"Part 2", a protest song against corporal punishment and rigid and abusive schooling, features a children's choir.
It was nominated for a Grammy Award and was ranked number 384 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
[5] At the suggestion of the producer Bob Ezrin, Pink Floyd added elements of disco, which was popular at the time.
[6] When Ezrin heard the song with a disco beat, he was convinced it could become a hit, but felt it needed to be longer, with two verses and two choruses.
The band resisted, saying they did not release singles; Waters told him: "Go ahead and waste your time doing silly stuff.
He also had the engineer Nick Griffiths record children singing the verse at Islington Green School, close to Pink Floyd's studio.
Inspired by a Todd Rundgren album featuring an audience in each stereo channel, he suggested recording an entire school choir.
"[6] In exchange for performing vocals, the children of Islington School received tickets to a Pink Floyd concert, an album and a single.
[4] Cash Box described it as a "catchy but foreboding selection, with its ominously steady drum work and angry lyrics.
"[18] Critic Mike Cormack said "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" was a "magnificent achievement: its catchy rhythm undercutting the darkness of the song’s theme, the irony of its chorus belying the acidulous disdain of the lyric, Waters’ quality as a wordsmith on display with the excellent phrase ‘dark sarcasm’, and the simplicity of its structure giving it a tight focus.
The Inner London Education Authority described the song as "scandalous", and according to Renshaw, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher "hated it".
"[13] The single, as well as the album The Wall, were banned in South Africa in 1980 after it was adopted by supporters of a nationwide school boycott protesting instituted racial inequities in education under apartheid.
In promotion of The Wall – Live in Berlin a new studio version was recorded by Roger Waters & The Bleeding Heart Band that was released on promo compilation titled The Wall Berlin '90 featuring Pink Floyd and Roger Waters solo recordings.
[75] The American nu metal band Korn covered all three parts, along with the Wall song "Goodbye Cruel World", for the 2004 compilation album Greatest Hits, Vol.