Madness, Egos and One Big Inflatable Pig

Since lessons are over, here is your chance to learn something new. I present 'A Brief History of Pink Floyd'.

The band was started by four boys from Cambridge- Syd Barrett (vocals and guitar), Roger Waters (bass), Rick Wright (keyboards) and Nick Mason (drums). It all started in the late 60's, with the band quickly joining up with the psychedelic music scene. The band initially performed under the name 'The Pink Floyd Sound', but elected to drop the 'the' and the 'sound'. The principal song writer was Syd Barrett, who became renowned for his strange, psychedelic lyrics.

In 1967 the band released two hit singles 'Arnold Layne' and 'See Emily Play', with the latter one reaching the Top Ten. In the same year they released their album 'Piper At The Gates of Dawn', which is now viewed as a prime example of psychedelic music.
See Emily Play-




But with the psychedelic music scene came danger in the form of mind-altering drugs. Syd Barrett is known to have taken much LSD and weed during this time, and it became to have severe effects on his mental health. Barrett became increasingly erratic and unreliable, he would often go on stage and either play a completely different song, play only one note for the entire show, or just lie down and not play at all. It was decided to help Syd out to hire another guitarist, and after auditioning they chose David Gilmour. Sadly, even with the addition of Gilmour, Barrett was far too unreliable, so he was fired from the band. They released a second album, using as much workable material they had from Barrett.


1968-1972 was a period of experimentation for the new Pink Floyd. During Barrett's decline, the other band members began to try and write their own songs, often in the style of Syd Barrett. It was only after he was fired from the band the others began to really try and come into their own as songwriters. Vocal duties were primarily passed to David Gilmour, but Roger Waters and Rick Wright also began to sing tracks. They released three albums which were successful, but not exactly very big hits. The band were beginning to lose faith in what they were doing. It was under these pressures that Roger Waters came up with an idea.


Roger Waters wanted to write an album about the pressures of modern life, and he presented this idea for the band as 'Eclipse- A Piece For Assorted Lunatics'. The band allowed Waters to become the lyricist for this album, the first time there was one lyricist since Syd Barrett's era. The band began to put music to his words and performing in live. In 1973 they recorded the songs onto an album, and changed the title from 'Eclipse- A Piece For Assorted Lunatics' to 'Dark Side of the Moon'.


'Dark Side of the Moon' was a phenomenal success that the band could never have even imagined. It was a hit all around the world, a real first for the band. The single 'Money' was a huge hit in America, opening up the market for them across the water. So the band began touring across the world with their famous light shows.
Money-



In 1975 they came to record the follow up to 'Dark Side of the Moon'. Due to the success of that album, Waters elected to once again write all the lyrics. This album was born out of guilt- that Pink Floyd had become a success only with the departure of the founding member and guiding influence. The album 'Wish You Were Here' is an ode to their fallen band mate. But as members have commented later on it was with this album the cracks in the band began to show, as Waters began to take control and the other members just giving in. One member remarked years later "The album's title summed up how we felt- we wished we were there!"

Once again they began touring across the world, and in 1977 produced the album 'Animals', which is more famous for the iconic cover of the inflatable pig over Battersea Power Station. Having an inflatable pig over the audience became a staple of their live shows. All the touring was beginning to take it's toll, as the band in the early 70's were used to quiet, intimate venues were the audience would listen to the music, but now selling out stadiums and began screamed at to play their hits became to much for Waters. In a well documented event, a fan tried to climb on stage and Waters spat in his face. It was this that made Waters wonder how all these people had made him perform such an act. It was this incident that sparked the idea for the next album.

'The Wall' is a concept album which is told from the point of view of Pink, a troubled rock star sitting in an isolated hotel looking back over his life. Once again the lyrics were all Waters and almost all the music was as well. All the other band members have said this was Waters album through and through. There is much argument over Nick Mason, the drummer, as Waters claims it was a group decision to fire Mason, whilst the others claim Waters bullied them into it. Either, the drummer was sacked.

The album was huge success and spawned the Christmas No.1 'Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)'. The band performed the album live, literally building a wall between themselves and the audience as Waters wished.
Another Brick In The Wall (Part Two)



In 1983 they recorded 'The Final Cut', which Gilmour describes as being "A Roger Waters solo album featuring Pink Floyd". The album used a familiar theme for Waters- war and loss, something that had affected him in his life. It was after this album, Roger Waters declared Pink Floyd defunct and left. David Gilmour and Rick Wright were not so sure, and decided to carry on the band. But Waters wasn't so pleased, he took the other to court, claiming that they couldn't carry on the Pink Floyd name without him. Gilmour and Wright refused this, so waters decided to sue them. Then what was brought into the equation was who came up with what, a main example being the big inflatable pig. Waters said they couldn't use it. They said fine. So instead they had a big inflatable pig, with a penis, just to make it different to Waters' big inflatable pig.

Five years after the previous album 'A Momentary Lapse of Reason' was released. Waters called in 'A fair forgery of Pink Floyd'. Then in 1994 Nick Mason rejoined the band and performed on the lasty album 'The Division Bell', which spawned the single 'High Hopes'. They band had finished it's run.
High Hopes




Then in 2005- there was Live 8, and the original members of Waters, Gilmour, Mason and Wright were asked to regroup for one nigh only. Reluctantly all four agreed, and on 2nd July they took to the stage once more a played a selection of their classics hits. Many have described their performance one of the highlights of the show.
Comfortably Numb (Live 8)



But, a Pink Floyd reunion is not on the cards, Gilmour described their Live 8 appearance akin to "sleeping with my ex-wife". Any reunion is highly unlike. In 2006, Syd Barrett passed away after many years of mental illness.

Pink Floyd's legacy still lives on today, with millions upon millions of copies of their albums sold.