Pink Floyd: Learning to Fly

To achieve greatness and beauty with a certain sense of simplicity; to regain your once lost power and make it happen again but with some difference than when of your previous glorious state. This description applies to both this video clip and to Pink Floyd's career at that very moment, their first combined effort without the presence of Roger Waters and the whole controversy surrounding "The Final Cut" (mostly a Waters project, lawsuits everywhere and Gilmour and company got the band's name for use). As said many times by the band members when of their return to the musical scene with "A Momentary Lapse of Reason", they weren't confident with their music anymore, they knew that a change of sound and vision was essential for staying in the business but they also couldn't afford to lose their loyal fans they conquered in between 1960's and 1970's. Basically, it's a new start over, learning to fly with new wings in order to redefine yourself. Pink Floyd succeed it. It's a great album though criminally underrated - listen to "Terminal Frost" just so you can experience true beauty. This song was the one that brought them back to life and the clip was fundamental in presenting the band to a new generation (although "Another Brick in The Wall" part from Alan Parker's film became an official MTV clip).

Going for what matters the most, the video is very simple: a young man on a field, the sensations that comes his way and urge to fly inter-cut with a Pink Floyd presentation, this time a mega event filled with backing vocals, musicians and the three remaining band members. Storm Thorgerson's concept doesn't necessarily interprets the song, just its magic and main points. A spectacular cinematography that follows our lead character transforming into a bird while making a fatal leap is one of the most spectacular clip moments of all time, with an aerial shot that looks both frightening and amazingly beautiful. In several ways, the song and the clip are quite inspirational just as the band's trajectory which followed with another successful tour with "The Division Bell" which produced more Floyd clips - like the visual spectacle of "Take it Back" and the reflective "High Hopes". Another fun fact of "Learning to Fly" if my concept of a band coming back to life seems ridiculous, some say that Gilmour was taking flying lessons at the time - he's a licensed pilot actually - and all his learning moments were the basics for the lyrics. Perhaps.

"Learning to Fly" is a perfect match between image and sound, one that 30 years later doesn't look or feel dated, makes you believe in everything you see (by the way, the Floyd concert feels like a magical event, great lighting, colors and they followed this visual idea through their future tours after this), and what a magnificent way to make us imagine the flight of Icarus, as I'd like think this represents in parts (flying with feathers but with a different result). A couple of views and you're refreshed, inspired and getting a bright perspective of everything. Clips hardly ever achieve that. 10/10

In this music video, we follow a young man who becomes obsessed with flying after spotting an airplane while working in a field. The visuals alternate between his story, scenes of an older Indigenous man-who bears a resemblance to some of Johnny Depp's more eccentric characters-performing jumps and tricks, and footage of Pink Floyd either playing in a concert hall or performing in natural outdoor settings.

Eventually, the young man finds an unexpected way to fly like a bird, all while the song plays in the background. It's a shame the track didn't become the hit it truly deserves to be-it's a strong, well-crafted Pink Floyd song. From what I understand, the music video actually performed better on video charts than the song did on radio playlists.