38 years ago today, Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2) started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart.

When most people think about the video for Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2), they probably remember the scenes from Alan Parker’s Pink Floyd — The Wall, with the school children marching into the tunnel and being dropped into the meat grinder.  However, the “official” video came out shortly before the release of the Parker film.  It was directed by Gerald Scarfe, who was responsible for the film’s animated scenes.  (Clips from Scarfe’s animation for The Trial and Waiting for The Worms are prominently featured in the video.)  It also features the teacher puppet that was used whenever The Wall was performed in concert.

The children in the video are not the same children who sang on the track.  The children on the track were all students at Islington Green School.  When the track, with its chorus of “we don’t need no education/we don’t need no thought control,” was released, it proved to be so controversial that the head teacher at Islington Green forbade the students from performing the song on Top of The Pops and from appearing in the video.  In fact, the members of the chorus heard in the song did not even receive any royalties from its success until 2004.

Enjoy!