Roger Waters identified blues and folk musician Lead Belly as the source of what he considered rock and roll’s finest qualities. The article argues that this view reflects Waters’s belief that meaningful, socially conscious music matters more than conventional pop appeal, and links that outlook to his work with Pink Floyd.

Waters said his musical interests reached back to early 20th-century artists and the protest songs emerging from the blues, despite also admiring Elvis Presley. He argued that later artists, including Neil Young on Rust Never Sleeps, had not moved far from the traditions of Bessie Smith and Lead Belly; the article also notes Lead Belly’s influence on musicians such as Kurt Cobain.