On This Day March 22, 1980: Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” hits number one

On This Day, March 22, 1980…

Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” hit number one on the Billboard singles chart, where it spent four weeks. The tune is the band’s first and only U.S. number-one single.

Written by Roger Waters, “Another Brick in the Wall” was a three-part composition that appeared on the band’s 1979 rock opera The Wall. “Part 2,” the only portion that was released as a single, was a protest song against corporal punishment at schools.

The tune featured a chorus of school children, who were compensated at the time for their contribution with concert tickets, an album and a single. In 2004, however, they successfully sued for royalties.

“Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” went on to sell over a million copies and also topped the charts in the U.K., Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany and elsewhere.