Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd – History & Significance• Syd Barrett - guitar, vocals;

died 7/07/06• David Gilmour - guitar,

vocals • Nick Mason - drums• Roger Waters - bass,

synthesizer, vocals • Rick Wright - keyboards,

synthesizers died Sept 15, 2008

Pink Floyd

• Earned recognition for their psychedelic & space rock music, later they evolved into Progressive rock band.

• They are best known for philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album cover art, and elaborate live shows.

• The group have sold over 210 million albums worldwide - 74.5 million albums in the U.S. alone.

Pink Floyd

• Pink Floyd’s hallucinatory presentation of lights and music in 1966 brought psychedelic to the U.K.

• With guitarist and songwriter Syd Barrett at the helm, Pink Floyd were the psychedelic Pied Pipers of the “London underground” scene.

• Pink Floyd’s debut album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, 1967

• British music magazine Q stated, “Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the defining moment of English psychedelia, and also one of rock’s first forays into deep space.

• This preoccupation with space would later surface in the group’s masterwork, Dark Side of the Moon.

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd

• Their 1973 release Dark Side of the Moon hit Number One on the Billboard charts and ultimately broke all records by remaining on the Top 200 album charts for 741 weeks. It did not drop off Billboard’s album chart until 1988.

• It showed rock’s willingness to move from adolescence into adulthood themes.

• Addressing such subjects as aging, madness, money and time.

• Intense experimentation with LSD unfortunately transported Barrett from enlightenment to mental instability, An “acid casualties” of the Sixties

• This necessitated his departure from the band in 1968.

• Barrett became one of rock’s most legendary hermits and the subject of Roger Waters’ tributary song “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.”

• With guitarist David Gilmour on-board as Barrett’s replacement, Pink Floyd’s lineup remained constant for the next 15 years.

• After Barrett left the group, bassist Roger Waters provided more of the songwriting and direction, they soon became one of the most influential rock bands of all time.

The subject of alienation was explored in Wish You Were

Here (1975) (Play Song)

• An album whose central preoccupation was the band members’ distance from each other “Wish You Were Here” (song) and leader Syd Barrett’s distance from reality “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”.