It’s no big secret that I am a huge fan of Pink Floyd… They are set to release their 15th and final studio album on the 10th of November (11th here in the states). That’s right, in just 17 days “The Endless River” will be out!! Between now and then or then and now I thought I’d kick off a countdown of sorts highlighting some of the bands accomplishments beginning with an overview of who Pink Floyd actually is. Pink Floyd is considered one of rock’s most successful and influential acts, having sold over 200 million albums worldwide and with 74.5 million certified units in the United States, making them one of the best-selling artists of all time. Which one’s Pink? The Pink Floyd started in 1965 with the members Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright. Some of the members of the Pink Floyd band started out in previous other bands such as Sigma 6, The Meggadeaths, and The Screaming Abdabs all formed in 1964. The members of this band such as guitarist Bob Klose, lead guitar and bass player Roger Waters, drummer Nick Mason, and future keyboardist Rick Wright joined a new band called The Tea Set with Syd Barrett which then changed the band name to The Pink Floyd sound. They got their name from two blues musicians, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. The new Pink Floyd band covered blues and rhythm music without the member Bob Klose who had left the band to become a photographer. Syd Barrett became the bands leader, vocalist, guitarist, and song writer. The bands direction was British psychedelic rock and they had toured the London underground scene with live improvisations and cool lighting effects. As Pink Floyd had increased in success, Syd Barrett had been besieged with mental health issues chiefly from excessive LSD use. The drug abuse would affect his time with the band quite heavily, both in absence and on stage performance. This meant that a new face would come along, David Gilmour who was invited by Roger Waters to come fill in for Syd Barrett on a part-time basis. Barrett then became unworkable and eventually had to leave the band due to his mental state. David Gilmour now became the newest member of Pink Floyd and would act as the band’s vocalist and guitarist whilst Roger Waters would became the band’s lyricist and leader. For the other two members Nick Mason would remain Pink Floyd drummer and Richard Wright would continue as the keyboardist. Pink Floyd enjoyed modest success in the late-1960s as a psychedelic band led by Syd Barrett. Barrett’s increasingly erratic behavior eventually caused his colleagues to replace him after The Piper at the Gates of Dawn with guitarist David Gilmour. The band went on to record several elaborate concept albums; achieving worldwide success with 1973’s The Dark Side Of The Moon (The second best-selling album of all time), 1975’s Wish You Were Here, 1977’s Animals, and 1979’s The Wall, among the best-selling, most critically acclaimed, and enduringly popular albums in rock music history. In 1985, singer and bassist Roger Waters declared Pink Floyd defunct. However, the remaining members continued recording and touring under the name, eventually reaching a settlement with Waters giving them rights to the name and most of the songs. The trio of Gilmour, Mason, and Wright would go on to release two successful albums in the years without Roger. I saw them last onstage during the European leg of their “Division Bell” tour in 1994. The classic lineup of Waters, Gilmour, Mason, and Wright reunited for 2005’s “Live 8.” The members of Pink Floyd never got together for another tour or album, until David Gilmour and Nick Mason decided to pay homage to Rick Wright and produce “The Endless River.” Pink Floyd have won several awards, including a Best Engineered Non-Classical Album Grammy in 1980 for The Wall, and a BAFTA award for Best Original Song in 1982 for Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) from The Wall film. In 1995, they won a Grammy for best Rock Instrumental Performance for Marooned. In 2008, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden presented Pink Floyd with the Polar Music Prize for their contribution to modern music. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. Pink Floyd has always been a source of audio delight for me transporting to the realms of which I had not known existed. Their lyrics have often been deep and their music wondrous. Whether it be sitting in a dorm room on Ramstein Air Base; a beach near Kızkalesi, Turkey; or at my laptop with the ear buds cranked I always knew that I would leave my listening session in a much better mood than when I started. That’s the power of Pink Floyd’s music. At least for me it is. From their pioneering use of quadrophonic sound to their dynamic stage shows this band seemed to encapsulate a level of musicianship that few have seldom achieved. #PinkFloyd #Sigma6 #TheMeggadeaths #TheScreamingAbdabs #TeaSet #ThePinkFloydsound #PinkAnderson #FloydCouncil
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 20:49:54 +0000
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