Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd (named after two obscure American bluesmen, Pink
Anderson and Floyd Council) formed in Cambridge in 1964 as a
six-piece group of Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, Rick
Wright, Bob Klose, and vocalist Chris Dennis. Dennis left
early in 1965 and Klose followed him that summer, which left the
band as a quartet.
The single Arnold Layne - famously banned by Radio
London for its allegedly dubious lyrical content about a sexually
deviant kleptomaniac - had given the Floyd a minor hit, but it was
See Emily Play in June 1967 that removed them from their
natural constituency of the London underground and into the realms
of Top Of The Pops and package tours. The song, inspired
by Lord Kennet's 'psychedelic schoolgirl' daughter and UFO club
regular, Emily Kennet, gave the band's contemporaries an object
lesson in how to weld psychedelic experimentation with
irresistible pop hooks.
Pink Floyd's first album, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn,
was released on 5 August 1967. The title, chosen by leader Syd
Barrett, came from Kenneth Graham's children's novel, Wind
In The Willows. The album, clearly heavily influenced by
Barrett, is textbook British psychedelia: weird, ingenious pop
songs and freewheeling instrumentals crammed with experiments in
dissonance and feedback.
Not long after the album was released, Syd Barrett began to
show increasing signs of damage caused (so it was believed) by his
over-indulgence in the psychedelic drug LSD. He became totally
unpredictable and somewhat unreliable, to the point where Roger
Waters invited guitarist David Gilmour to join the band.
The idea was to allow Barrett to concentrate on writing songs
while Gilmour assumed his role on stage. After about three months
it became clear that this arrangement was unworkable and in April
1968, Pink Floyd parted company with their erratic leader.
In March 1973, the Dark Side of The Moon album was
released to mixed reviews. The album was deliberately gloomy, a
thematically linked homage to madness, stress and the problems of
everyday life. When it was first performed live as a prelude to
the recording session, the title was Dark Side of The Moon - A
Piece For Assorted Lunatics.
The music was destined to be bleak; recorded over eight months
on Abbey Road's then unused 24-track facility, it made much of
sound effects and spoken soundbites.
Although the suite was excellently constructed and engaging (if
not exactly entertaining) it couldn't be described as another Sgt
Pepper or Electric Ladyland. In fact, even the band
couldn't put a finger on what made it so special, and yet it
spent over 14 years in the US album charts and sold over 25
million copies worldwide.
When it finally came out on CD, one factory in Germany pressed
nothing else for several months. This record alone transformed the
Floyd into a big league creative force and remains The
Concept Album against which all others are judged.
The track Money had to be censored before it
could be aired on American radio. The line "don't give me
that goody-good bullshit" was edited for radio and the
offending word removed.
When Pink Floyd played an outdoor concert at London's Crystal
Palace Bowl in 1970, they played so loud that their music killed
most of the fish in the lake in front of the natural
amphitheatre's stage. But what can you expect from a band who
seriously name a song Several Species Of Small Furry Animals
Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict . . . ?
This song appears on Ummagumma - The album which is
seemingly based on the principle that bands are often at their
best when they don't know what it is they are doing.
In 1976, the shoot for the cover photo of their Animals LP
went horribly wrong when a 40ft inflatable pig slipped its
moorings and floated off above the London skyline. The city's
airports warned pilots to be careful of a huge flying pig, and
after one sighting at 20,000 feet over the Kent coast (50 miles
from London), the plastic animal was never seen or heard of again!
The Wall, released in 1980, became Britain's Number 1
album and hit the top of the US charts as the band began its world
tour - not exactly the most grueling of schedules, the band played
just four locations; New York, Los Angeles, Dusseldorf and London.
During their spectacular show, a 30ft wall was built across the
stage and dismantled brick by brick as the band played on.
The review in Rolling Stone magazine described the
show as "an enormously impressive testament to a band that
doesn't mind playing second fiddle to a lot of white
blocks".
During the mixing of The Wall in LA, producer Bob
Ezrin realised he needed some crowd sounds and, since Rockpile
were playing at the Hollywood Palladium that night, he and Roger
Waters slipped in the back door and asked to "borrow"
the audience for a quick taping. Unfortunately, the audience were
not obliging. When the Emcee announced Floyd's name and asked for
cheers he got scattered boos. Ans when he called for a heart chant
of "Pink Floyd", he got a massive "Fuck
you!" back from the Rockpile audience . . .
1983's The Final Cut proved to be prophetically
titled as the group suddenly fell apart at the seams with Roger
Waters making his famous acrimonious departure. Nonetheless, the
track Not Now John hit number 30 in the UK charts, only
the bands fifth hit single in 16 years of making records.
The Mayor of Venice (Italy) was forced to resign after the city
was mobbed by 200,000 Pink Floyd fans attending a free concert in
1989. The damage to just one pair of Renaissance columns alone
cost $46,000.
On 2 July 2005 the unthinkable happened and four ageing
Englishmen who hadn't played on the same stage for 24 years
reunited for a four-song set that was the musical highlight of the
Live 8 concert. Putting aside long-standing grudges, for a brief
18 minutes and a good cause, Pink Floyd were back and sounding
like they had never been away.
There was one former member who wasn't at Hyde Park that day;
Floyd's original guitarist and creative mainspring Syd Barrett. A
year later Barrett was dead from pancreatic cancer.
Keyboard player Richard Wright died in 2008, also following a
battle with cancer. He was 68.
Syd Barrett Guitar, vocals; Roger Waters Bass,
vocals; Nick Mason Drums; Rick Wright Keyboards;
Bob Klose Guitar; Chris Dennis Vocals; David
Gilmour Guitar
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