The “daring” Pink Floyd song that required Carmine Appice
(Image credit: Far Out / Alamy / Frank Dumont)
It’s difficult to find a single moment that demonstrates the ability of Pink Floyd duo David Gilmour and Roger Waters to actually get along. This kind of tumultuous relationship was built on a layer of friction that grew stronger the longer their visions diverged. As a result, by 1983 the band could no longer continue as a functioning unit.
The first album without Waters was perhaps ambitious at best, but the remaining members, Gilmour and Nick Mason, were keen to continue after winning a legal battle over the use of the name. The result was 1987’s A brief loss of reason brought in a number of experienced accomplices to help them realize their true artistic vision, including The wall Producer Bob Ezrin.
At the time, Mason was busy with another hobby: racing cars, which caused his musical skills to wane after his calluses softened. He generally felt too out of practice to tackle the entire project alone. To remedy this, Ezrin called in Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice to help him with a song that needed a particularly strong line-up.
“The Dogs of War” is based on the idea that politicians use their militant stance to bring negativity into society. Appice had to unleash his passionate playing to give the piece the intoxicating, eerie quality it exudes. According to the drummer, his input was needed to provide “a slightly different inspiration,” especially because the piece was, in Ezrin’s words, “daring.”
According to Appice, Ezrin’s first request came via voicemail, which read, “Hey Carmine, I’m in the studio with Pink Floyd and there’s a track that’s crying out for some Carmine fills.” When asked where Mason was, Ezrin replied, “He’s here, but he’s a little rusty and everyone wants a little variety, so they’re bringing in guest drummers.”
It is clear that “The Dogs of War” takes on an undeniably “daring” quality: not only does the composition sound dramatic and eerie, the lyrics are also reminiscent of protest music. Gilmour’s voice sounds firm and demanding when he sings about the world becoming a “battlefield” where “dealing with death is part of the nature of the beast.”
During this time, many, including Appice, noticed that Floyd was not getting much airtime on MTV and the channel was instead showcasing the same handful of established artists like Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Journey, Foreigner and others. In Appice’s view, the staleness of MTV contributed to Floyd being in danger of being forgotten, but the commitment of musicians like himself and the courage to release songs like “The Dogs of War” helped them maintain their relevance.
When he inserted it MTV ruled the world – The early years of the music video: “After a while, they never gave the other bands any airplay anymore.”
About the participation in A brief loss of reasonHe added: “I remember when it first started, it was always these guys calling my manager and asking, ‘If Carmine’s in town, can he do an interview?’ So they used all of us to get it going, but then when it started, it was like, ‘Oh, forget you guys.'”
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