The
band is just fantastic, that is really what I think.
Oh, by the way, which one’s Pink?
Oh, by the way, which one’s Pink?
My
very favorite band of all time is Pink Floyd.
I am a fan because they create music that is outside the
mainstream. I enjoy their
experimentation into combinations of rock, blues, jazz and electronica music
formats, as well as their story-telling lyrics. I even named my daughter Emily
after an early song, "See Emily Play". I find their earlier albums to be exciting, if a bit weird, and their later lyrics to be very intelligent and sometimes
sarcastic views of life. My favorite set
would be Wish You Were Here, which
mocks the music industry, relationships and even the band itself. I like the dystopian story of The Wall, but do not identify with the
main character like some fans do. My
favorite song, "Time”, reminds me
that we only have so much time and to make the most of it.
Especially in the late 1960s, this band was associated with the drug counterculture. The stereotype was that you could check out on drugs and this “psychedelic” music would aid your trip. Perhaps that was an early goal of the band, whose members were known to partake themselves, and one of the founding members, Syd Barrett, ended up in a mental institution due to illness exacerbated by drug use.
Syd Barrett
Many
fans dislike the “stoner” label, and tend to fall closer to intellectual,
academia, or hipster circles, finding philosophy in the lyrics more than escape
in the musical style.
Certainly there were those fans that preferred to trip out to
kaleidoscope-style plasma screens with ‘Floyd’s distinct sound, but I didn’t actually
know any of those folks.
Following
Syd Barrett’s exit, the band’s stereotype changed somewhat in the 1970s as they
achieved great success both in sales and in critical acclaim for their tightly
engineered concept albums. 1973’s Dark Side of the Moon remained in the
Billboard charts for 741 weeks, longer than any other in history, and is one of
the best-selling albums worldwide. Roger Waters is completing a mega-tour of the
late 1970s The Wall this month,
having given it new meaning with the current worldwide economic climate and
events in the Middle East.
This all from a band that got relatively little radio airplay and was seen as
simply psychedelic pop music.
Having
moved in to the “serious artist” category, and also due to disputes and egos of
the songwriters, they were sometimes seen as prima donna art rock. Roger Waters and David Gilmour were regarded
as “difficult artist types”. Also, since
they were British, there were a number of stereotypes assigned by the American
audience.
Britons are seen as less attractive,
generally pale, lanky and gaunt with bad teeth, and arrogant though quiet and
reserved. The band itself plays on many of the perceived British traits in
their music, as seen in a line from my favorite song “Time”, “Hanging on in quiet desperation is
the English way…”. British rock stars
are seen as sexually gregarious, drunkard or drug users, and less refined than
their countrymen.
Though
their infighting and egos destroyed the unity of the band, the result has been
the extraordinary continuation of the band’s legacy through Roger Water’s and
David Gilmour’s solo efforts and a number of Pink Floyd albums without Waters. If you checked my car’s CD player right now
you would find Gilmour’s recent On an
Island, which is every bit as haunting and beautiful as 1971’s Meddle.
Last year, I took my daughter to see a phenomenal show when Roger performed The Wall live in Cleveland.
While the recent death of keyboardist Richard Wright ended fans’ dreams of
seeing the band reunite, the music still continues.
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