PINK FLOYD HISTORY

Rick Wright, Roger Waters and Nick Mason were architecture students at the famous University of Cambridge when they started what would become one of the most important bands in rock history: Pink Floyd.

In the 60s, British rock was in evidence around the world with names that need no introduction: The Who, Beatles, Black Sabbath, Rolling Stones. The London underground was everything young people at the time dreamed of living, and it was in this scenario that the trio joined three other members to form the band Sigma 6.

Still discreet and without the fundamental presence of Syd Barrett, the three boys dedicated themselves to making blues and folk, styles that were very much in evidence. A fine arts student, Syd Barrett, arrived to join the band, and from there, not only would the name change, but the whole story.

Syd Barrett was a big blues fan and had two cats, one named Pink and the other named Floyd, names inspired by musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Hence the idea to define the band's name once and for all.

So the Pink Floyd lineup was Roger Waters on bass and vocals, Syd Barrett on guitar and vocals, Rick Wright, keyboards and vocals, and Nick Mason on drums.

London pubs were essential for the band to start their career. They performed from 9 pm to 2 am and, due to the enormous amount of time they had to develop on stage, they began to experiment, creating long instrumental songs. Colorful slides projected during the shows were also a hallmark of the band, as no one did that yet. There began the opening to psychedelia and progressive rock that would define Pink Floyd's style.

With the highlight, the band became a resident of UFO Club, famous in London for being a perfect underground scene, with stylish people, colorful clothes and all the psychedelia, like a kind of sect that dominated the environment.

This first phase of Pink Floyd is basically permeated by the essence of Barrett, a kind of crazy guy, super creative and who had a different way of composing lyrics and playing guitar.

He spent hours in his private universe, taking LSD, painting, listening to music and reading children's books. From his compositions came the band's first album, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, released in 1967.

The members were taken to the Abbey Road studio, around the same time as the Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, by the Beatles, was recorded in the next room.

Until today, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is a frequent presence in the list of the best works of the genre, with very important songs composed by Syd, especially Astronomy Domine, Bike and Lucifer Sam.

Barrett's career in the band was short, but very representative. Due to drug use, he ended up developing serious mental problems and became a recluse, being replaced by guitarist David Gilmour.

Pink Floyd and the experiments

In the midst of fundamental rock names, such as the Beatles, Black Sabbath and the Rolling Stones, what made Pink Floyd conquer their space was exactly the opposite of the others. Musical experimentation ended up opening doors for the band and managers began to invest in the guys.

In addition to the different sound, the philosophical and innovative lyrics were the hallmark of the band, who created huge songs, with more than 9 minutes, and that were certainly heard by many generations.

After Barrett's departure in '67, until 1978, the band entered a new phase, achieved worldwide success and was led by Roger Waters. The second album, A Saucerful Of Secrets, also featured some contributions from Barrett and was released in 1968.

The work featured psychedelic artwork drawn by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell on the cover, and spent approximately 11 weeks dominating the charts in England.

Then, the band's next work was the album More, composed of re-recordings of the songs used in the eponymous film, and which marked the first work without any involvement of Barrett.

Then, in 1969, the double album Ummagumma was released, which brought together live recordings on the first disc and, on the second, experimental songs created by each of the members.

Another Pink Floyd differential was the designs made for the album covers. Who developed the arts was Hipgnosis, a group specialized in artistic graphic design, exclusively for artists and rock bands.

The famous record with the cow on the cover, Atom Heart Mother, released in 1970, was the first to not have the band's name. In the opening, the homonymous song is a large theatrical play, subdivided into six acts.

The sonic innovations of the album ended up influencing, later, other progressive rock bands, such as Rush and Yes. In 1971, the band released Meddle, until reaching the much-acclaimed Dark Side Of The Moon.

The Dark Side Of The Moon

The album that sold more than Led Zeppelin and Beatles records. This data alone makes The Dark Side Of The Moon interesting and surprising. Released in 1973, the album records another phase of Pink Floyd and is considered the best of progressive rock to date.

The compositions are permeated by more personal lyrics, addressing the afflictions that the period caused in society, mental illness, the aging process… And the experiments continued through clocks that played at the same time, as we can hear in the song Time:

The album also features other hits by the band, such as Speak To Me, Breathe, On The Run, Money, among others.

With absurd sales, reaching more than 45 million copies, the label had to build factories to handle the vinyl press.

A masterpiece that generated great repercussion in the music scene, positively impacted the entire music industry and spent more than 14 years on the US charts.

Wish You Were Here and the reunion with Syd Barrett

Pink Floyd members were in the studio when suddenly Syd Barrett arrived. They hadn’t seen each other in over five years and Syd was even weirder, his physical appearance had changed a lot and everyone noticed he wasn’t there anymore. His mind had departed to other dimensions.

All lyrics on the album were written by Roger Waters, the other important mind behind Pink FLoyd.

Water’s compositions address themes such as absence, clearly inspired by Syd Barrett’s condition, so much so that the songs Wish You Were Here and Shine On You Crazy Diamond are dedicated to him, a figure who, even distant, continued to inspire the band.

The cover of Wish You Were Here shows two men greeting each other and one of them on fire. As there were no special effects at the time, everything was actually produced.

The Wall

Over the course of their career, Pink Floyd proved to be a highly productive band and released around 15 studio albums. Even fans could imagine that after such representative works as Dark Side Of The Moon, Atom Heart Mother and The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the band had exhausted its creative potential.

But then, in 1979, they released The Wall, a work produced as a rock opera, with lyrics that talk about tragedies of the modern world, human suffering and harsh criticism of the English education system.

Another masterpiece, quite deified by the band’s fans. The album was even adapted into a movie of the same name that shows the character Pink and his delusions inside a hotel room.

Another Brick In The Wall, Goodbye Blue Sky, Comfortably Numb, Hey You, are some of the highlights, among other many hits from the double album.

The end of Pink Floyd

After the release of the album The Final Cut, the members began to disagree, to the point that Roger Waters left the band to pursue a solo career. He imagined that when he left, Pink Floyd would break up, but the other members didn’t agree and so they went into a legal fight.

This messed with all the friendship that was already being frayed by inflated egos, especially between Roger Waters and David Gilmour.

In the legal fight, Waters got the right to follow with the album The Wall and Animals, work inspired by the book Animal Farm, by George Orwell.

The other members stayed with the Pink Floyd brand and released two more albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell, under the leadership of vocalist and guitarist David Gilmour.

Officially, the band broke up in 2014 and, between the comings and goings of Pink Floyd, its members released solo albums. Syd Barrett himself recorded two albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett; Richard Wright has made three albums: Wet Dream, Identity and Broken China.

David Gilmour and Roger Walter remain firm with their individual works, several albums released and concerts around the world. Pink Floyd ended, but the essence of the band remains.