Music

Pink Floyd

Rock Band
Born: 1965
Birthplace: London, England
Best known for: Dark Side of the Moon

Pink Floyd was a U.K. psychedelic rock band made up of Syd Barrett (1946-2006), guitar and vocals; David Gilmour (6 March 1944, Cambridge), guitar; Roger Waters (6 September 1944, Cambridge), vocals and bass; Nick Mason (27 January 1945, Birmingham), drums; and Richard Wright (28 July 1945, London), keyboards. Waters, Mason and Wright played together in the Architectural Abdabs before being joined in 1965 by Barrett, who changed the band name to the Pink Floyd Sound. Their sound was attributed to Barrett, who had trouble coping (some say because of LSD, some say mental illness) and was ultimately replaced by Gilmour in 1968. Their early albums were spacey and experimental and they were among the first rock groups to use light shows during their concerts. Their 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon took them from the fringes of psychedelic rock and put them on the top of the charts. The album went on to become one of the best selling records of all time, spending more than 25 years on Billboard's Top 200 chart. They had further success with Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979), but by the '80s the band drifted apart. In 1987 Gilmour, Mason and Wright reunited and recorded A Momentary Lapse of Reason. One of the top-selling rock groups in history, Pink Floyd was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Extra credit: The 1982 film The Wall was based on their album and starred Bob Geldof. The band name comes from two bluesmen: Pink Anderson (1900-74) and Floyd Council (1911-76). The band's cult status was enhanced in the 1990s when the rumour spread that the album Dark Side of the Moon took on new meaning when played in synchronization with the movie The Wizard of Oz.

Studio albums: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) A Saucerful of Secrets (1968) Ummagumma (1969) Atom Heart Mother (1970) Meddle (1971) The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) Wish You Were Here (1975) Animals (1977) The Wall (1979) The Final Cut (1983) A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) The Division Bell (1994)

Soundtracks: Tonite Let's All Make Love in London (1967) More (1969) Zabriskie Point (1970) Obscured by Clouds (1972)

Live: Ummagumma (1969) Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988) PULSE (1995) Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81 (2000)

Compilations: Relics (1971) A Nice Pair (1973) Masters of Rock (1974) A Collection of Great Dance Songs (1981) Works (1983) Shine On (The Early Singles) (1992) 1967 Singles
Sampler (1997) Echoes (2001) Pink Floyd Studio Box Set (2007)

Unreleased material: Lucy Leave (1965) (I'm A) King Bee (1965) Reaction in G (1967) One in a Million (1967) Vegetable Man (1967) Scream Thy Last Scream (1967) Have You Got It, Yet? (1968) Moonhead (1969) Seabirds (1969) Hollywood (1969) Pink Floyd Live at Montreux Casino (1970) The Violent Sequence (1970) Oneone/Fingals Cave (1970)The Merry Xmas Song (1975)