Pink Floyd Bio
One
of the most predominant and celebrated rock bands of all time, the
origins of Pink Floyd can be traced to Cambridge High School. Syd
Barrett (b. Roger Keith Barrett, 6 January 1946, Cambridge, England;
guitar/vocals), Roger Waters (b. 9 September 1944, Great Bookham,
Cambridge, England; bass/vocals) and David Gilmour (b. 6 March 1944,
Cambridge, England; guitar/vocals) were pupils and friends there.
Mutually drawn to music, Barrett and Gilmour undertook a busking tour
of Europe prior to the former's enrolment at the Camberwell School
Of Art in London. Waters was meanwhile studying architecture at the
city's Regent Street Polytechnic. He formed an R&B-based band,
Sigma 6, with fellow students Nick Mason (b. 27 January 1945, Birmingham,
England; drums) and Rick Wright (b. 28 July 1945, London, England;
keyboards). The early line-up included bass player Clive Metcalfe
- Waters favoured guitar at this point - and (briefly) Juliette Gale
(who later married Wright) but underwent the first crucial change
when Brian Close (lead guitar) replaced Metcalfe. With Waters now
on bass, the band took a variety of names, including the T-Set and
the (Screaming) Abdabs. Sensing a malaise, Waters invited Barrett
to join but the latter's blend of blues, pop and mysticism was at
odds with Close's traditional outlook and the Abdabs fell apart at
the end of 1965. Almost immediately Barrett, Waters, Mason and Wright
reconvened as the Pink Floyd Sound, a name Barrett had suggested,
inspired by an album by Georgia blues' musicians Pink Anderson and
Floyd Council.
Within weeks the quartet had repaired to the Thompson Private Recording
Company, sited in the basement of a house. Here they recorded two
songs, "Lucy Leave", a Barrett original playfully blending
pop and R&B, and a version of Slim Harpo's "I'm A King Bee".
Although rudimentary, both tracks indicate a defined sense of purpose.
Ditching the now-superfluous "Sound" suffix, the Pink Floyd
attracted notoriety as part of the nascent counter-culture milieu
centred on the London Free School. A focus for the emergent underground,
this self-help organisation co-founded by John "Hoppy" Hopkins,
Pete Jenner, Andrew King and Joe Boyd, inspired the founding of Britain's
first alternative publication, International Times. The paper was
launched at the Roundhouse in London on 15 October 1966; it was here
Pink Floyd made its major debut. By December the band was appearing
regularly at the newly founded UFO Club on Tottenham Court Road, spearheading
Britain's psychedelic movement with extended, improvised sets and
a highly-visual lightshow. Further demos ensued, produced by UFO-co-founder
Boyd, which in turn engendered a recording deal with EMI Records.
Surprisingly, the band's hit singles were different to their live
sound, featuring Barrett's quirky melodies and lyrics. "Arnold
Layne', a tale of a transvestite who steals ladies" clothes from
washing lines, escaped a BBC ban to rise into the UK Top 20. "See
Emily Play", originally entitled "Games For May" in
honour of an event the band hosted at Queen Elizabeth Hall, reached
number 6 in June 1967. It was succeeded by The Piper At The Gates
Of Dawn which encapsulated Britain's "Summer of Love". Largely
Barrett-penned, the set deftly combined childlike fantasy with experimentation,
where whimsical pop songs nestled beside riff-laden sorties, notably
the powerful "Interstellar Overdrive".
Chart success begat package tours - including a memorable bill alongside
the Jimi Hendrix Experience - which, when combined with a disastrous
US tour, wrought unbearable pressure on Barrett's fragile psyche.
His indulgence in hallucinogenic drugs exacerbated such problems and
he often proved near-comatose on-stage and incoherent with interviewers.
A third single, "Apples And Oranges", enthralled but jarred
in equal measures, while further recordings, "Vegetable Man"
and "Scream Thy Last Scream", were deemed unsuitable for
release. His colleagues, fearful for their friend and sensing a possible
end to the band, brought Dave Gilmour into the line-up in February
1968. Plans for Barrett to maintain a backroom role, writing for the
band but not touring, came to naught and his departure was announced
the following April. He subsequently followed a captivating, but short-lived,
solo career.
Although bereft of their principle songwriter, the realigned Pink
Floyd completed Saucerful Of Secrets. It featured one Barrett original,
the harrowing "Jugband Blues", as well as two songs destined
to become an integral part of their live concerts, the title track
itself and "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun".
Excellent, but flop singles, "It Would Be So Nice" (a rare
Wright original) and "Point Me At The Sky" were also issued;
their failure prompted the band to disavow the format for 11 years.
A film soundtrack, More, allowed Waters to flex compositional muscles,
while the part-live, part-studio Ummagumma, although dated and self-indulgent
by today's standards, was at the vanguard of progressive space-rock
in 1969. By this point Pink Floyd were a major attraction, drawing
100,000 to their free concert in London the following year. Another
pivotal live appearance, in the volcanic crater in Pompeii, became
the subject of a much-loved, late-night film.
Atom Heart Mother was a brave, if flawed, experiment, partially written
with avant-garde composer, Ron Geesin. It featured the first in a
series of impressive album covers, designed by the Hipgnosis studio,
none of which featured photographs of the band. The seemingly abstract
image of Meddle, is in fact a macro lens shot of an ear. The music
within contained some classic pieces, notably "One Of These Days"
and the epic "Echoes", but was again marred by inconsistency.
Pink Floyd's festering talent finally exploded in 1973 with Dark Side
Of The Moon. It marked the arrival of Waters as an important lyricist
and Gilmour as a guitar hero. Brilliantly produced - with a sharp
awareness of stereo effects - the album became one of the biggest
selling records of all time, currently in excess of 30 million copies.
Its astonishing run on the Billboard chart spanned over a decade and
at last the band had rid itself of the spectre of the Barrett era.
Perhaps with this in mind, a moving eulogy to their former member,
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond", was one of the high points
of Wish You Were Here. Barrett apparently showed at Abbey Road studio
during the sessions, prepared to contribute but incapable of doing
so. "Have A Cigar", however, did feature a cameo appearance
by Roy Harper. Although dwarfed in sales terms by its predecessor,
this 1975 release is now regarded by some aficionados as the band's
artistic zenith. Animals featured a scathing attack on the "clean-up
television" campaigner, Mary Whitehouse, while the cover photograph,
an inflatable pig soaring over Battersea power station, has since
passed into Pink Floyd folklore. However it was with this album that
tension within the band leaked into the public arena. Two of its tracks,
"Sheep" and "Dogs', were reworkings of older material
and, as one of the world's most successful bands, Pink Floyd were
criticised as an anathema to 1977"s punk movement.
At the end of the year, almost as a backlash, Nick Mason produced
the Damned's Music For Pleasure. Wright and Gilmour both released
solo albums in 1978 as rumours of a break-up abounded. In 1979, however,
the band unleashed The Wall, a Waters-dominated epic which has now
become second only to Dark Side Of The Moon in terms of sales. A subtly-screened
autobiographical journey, The Wall allowed the bass player to vent
his spleen, pouring anger and scorn on a succession of establishment
talismen. It contained the anti-educational system diatribe, "Another
Brick In The Wall', which not only restored the band to the British
singles" chart, but provided them with their sole number 1 hit.
The Wall was also the subject of an imaginative stage show, during
which the group was bricked up behind a titular edifice. A film followed
in 1982, starring Bob Geldof and featuring ground-breaking animation
by Gerald Scarfe, who designed the album jacket.
Such success did nothing to ease Pink Floyd's internal hostility.
Long-standing enmity between Waters and Wright - the latter almost
left the band with Barrett - resulted in the bass player demanding
Wright's departure. He left in 1979. By the early 80s relations within
the band had not improved. Friction over financial matters and composing
credits - Gilmour argued his contributions to The Wall had not been
acknowledged - tore at the heart of the band. "Because we haven't
finished with each other yet," was Mason's caustic reply to a
question as to why Pink Floyd were still together and, to the surprise
of many, another album did appear in 1983. The Final Cut was a stark,
humourless set which Waters totally dominated. It comprised songs
written for The Wall, but rejected by the band. Mason's contributions
were negligible, Gilmour showed little interest - eventually asking
that his production credit be removed - and Pink Floyd's fragmentation
was evident to all. One single, "Not Now John", did reach
the UK Top 30, but by the end of the year knives were drawn and an
acrimonious parting ensued. The following year Waters began a high-profile
but commercially moribund solo career. Mason and Gilmour also issued
solo albums, but none of these releases came close to the success
of their former band. The guitarist retained a higher profile as a
session musician, and appeared with ex-Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry
at the Live Aid concert in 1985.
In 1987, Mason and Gilmour decided to resume work together under the
Pink Floyd banner; Rick Wright also returned, albeit as a salaried
member. Waters instigated an injunction, which was over-ruled, allowing
temporary use of the name. The cryptically titled A Momentary Lapse
Of Reason, although tentative in places, sounded more like a Pink
Floyd album than its sombre "predecessor", despite the muted
input of Wright and Mason. Instead Gilmour relied on session musicians,
including Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music. A massive world tour began
in September that year, culminating 12 months and 200 concerts later.
A live set, Delicate Sound Of Thunder, followed in its wake but, more
importantly, the rigours of touring rekindled Wright and Mason's confidence.
Galvanised, Waters led an all-star cast for an extravagant adaptation
of The Wall, performed live on the remains of the Berlin Wall in 1990.
Despite international television coverage, the show failed to reignite
his fortunes.
In 1994, Pink Floyd reconvened again to release The Division Bell,
an accomplished and highly successful set (it was the year's bestselling
UK album release) which may yet enter the Pink Floyd lexicon as one
of their finest achievements. "It sounds more like a genuine
Pink Floyd album than anything since Wish You Were Here", Gilmour
later stated, much to the relief of fans, critics and the band themselves.
With Wright a full-time member again and Mason on sparkling form,
the band embarked on another lengthy tour, judiciously balancing old
and new material. They also showcased their most spectacular lightshow
to date during these performances. Critical praise was effusive, confirming
the band had survived the loss of yet another nominally "crucial"
member. Pulse cashed in on the success of the tours and was a perfectly
recorded live album. The packaging featured a flashing LED, which
was supposed to last (in flashing mode) for six months.
Following this burst of activity in the mid-90s, Gilmour, Wright and
Mason put Pink Floyd on hold once again. A series of reissues kept
the band in the public eye, however, most notably the 2003 Hybrid
SACD release of Dark Side Of The Moon which allowed listeners the
chance to hear the album in 5.1 Surround Sound. The legacy of those
"faceless" record sleeves is irrefutable; Pink Floyd's music
is somehow greater than the individuals creating it.
