of which have a malign influence on our lives."

WHO Roger Waters

WHEN | WHERE 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Nassau Coliseum

INFO $71.40-$271.50; 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com

What critics say

Much of the show was faithful to the original tour and film - roadies used bricks the size of Frigidaires to construct a wall while Waters' 12-piece band played the 23-times-platinum opus from front to back. But the show from the past constantly referenced the present." - Jed Gottlieb, Boston Herald

Thirty-odd years on, not every song held up as well as 'Mother' (done as a virtual duet between Waters and a video of his younger self), 'Young Lust' or 'Run Like Hell,' although there was plenty to take in, even when the score dragged in spots." - John Soeder, Cleveland Plain Dealer

The songs

In the Flesh?

The Thin Ice

Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1

The Happiest Days of Our Lives

Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2

Mother

Goodbye Blue Sky

Empty Spaces

What Shall We Do Now?

Young Lust

One of My Turns

Don't Leave Me Now

Another Brick in the Wall, Part 3

The Last Few Bricks

Goodbye Cruel World

Hey You

Is There Anybody Out There?

Nobody Home

Vera

Bring the Boys Back Home

Comfortably Numb

The Show Must Go On

In the Flesh

Run Like Hell

Waiting for the Worms

Stop

The Trial

Outside the Wall