Suffice to say that we are in the camp of those who see genius in this ancient British rock group, we see monumental structure and grace, and deep empathy with the human condition, in the collected works.

This weekend (07/26/95), VH1 will break one of the primary rules of commercial broadcasting and present a different view of our world than the one we we normally see, the one composed of shiny teeth and even shinier cars.

They're running The Wall, a film that is an anthem in some circles, and unknown in others. There is joy and frolicking on the dark side of the moon, this evening.

(Rock And Roll Picture Show
Host: John Fugelsang
Friday at 9:00PM (ET) /6:00PM (PT);
Saturday at 7:00PM (ET) /4:00PM (PT). )

And a somber tale it is, full of dark images and vintage British angst, woven around one man's descent into madness.

The Wall does not celebrate insanity, but it goes a long way towards showing how it is born. To do so is no longer vogue. Perhaps the insane have shot up too many trains, bombed too many buildings and murdered too many innocent people for us to care much about why they do it. A more basic nature in us arises, and we simply want them stopped, whatever it takes.

But the curious among us wonder, the doctors and sociologists, what drives people to harm complete strangers. Since these doctors and sociologists are logical people, they look for a logical answer. Maybe there is one, maybe there are many, but identifying and illustrating them, that is more difficult.

The clinical view is always from the outside, based on observation and details. Artists are free to explore a subject from the inside, instead. That is what The Wall does, and it's done with sounds and images, rather than with dialogue. It works.

It works because it does not prove or explain, it simply shows how seemingly unrelated things can be deeply related in a disturbed mind, and how emotions build through a lifetime to the point where they overwhelm and begin to control the lives of many young people.

"Pink ",the main character, is not alone in his madness. Americans do not appreciate their great fortune that the battles of World War II did not reach their shores, nor do they understand the deep scars the war left in the hearts of the British people.

These scars are not military ones, they're personal, and scarred, hopeless children grow up to be scarred, hopeless adults.

It's these hopeless people who inflict violence on the crowd, on the innocent, and on the unprotected. They inflict pain because that is all they have ever known, and it has made them insane.

We would better protect the public safety if we tried to keep our society from creating monsters than we do by looking in everyone's pocket for a gun. There are too many pockets, too many walking wounded.

Violence is neither a disease nor a cure. It's a symptom.