Pink Floyd

A London band that began in psychedelic pop under Syd Barrett, grew into progressive rock's best-selling act with The Dark Side of the Moon, and sold over 250 million records.

Origin: London, England
Years active: 1965-1994, 2005, 2007, 2013-2014, 2022
Genres: progressive rock, art rock, psychedelic rock, experimental rock
Labels: EMI, EMI Columbia, Tower, Harvest, Capitol, Columbia, Sony Music, Parlophone
Also known as: The Pink Floyd Sound, The Pink Floyd

Syd Barrett's band

Roger Waters and Nick Mason met in September 1962 while studying architecture at London Polytechnic. Richard Wright was part of the early group, which went through names such as Sigma 6 and the Tea Set. Syd Barrett became the frontman in 1965, and the band took its name from the blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Managed from March 1966 by Peter Jenner and Andrew King, they made their debut as the Pink Floyd at the Roundhouse on 15 October 1966.

EMI signed them in February 1967. Arnold Layne reached number 20 in Britain that March and See Emily Play number 6 in June. In August came The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, made at EMI's Abbey Road studio with the producer Norman Smith. He pushed the band toward shorter songs and found Barrett harder to reach as his LSD use grew. David Gilmour joined as a fifth member around the turn of 1967 and 1968, and Barrett's departure was announced on 6 April 1968. A Saucerful of Secrets followed that June.

Finding their own shape

Without Barrett the band worked as four equal partners. They toured the United States for the first time in July 1968 and issued Ummagumma in November 1969. Atom Heart Mother, in October 1970, became their first British number one album, with a cow on the cover and an orchestral suite co-composed with Ron Geesin filling side one. Meddle arrived in the autumn of 1971 and closed with Echoes, a piece of 23 minutes and 30 seconds. In 1971 they also filmed Live at Pompeii with no audience, directed by Adrian Maben. Obscured by Clouds, in 1972, was the soundtrack to the film La Vallee.

The great run

The Dark Side of the Moon appeared in March 1973, with songs such as Time and Money. It reached number one in the United States and stayed on the Billboard 200 for 996 weeks as of January 2026. Wish You Were Here, in September 1975, went to number one in Britain and the United States. Its centerpiece, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, is a tribute to Barrett. Animals followed in January 1977.

Waters conceived The Wall after spitting at a fan at a July 1977 show in Montreal. The double album came out on 30 November 1979 and spent 15 weeks at number one in the United States. It produced Another Brick in the Wall and Comfortably Numb. The sessions were strained: Wright was dismissed during production and came back as a salaried touring musician. The 1980 tour lost about 400,000 pounds, and a film directed by Alan Parker, with Bob Geldof as Pink, followed in 1982.

After Waters

The Final Cut reached number one in Britain in March 1983. It was dedicated to Waters's father, who died in the Second World War, and it is the only Pink Floyd album without Wright. Waters left in 1985. Gilmour, Mason and Wright carried on with A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987), a number three album in both Britain and the United States, and The Division Bell (1994). The Division Bell Tour ended on 29 October 1994 and was the band's last. On 2 July 2005 all four of Waters, Gilmour, Mason and Wright played Live 8 in Hyde Park together for the first time in over 24 years.

Barrett died on 7 July 2006 and Wright on 15 September 2008. The Endless River, built from unreleased Division Bell sessions, came out in 2014 as the last studio album. In April 2022 Gilmour and Mason released "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" with proceeds for Ukrainian humanitarian relief, and Gilmour called it a one-off. In October 2024 the recordings were sold to Sony Music for about 400 million dollars, in a deal that the Guardian, citing the Financial Times, said covered the recorded catalogue, the band's name and likeness, but not the songwriting rights. The band entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and won the Polar Music Prize in 2008, and Britain issued a set of Pink Floyd postage stamps in 2016.

Members

Syd Barrett guitar, vocals (1965-1968)
Roger Waters bass, vocals (1965-1985)
Richard Wright keyboards, vocals (1965-1994)
Nick Mason drums (1965-1994)
David Gilmour guitar, vocals (1967-1994)

Records

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn 1967 · EMI Columbia
Barrett's debut with the band: short, strange songs and one long improvisation, made in three months at Abbey Road.
A Saucerful of Secrets 1968 · EMI Columbia
The second album, with Barrett's song Jugband Blues closing it.
Atom Heart Mother 1970 · Harvest
A side-long orchestral suite with Ron Geesin and a plain cow on the cover, the first Pink Floyd album to reach number one in Britain.
Meddle 1971 · Harvest
Six songs and one 23-minute side-long piece, Echoes, that gave the band its direction for the decade.
The Dark Side of the Moon 1973 · Capitol (US), Harvest (UK)
The band's best-known record, built from months of live performance and Alan Parsons's studio craft, and a fixture of the American chart for decades.
Wish You Were Here 1975 · Harvest (UK), Columbia (US)
Four songs about absence and the music business, built around a tribute to Syd Barrett.
Animals 1977 · Harvest (UK), Columbia (US)
Three long songs about dogs, pigs and sheep, loosely based on Orwell's Animal Farm.
The Wall 1979 · Harvest/EMI (UK), Columbia/CBS (US)
A double album about a rock star walling himself off, born from Waters spitting at a fan in Montreal.
The Final Cut 1983 · Harvest, Columbia
Waters's anti-war record, dedicated to his father and made without Wright, the last Pink Floyd album before he left.

Songs

Comfortably Numb The Wall · 1979
Gilmour's wordless demo and Waters's account of a doctor's visit, with the band's most celebrated guitar solo.
Money The Dark Side of the Moon · 1973
A cash register tape loop and a groove in 7/4, written as a satire on materialism.
Time The Dark Side of the Moon · 1973
A song about wasting your life, opened by a bank of ringing clocks.
Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) The Wall · 1979
A disco-tinged protest song with a school choir that was the band's only British Christmas number one.
Shine On You Crazy Diamond Wish You Were Here · 1975
A nine-part tribute to Syd Barrett, split across both sides of Wish You Were Here.
Wish You Were Here Wish You Were Here · 1975
An acoustic song that begins with a car radio and was heard as a message to Barrett.
Astronomy Domine The Piper at the Gates of Dawn · 1967
Barrett's opening track on the debut album, launched by a manager reading star names through a megaphone.
Interstellar Overdrive The Piper at the Gates of Dawn · 1967
A nearly ten-minute instrumental that grew from a hummed tune and stands for the band's improvised early shows.
Arnold Layne 1967
The first single: a pop song about a man who steals women's clothes from washing lines.
See Emily Play 1967
The second single and the band's biggest hit of the Barrett years, written after the Games for May concert.
The Great Gig in the Sky The Dark Side of the Moon · 1973
A piano piece by Wright that became a showcase for Clare Torry's wordless improvised vocal.
Welcome to the Machine Wish You Were Here · 1975
A studio collage of synthesizers and acoustic guitar, built from a pulsing VCS 3 line.
Have a Cigar Wish You Were Here · 1975
Waters's attack on the music business, sung by Roy Harper.
Dogs Animals · 1977
A 17-minute attack on ruthless business life, rewritten from You've Got to Be Crazy.
Run Like Hell The Wall · 1979
A driving drop-D rocker from the point of view of Pink as a fascist dictator, and the last song Gilmour and Waters wrote together.

Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, David Bowie, U2

Where to go next

Official

Pink Floyd official site The band's own site, with recordings and Dark Side anniversary content.
Pink Floyd archive The official archive, with history pages.

Reference

Pink Floyd The band's history.
The Dark Side of the Moon The most detailed account of the sessions.
The Wall The sessions, tour and film.
Echoes The live history of the 23-minute piece.
Happy 50th: The Dark Side of the Moon Library of Congress post with Daniel Levitin's National Recording Registry essay.

Discography and data

Pink Floyd discography A complete release list.
MusicBrainz Release-level data.

Writing and criticism

Mix Classic Tracks: Money Blair Jackson with Alan Parsons on the tape loop and the 7/4 groove.
MusicTech: Landmark Productions Gear, tape loops, synthesizers and the Great Gig session.
Pitchfork: The Dark Side of the Moon Pitchfork's 9.3 review.
Pitchfork: Wish You Were Here Pitchfork's review of the 1975 album.
Pink Floyd at Pompeii MCMLXXII review Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian on the restored 1972 concert film.
Pitchfork: Meddle Andy Cush's 2020 Sunday Review of the album.

Interviews

Wish You Were Here turns 50 Jim Farber talks to Nick Mason about the sessions and the cover.

Live performance archives

Pink Floyd BBC Radio 1974 Wembley London A BBC Radio 1 recording of the 16 November 1974 Empire Pool show, with Dark Side of the Moon played in full.
The Complete Rainbow Tapes A bootleg box set of four nights at the Rainbow Theatre in February 1972, when Dark Side was first presented to audiences.

Film and video

Open Culture: Live at Pompeii Context on the restored concert film.

Fan sites and communities

A Fleeting Glimpse A fan site since 1998 with news, interviews, tour pages, discography and a forum.

Sources

Pink Floyd, Wikipedia
The Dark Side of the Moon, Wikipedia
The Wall, Wikipedia
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd album), Wikipedia
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Wikipedia
Landmark Productions: Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon, MusicTech (2015)
Pink Floyd to sell music catalog to Sony for $400m, The Guardian (2024-10-02)
Pink Floyd at Pompeii MCMLXXII review, The Guardian (2025-04-24)
The Final Cut (album), Wikipedia
Atom Heart Mother, Wikipedia