The 1998 Multi-Artist Tribute 'Back to the Wall' and Its Metal/Industrial Contributors

In 1998, the indie label Purple Pyramid put together Back to the Wall: A Tribute to Pink Floyd, one of the earliest multi-artist Floyd tribute albums to lean heavily into hard rock, metal, and industrial sounds. It wasn’t just a nostalgia play; the double-CD aimed to reinterpret classic songs through heavier lenses, drawing from the then-strong stoner rock and industrial scenes.

Monster Magnet contributed a grinding take on “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun,” blending their signature fuzz with the original’s spacey drone. Shriekback, better known for post-punk and art rock, offered “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I–V),” trimming the epic into a dark, percussive groove. Other metal/industrial names included guitarist Vernon Reid (Living Colour) on “Echoes,” Billy Sherwood (Yes, but also a session musician deep in prog-metal) on multiple tracks, and even a cover of “The Nile Song” by the Swedish doom band Spiritual Beggars. The album’s biggest surprise might be that it predates the flood of “metal tribute to Pink Floyd” projects by a decade, and it still holds up as a scrappy, era-defining snapshot of how the alternative scene claimed Floyd as their own.