pink floyd
 Pink
Floyd (named after two obscure American bluesmen, Pink Anderson
and Floyd Council) formed in Cambridge, England, in 1964 as a
six-piece group of Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, Rick
Wright, Bob Klose, and vocalist Chris Dennis.
Dennis left early in 1965 and Klose followed him that summer,
which left the band as a quartet.
Pink Floyd's first album, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn,
was released on August 5 1967. The title, chosen by leader Syd
Barrett, came from Kenneth Graham's children's novel, Wind In
The Willows.
Not long after the album was released, Syd Barrett began to
show increasing signs of damage caused (so it was believed) by his
over-indulgence in the psychedelic drug LSD.
He became totally unpredictable and somewhat unreliable, to the
point where Roger Waters invited guitarist David Gilmour to join
the band. The idea was to allow Barrett to concentrate on writing
songs while Gilmour assumed his role on stage. After about three
months it became clear that this arrangement was unworkable and in
April 1968, Pink Floyd parted company with their erratic leader.
 In March 1973, the Dark Side of The Moon album was
released to mixed reviews. The album was deliberately gloomy, a
thematically linked homage to madness, stress and the problems of
everyday life. When it was first performed live as a prelude to
the recording session, the title was Dark Side of The Moon - A
Piece For Assorted Lunatics.
The music was destined to be bleak; recorded over eight months
on Abbey Road's then unused 24-track facility, it made much of
sound effects and spoken soundbites.
Although
the suite was excellently constructed and engaging (if not exactly
entertaining) it couldn't be described as another Sgt Pepper
or Electric Ladyland.
In fact, even the band couldn't put a
finger on what made it so special, and yet it spent over 14 years
in the US album charts and sold over 25 million copies worldwide
(when it finally came out on CD, one factory in Germany pressed
nothing else for several months). This record alone transformed the Floyd into a big league
creative force and remains The Concept Album against which all
others are judged.
In 1976, the shoot for the cover photo of their Animals
LP went horribly wrong when a 40ft inflatable pig slipped its
moorings and floated off above the London skyline.
 The city's
airports warned pilots to be careful of a huge flying pig, and
after one sighting at 20,000 feet over the Kent coast (50 miles
from London), the plastic animal was never seen or heard of again!
The Wall, released in 1980, became Britain's Number 1
album and hit the top of the US charts as the band began its world
tour - not exactly the most gruelling of schedules, the band
played just four locations; New York, Los Angeles, Düsseldorf and
London. During their spectacular show, a 30ft wall was built
across the stage and dismantled brick by brick as the band played
on.
The review in Rolling Stone magazine described the show
as "an enormously impressive testament to a band that doesn't
mind playing second fiddle to a lot of white blocks".
1983's The Final Cut proved to be prophetically titled
as the group suddenly fell apart at the seams with Roger Waters
making his famous acrimonious departure. Nonetheless, the track Not
Now John hit number 30 in the UK charts, only the bands fifth
hit single in 16 years of making records.
TRIVIA NOTES
When Pink Floyd played an outdoor concert at London's Crystal
Palace Bowl in 1970, they played so loud that their music killed
most of the fish in the lake in front of the natural
amphitheatre's stage.
But what can you expect from a band who
seriously name a song Several Species Of Small Furry Animals
Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict . . . ?
This song appears on Ummagumma - The album which is
seemingly based on the principle that bands are often at their
best when they don't know what it is they are doing.
The Mayor of Venice (Italy) was forced to resign after the city
was mobbed by 200,000 Pink Floyd fans attending a free concert in
1989. The damage to just one pair of Renaissance columns cost
$46,000.
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