The Wall (1979) vs Operation: Mindcrime (1988) - Progressive Rock Music Forum

Jared wrote:

Cristi wrote:

very apples and oranges poll

Isn't it just? I wonder how many voters have both albums in their collection? I'd imagine many voting for 'The Wall' just don't enjoy Prog Metal full stop. In reality, this is 'Ryche's finest moment whereas The Wall is certainly nowhere near as good as what went before.

I have both, and don't particularly like either, The Wall is one of my least favorite Floyd albums, it would have made a great single album versus a double but that's probably heresy for fans.

I have something like 50 Prog Metal albums, more if you include Avant Metal like Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Queensryche just never connected with me at all.

Ian

Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com

https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/

I NEVER liked 'The Wall' (read my review if you want),so 'Operation: Mindcrime'.

I would like to say thanks to everybody for 2 pages of responses in less than a day, but also to respond myself to the "apples and oranges" accusation, as if I just randomly chose two albums for a poll.

I'm fully cognizant that Pink Floyd are considered Classic Prog, while Queensryche are considered Prog Metal. At the same time, I was "there and aware" when both albums were released, and I remember how listeners reacted upon hearing them for the first time. The Wall was FAR more immediately popular, as Pink Floyd had an amazing track record behind them, while Queensryche in 1988 were still considered "up and coming". Yet I'll never forget thinking when I first heard Operation: Mindcrime that "this is just The Wall all over again for a Metal audience."

Musically, they are very different, but THEMATICALLY I still see them as very similar. I'm not suggesting that Queensryche actually sat down and decided, "Let's write a new album with the exact same atmosphere and themes as The Wall", or that they plagiarized Pink Floyd's ideas. Rather, both albums stood out from everything else at the time by not only being musically ambitious, but also by experimenting with fatalistic nihilism.

Now that I've said that, I'm sure some will say, "You need to go back and listen again - you just didn't get it!" Perhaps, but this is how I see them now, and this is what suggested the poll.

QR – O:M for me. It was the soundtrack of '88! Watch the dragon burn!

eBay

Both are incredible albums but it’s The Wall

Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake."

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Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

Oh, for the wings of any bird, other than a battery hen

I have both

but

it's no contest

The Wall is a masterpiece for me

Mindcrime .... not so much

Prog On!

The Dark Elf wrote:

The Wall...and it's not even vaguely close.

Operation Mindcrime and it isn't even remotely close.

The Wall would be a 1* album if it wasn't for Comfortably Numb and Run Like Hell.

A TVR is not a car. It's a way of life.

Hercules wrote:

The Dark Elf wrote:

The Wall...and it's not even vaguely close.

Operation Mindcrime and it isn't even remotely close.

The Wall would be a 1* album if it wasn't for Comfortably Numb and Run Like Hell.

That’s just silly!!!🙄🤔😡😊

Heaven is waiting but waiting is Hell

I really don't know the Queensrÿche album well enough to feel comfortable voting in this. Like many I got to know the band for its Floydian/ David Gilmour lovefest of a song, Silent Lucidity. Nice but no Comfortably Numb. Speaking of Comfortably Numb, while that was a favourite song of mine off The Wall as a pre-teen, I don't much like that song anymore -- it's mostly those soaring Gilmour guitars that just don't really appeal to me anymore. Partially the song was overplayed but also all the kinds of imitation or just similar guitar stuff put me off -- I think it's been very influential to Neo-Prog (those kinds of soaring Gilmoureque guitars....). and Neo-Prog tends not to be my thing. Kind of too polished arena melodic rocky for my tastes.

From the Wall, I much prefer Mother, Goodbye Blue Sky, Waiting for the Worms, Run Like Hell and my favourite, One of My Turns (I've had some bad turns myself) to Comfortably Numb. I think the whole album is great. When I was camping overnight for tickets for The Wall in 1986 with my friends, it was magical when we had loads of people singing songs from the album together. I especially remember us doing Mother en masse.

Edited by Logan - May 27 2023 at 20:27

Just a fanboy passin' through.

Poll Question: Which do you prefer?
Poll Choice	Votes	Poll Statistics
Pink Floyd - The Wall	40	[70.18%]
Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime	17	[29.82%]
You can not vote in this poll