The rock group Pink Floyd — especially their frontman Roger Waters — had a love-hate relationship with their fans. Though immensely popular, Waters was getting increasingly frustrated with the behavior of their concert attendees, who by then numbered in the thousands for each venue. Waters’ frustrations reached a critical point during a concert in Montreal, when he was confronted by a deranged fan and reacted by spitting on him. Shocked by his own behavior, Waters began imagining a virtual wall separating him from the audience, and more general contemplations of the alienation of adult life. So was born Pink Floyd’s musical epic The Wall

On this day, January 18, 1980, Pink Floyd’s The Wall hit #1 on the U.S. charts. It remained there for an astounding 15 weeks straight. New and old fans alike found the album appealing: The Wall sold 11 million copies stateside and 20 million copies worldwide.

The Wall was created as a rock opera, telling the semi-autobiographical story of one Pink Floyd, whose run-ins with an impersonal society, and overbearing mother, and estranged wife left him to isolate himself in a physical wall. Ultimately, however, Pink concludes that despite the forces pulling people apart, it is the responsibility of every individual to join in and connected with others.