It’s tough to pinpoint a single time when Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and Roger Waters displayed their ability to get along. This difficult partnership was built on a layer of tension that became more divided as their perspectives diverged. As a result, by 1983, the band could no longer function as a cohesive entity. The debut album without Waters may have been ambitious at best, but the remaining members, Gilmour and Nick Mason, were determined to continue after winning a court struggle to use the title. As a result, 1987’s A Momentary Lapse Of Reason drew in a number of competent collaborators to assist them in realizing their genuine artistic vision, including The Wall producer Bob Ezrin.
Mason had been preoccupied with another pastime at the time, racing automobiles, which caused his musical abilities to deteriorate as his callouses softened. He generally felt too out of practice to handle the entire thing solo. To address this, Ezrin enlisted Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice to assist on a tune that required a particularly strong lineup. Drawing on the premise that politicians who utilize their militant attitude to instill negativity in society, ‘The Dogs of War’ need Appice’s fervent playing to give the music the heady, menacing vibe it possesses. According to the drummer, his contribution was required to provide “a little different inspiration,” particularly because, in Ezrin’s words, the music was “daring.”
According to Appice, Ezrin made the initial request via voicemail, saying: “Hey Carmine, I’m in the studio with Pink Floyd and there’s a track that’s just screaming for some Carmine fills.” When asked where Mason was, Ezrin responded, “He’s here, but he’s rusty, and everyone wants a change, so they’re bringing in guest drummers.” The concept of ‘The Dogs of War’ taking on an undeniably “daring” quality is obvious: not only does it sound dramatic and eerie in composition, but its lyrics also resemble protest music, with Gilmour’s voice appearing firm and demanding as he sings about the world becoming a “battleground” where “dealing in death is the nature of the beast.”
During this time, many people, including Appice, noticed that Floyd wasn’t getting much airtime on MTV, which instead focused on a small number of well-known musicians such as Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Journey, Foreigner, and others. According to Appice, the staleness of MTV contributed to Floyd’s risk of being forgotten; yet, adding musicians like himself and having the confidence to release songs like ‘The Dogs of War’ helped them preserve their relevance. As he stated in MTV Ruled the World – The Early Years of Music Video, “They never gave airplay to the other bands after a while.”
Regarding his involvement with A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, he stated, “I remember when it first started, it was always these individuals calling my manager, saying, ‘When Carmine’s in town, can he do an interview?’ So they used all of us to help get it started, but once it was underway, it was like, ‘Oh, forget about you guys.'”
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