By The Way, Which One is Pink?

Written by Rolf

For almost 20 years, I have been of the opinion that Pink Floyd was one of the best bands ever. During their Roger Waters period anyway. So maybe you can imagine my embarrassment that I did not even know that Syd Barrett died in 2006 of cancer and not in the seventies of an overdose. I also seem to have missed that Richard Wright died of cancer in September 2008.

I must admit I'm not a hardcore fan, so I don't know anything of their pre-Pink Floyd days other than what I've seen in documentaries or read. All I know is that I don't particularly like Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd, but he did come up with the name and is probably responsible for the fame of Pink Floyd, so he deserves the credit. Syd Barrett joined the band in '65, then named The Tea Set. He came up with the name The Pink Floyd Sound when they performed at a concert and met a band that shared their old name... what are the odds? I do think the Syd Barrett character was fascinating. He somehow reminds me of Jim Morisson or Kurt Cobain; a superstar who didn't want to be a superstar.

In early '68 guitarist David Gilmour joined the band, asked by drummer Nick Mason, officially as the 5th member and backup for Barrett during live performances, but basically replacing him when Barrett became too erratic for Pink Floyd (if I understand the story correctly, they simply decided not to pick him up one night for a gig). And thus started a new era.

Richard Wright, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters

''Barrett had one noted reunion with the members of Pink Floyd, which occurred in 1975 during the recording sessions for Wish You Were Here. He attended the Abbey Road session unannounced, and watched the band record "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" - a song that happened to be about Barrett. By that time, he had become quite overweight, had shaved off all of his hair (including his eyebrows), and his ex-bandmates did not at first recognise him. Eventually, they realised who he was and Roger Waters was so distressed that he was brought to tears. Barrett's behavior at the session was erratic, and he spent part of the session jumping up and down while brushing his teeth. Roger finally managed to ask him what he thought of the song, and he simply said he did not like it, and walked out of the studio. This would be the last time any member of Pink Floyd would ever see him again.''

Syd Barrett, Barrett at Abbey Road, Barrett as retired musician

Without actually knowing it, I was always under the impression that Barrett had died of an overdose shortly after 'having left' the band, but apparently he lived to be 60 as an artist and gardener, and died in 2006 of pancreatic cancer (officially complication with diabetes). As I said, I'm not a hardcore fan or I would have known this of course. I probably assumed because of the Shine On tribute. You usually don't make tributes about ex-bandmembers that are still alive.

So anyway, since Barrett had been the band's main songwriter, they had to overcome some creative difficulties but learned to do an awesome job of it. Their (or The) best album ever, in my opinion, is Dark Side of the Moon (with the famous rainbow-prism album cover) in 1973. You typically need to hear it a few times before you start to appreciate the album, and it gets better and better.

Their last album of the decade, The Wall, was written mostly by Roger Waters, where Dark Side was a team effort, and the band began to show cracks. Waters blamed Richard Wright for slacking and kindly removed him from the band. After the next album, The Final Cut, which was pretty much Roger Waters' solo project but with the rest of Pink Floyd playing the instruments, Waters declared that Pink Floyd was "a spent force" and left the band in 1985. Somehow he refused to believe that he had no right to prevent David Gilmour and Nick Mason from continueing Pink Floyd and actually sued them for using the name.

Waters, of course, came to realize that he had no case and they settled it outside the court. Waters went solo, Gilmour and Mason took back Wright and started the third era, with the albums A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell.

After twenty years of not being on speaking terms, Bob Geldof managed to get Roger Waters and Pink Floyd back together for one performance for Live 8 in 2005.

Pink Floyd before performing at Live 8 in 2005. Awkward?

Taken from one of their live shows (without Roger Waters), Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Pink Floyd's tribute to Syd Barrett, also gives a good impression about how huge their performances and light shows used to be:

The clip below is Comfortably Numb, from the movie The Wall. You see Bob Geldof with shaved eyebrows, resembling Syd Barrett at Abbey Road in 1975. Regardless how awesome this song is, it's best listened in the context of the entire album. And if you do, don't set it to 'random'. That's like having sex in reverse.