Pink Floyd

Formed in 1965, Pink Floyd is a British band famous for their songwriting and psychedelic style. Pink Floyd originally consisted of Syd Barrett (vocals, guitar), [Richard Wright]? (keyboards, vocals), [Roger Waters]? (bass, vocals) and [Nick Mason]? (drums). Initially part of the underground rock scene, their material, mostly written by Barrett, was a mixture of US influenced psychedelic rock and British whimsy. The sound was hardened somewhat in 1968 when guitarist [David Gilmour]? joined the band. In 1969, Barrett suffered a mental breakdown, attributed to prolonged usage of [psychedelic drugs]? (especially LSD) and left the band. Waters and Gilmour took his place as lead vocalists.

With the loss of their main songwriter, the bands' sound took a more experimental turn. Never a hit-single driven group, Pink Floyd (often referred to as Pink, Floyd, or The Floyd by their fans) hit the charts with their 1973 album, Dark Side of the Moon. Despite having only one hit single (the track "Money"), the album reach number 1 on the US Billboard charts, but more importantly, remained in the top 100 for over a decade, breaking many records on the way, and making it one of the top selling albums of all time.

Dark Side of the Moon and the following three albums (Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall) are often held up as the peak of Pink Floyd's career.

The Wall gave Pink Floyd another hit single, with the track "Another Brick in the Wall Part II" and it's catchphrase "We don't need no education".

The Wall probably remains a landmark concept album, becoming a movie, and an incredibly expensive (and money losing) tour/stage-show. During this time, Roger Waters increased his artistic influence and leadership of the band, and Richard Wright was fired. (though he performed on The Wall tour as a session musician).

The Wall remained during 14 years in more buyed album lists.

After The Final Cut, bandmembers went their separate ways till 1987, when Gilmour attempted to revive the band with Nick Mason. A bitter legal dispute with Roger Waters ensued, but Gilmour and Mason achieved the legal right to release an album as Pink Floyd (Waters, however, gained the rights to some traditional Pink Floyd imagery, including almost all of The Wall). Richard Wright re-joined the duo near the end of the recording sessions of A Momentary Lapse of Reason as a session musician (though the newer remastered anniversary CD has revised this history and he is credited as a band member). By any account, Wright was a member of the band for the 1994 release of The Division Bell, and it's subsequent tour.

Albums

• Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)
• A Saucerful of Secrets (1968)
• Soundtrack to More (1969)
• Ummagumma (1969)
• Atom Heart Mother (1970)
• Meddle (1971)
• Obscured By Clouds (1972)
• Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
• Wish You Were Here (1975)
• Animals (1977)
• The Wall (1977)
• The Final Cut (1983)
• Works (compilation)
• A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987?)
• Delicate Sounds of Thunder (live)
• The Division Bell (1994)
• P.U.L.S.E (Live)
• Echoes (2001) (best-of compilation)

Pink Floyd are renowned for their lavish stage shows, combining over-the-top visual experiences with their music to create a show in which the artists themselves are almost secondary. (and indeed, this was a major theme in the tour of The Wall, in which a band of session musicians played the first song, wearing rubber face masks - proving successfully that the band were not known for their individual personalities.

The lavish stage shows were also the basis for Douglas Adams fictional rock group "Disaster Area" (creators of the loudest noise in the universe, and making use of solar-flares in their stage show!) in the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Douglas Adams was a personal friend of David Gilmour, and performed with Pink Floyd on the P.U.L.S.E tour.

Pink Floyd have not released any material since 1994's The Division Bell, and while they have not officially broken up, neither are there any rumours of any new album