London – Members of the children’s chorus who sang on Pink Floyd’s anti-authoritarian 1979 hit, “Another Brick in the Wall,” are owed thousands of dollars in payment, a royalties agent said.
Peter Rowan said he was representing one of the group, Peter Thorpe, in a bid for unpaid royalties. Rowan said he hoped other members of the group would join the claim for royalties from a fund set up in 1997 to compensate session musicians.
Two dozen students from Islington Green School in north London sang on the chart-topping track from the album “The Wall,” which was recorded at a nearby studio in 1979.
The song attracted controversy for the chorus sung by the children: “We don’t need no education/ We don’t need no thought control/ No dark sarcasm in the classroom/ Teachers, leave them kids alone.”
“It was seen as being quite improper,” said the school’s present head teacher, Trevor Averre-Beeson.
“The Wall” has sold more than 23 million copies and is the third best-selling album of all time, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
The school received a platinum disc and a payment in return for the children’s efforts, but the pupils weren’t paid.
“It’s a legal right and the money is building up,” Rowan said Friday.
