In 1964, three friends;
George Roger Waters (guitar), Richard Wright (keyboards), & Nick
Mason (drums) (all students at the Regent Street School Of
Polytechnics), formed a band called Sigma 6. Unsuccessful to get
famous, The band changed their name to The T-Sets. Later in middle
1965, the band became The Abdads, with new members Clive Metcalf on
bass guitar, and Keith Nobles and Juliette Gale on backup vocals. The
band changed their name to both The Screaming Abdads, and The
Architectural Abdabs. In 1966, Julliette Gale married Rick Wright and
The Abdabs broke up. Later that year George legally changed his name to
Roger. In Autumn 1966, the band became Sigma 6 again, Roger switched to
bass guitar, and they recruited 2 guitar players; Bob Close and Roger
Syd Barret.
Before long they changed their name to The Pink Floyd
Sound. With Barrett,an art student he was the one who coined the name
The Pink Floyd Sound after some of his favorite blues records by
Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.
Later that year, Bob Close left the band. The band finally had a chance
to record their first single, Arnold Layne, a song about a crazy
transvestite who steals women's clothes. Before long, they dropped the
words "The" and "Sound" in the name and made their first album, The
Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. The studio rented out to make the album,
was right down the hall from where The Beatles were recording Sgt.
Peppers, at abby road studios so the band got to know The Beatles .
The band had a subsequent tour scheduled for the U.S.A., but Syd got
very sick from being stoned on LSD (better know as acid). His LSD
addiction helped his imagination to write songs, but around the time of
A Saucerful Of Secrets, his drug habits were out of control.
By the end of 1967, Syd was becoming to spaced out for his writings.
The band considered getting a replacement for Syd. They recruited David
Gilmour, an old friend of Roger and Syd's. Syd got guitar lessons from
David in Grammar and High School.
David was recruited to cover for Syd on stage. If Syd were to make a
mistake, David would fill the gap, and fix it. That didn't work out.
David would cover for Syd on stage while Syd stayed behind stage and
wrote songs. That didn't work out.
The band tried as hard as they could to keep Syd in the band, but his
acid addiction took control of him and he went crazy. The band finally
decided to kick out Syd. So on the way to a show one night they
didn't pick him up. Goodbye Syd Barret.
In 1968, the band continued on without Syd. This was a major tragedy in
England, but not in America. Another major tragedy was when David
Gilmour's Telecaster was stolen in Chicago. Later that year, the band
played a gig in France, and one of the attendees of the show was famous
French hippie movie director, Barbet Schroder. He asked Pink Floyd to
do the soundtrack to his next picture, More, which would come out in
1969. The band also had an unreleased rock opera the played on-stage,
called The Man and The Journey, which they took 3 songs from for the
More Soundtrack; Sleep/Nightmare (which would become Cymbaline), Green
Is The Colour, and Death (which both parts of the song became both Main
Theme and Dramatic Sequence).
The album and movie would be a success in Europe and Britian. The band
retired The Man and The Journey before being recorded, but used one
song from the album called The Narrow Way. Barbet Schroder would ask
the band to do another soundtrack for another movie in 1972 called La
Vallee, known in America and Britian as The Valley Obscured By Clouds.
In late 1969, Pink Floyd released a Double Album called
Ummagumma. The first disc consisted of live tracks from various live
performances in 1969. The second disc consisted of solo studio tracks
by each member of the band.
In early 1970, Pink Floyd released their newest album Atom Heart
Mother, with an orchestra playing on the 23-minute-plus title track.
The band toured extensively with the orchestra supporting the album.
In early 1971, Pink Floyd's executive producer Joe Boyd, made a
compilation album of both released and unreleased material from Pink
Floyd's past. It was called Relics. While this was going on, Pink Floyd
was in the middle of making their new album Meddle with another
23-minute-plus song called Echoes.
In early 1972, Pink Floyd was asked again to do another soundtrack for
a movie called La Vallee or The Valley Obscured By Clouds, hence the
name Obscured By Clouds came about.
After Obscured by Clouds was finshed, Pink Floyd took a plane to Rome,
where they took a bus to Pompeii, one of the 2 cities destroyed by
Mount Vesuvius 2000 years ago. There they filmed a private concert,
playing some of their best material. The video was called Live At
Pompeii, which also included footage behind the making of the album
Dark Side Of The Moon.
During the time that Floyd was making Obscured By Clouds, they had
written a 45-minute opus of songs that they played live. This opus was
called Eclipse. It was mainly focused on society and how it alienates,
controls, and destroys daily life. The original name for the opus was
supposed to be Dark Side Of The Moon, but the British Blues band
Medicine Head released an album the previous year of the same name. So
they let the name go, until they heard that the Medicine Head album
flopped on Billboard charts, so they revamped the name Dark Side Of The
Moon and also wrote an end song for the opus which was called Eclipse.
They turned their opus into an album in 1973, called Dark Side Of The
Moon. It is the second highest selling rock record in history, compared
to Michael Jackson's Thriller.
To follow up their success to Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd made
Wish You Were Here. The album was dedicated to original lyricist and
guitar player Syd Barret. During late recording of the album, Syd
actually showed up to congratulate them on their success with Dark Side
Of The Moon, although at first they didn't recognize him because he had
gained alot of weight. During that tour they wrote yet another opus,
but this one was mostly instrumental. This opus turned out to be Shine
On You Crazy Diamond. It was split into 2 halves because it was too
long to fit on one side of the record. During this tour Pink Floyd
performed Dark Side Of The Moon in it's entirety again.
After the success of Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd took off for a year
and a half to make a new album. This album was based on the
aristocratic and communist lifestyles in the world. Each type of person
was loosely based on an animal. And this album became Animals. Dogs
were the creepy rulers of industry, Pigs were the communist tyrants,
Sheep were the common folk, always being brainlessly led by the Dogs
and Pigs, and Pigs On The Wing was a love song that Roger wrote to his
new wife, Carolyn, the niece of the Duke of York. For the tour the band
recruited Dick Parry for saxophone and Snowy White on rhythm guitar. On
July 6th, 1977 in Montreal, Quebec, the last show of the Animals tour,
a fan was screaming relentlessy and climbing his way up towards the
stage. Roger spit on him to show disgustment. After the show, Roger
felt bad about this, and escaped back to his hotel room and started
writing new music, about how much he and the audience have come apart.
In late 1978, Pink Floyd met together to discuss new
projects, after David and Rick made solo albums. Roger presented 2
projects in demo form. The first project was rejected, that project
turned out to be, Roger Waters' solo album, The Pros and Cons of
Hitch-hiking. But the second project was taken, that project was The
Wall. Roger had enough songs for 3 discs, but he had to get rid of a
bunch of songs. November 30, 1979, The Wall is released in the UK, and
the fans love it. December 5, 1979, The Wall is released in the US, and
again, the fans love itt. For the tour they recruit Andy Bown on 2nd
Bass Guitar, Snowy White on Rhythm Guitar in 1980, Andy Roberts on
Rhythm Guitar in 1981, Peter Woods on Keyboards, Richard Wright on
Keyboards, and Jon Joyce, Stan Farber, Jim Haas, & Joe Chemay on
Backing Vocals.
February 26th, 1980, Pink Floyd premiers The Wall Tour in Nassau
Coliseum, on Long Island New York. October 1980, Pink Floyd premiers
The Wall Tour in Earl's Court in London. January 1981, Pink Floyd plays
The Wall in Los Angeles. April 1981, Pink Floyd Plays The Wall Show 4
times in Westfallenhalle in Dortmund, Germany. August 1981, Pink Floyd
plays The Wall at Earl's Court London again, and their tour is over by
September.
In 1982, Rick Wright left the band for good. Pink Floyd recuited new
Keyboard Players for a new project called, Spare Bricks, A Collection
Of Unrealeased Songs intended for The Wall but were scratched. The new
Keyboard Players were Michael Kamen on Piano, and Harmonium, and Andy
Bown on organ, and synthesizer.
Roger had plans to tour for the new album in November 1983, but because
of tensions between each member, Roger cancelled those plans, and
changed the name of the album to The Final Cut, which it probably would
be if David and Nick left, but they didn't.
In 1984, the band went their own seperate ways, Rick
Wright made a solo project with Dave Harris called Zee-Identity, David
Gilmour made a new solo album called About Face, and Roger Waters made
The Pros and Cons Of Hitch-hiking. In 1986, David Gilmour talked to
Nick Mason about getting the band back together. This caused a major
law suit. Roger Waters, sued David and Nick for the rights to the
music, and the band name itself. Roger lost the case because Pink Floyd
was never anything put into writing, but Roger was given the rights to
perform Pink Floyd music at his concerts and was given ownership of The
Wall and The Final Cut.
In later 1986, Dave and Nick set out to make the new album, A Momentary
Lapse Of Reason. They recruited an array of Musicians for the album
like King Crimson's Bass Player Tony Levin, Roxy Music's Guitar Player
Phil Manzenara, Vanilla Fudge's drummer Carmine Appice, Richard Wright
on Keyboards and about 20 others. They took off for the road, in later
1987 under the name Pink Floyd. They recruited Gary Wallis for Drums
and Percussion, Guy Pratt on bass guitar, Jon Carin on keyboards, Tim
Renwick on Guitar, and the "cre`me de la cre`me" of the show, the
return of Richard Wright. The 3-Year Tour concluded in August 1990,
when Pink Floyd played at The Knebworth Festival.
The Band took a 3 year Hiatus from Touring and Recording in 1990.
Pink Floyd started recording in 1993 for their new album, The Division
Bell. Richard Wright was finally back fully with the band. The band
toured for 6 months. The Tour Ended after a series of 12 shows at
Earl's Court London, and during their tour of Europe, David Gilmour
married his girlfriend Polly Samson. For this tour they did something
they hadn't done in about 20 years, they played Dark Side Of The Moon
in it's entirety.
Pink Floyd released a live album and video on their Division Bell tour,
both featured with live Dark Side Of The Moon. The band was successful
once more.
In 1996, Pink Floyd was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame
by Billy Corgan on January 17,1996,at the Waldorf-Astoria in N.Y.C.
Gilmour, Wright, and Mason performed Wish You Were Here with Billy
Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins.Pink Floyd has made a new live album in
(2000) "Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live" A Pink Floyd double
album from recordings of Pink Floyd performing The Wall in London's
Earls Court in August 1980 and June 1981.
Roger Waters toured in 1999 and 2000, he made a new live album called
In The Flesh he also put the show on DVD, In The Flesh-Live.
In Late 2001, Pink Floyd including Roger
Waters with producer James Guthrie, made a new compilation album called
"Echoes:The Best Of Pink Floyd" Although Floyd never did well with
Compilations or greatest hits albums, this album was remastered as one
continuous song and did well in the charts at #2 it spent 26 weeks on
the Billboard 200 charts
In July 2005, Pink Floyd reunited with Roger Waters for a one-off performance at Live 8 in London's Hyde Park, which was regarded by many as the highlight of an astonishing show.
May 10, 2007
Pink Floyd performed last night
(May 10) in London in honour of the late Syd Barrett.
However a full reunion of all the remaining members did not happen on
the night, despite them all being in the same building.
Roger Waters and David Gilmour, who famously fell out in the 1980s,
appeared separately at the tribute gig at London's Barbican Centre.
Gilmour was joined by the band's drummer Nick Mason and keyboard player
Rick Wright, while Waters performed solo.
Rumours of a full reunion have been rife ever since Waters and Gilmour
put their differences behind them to perform at Live8 in 2005.
However Waters did not join in the final performance of 'Bike', which
featured all the evening's other performers, including Damon Albarn and
Chrissie Hynde.
Gilmour, Mason and Wright performed 'Arnold Layne' while Waters played
his own song, 'Flickering Flame'.
Syd Barrett died in July 2006 aged 60 from complications arising from
diabetes.
