Evolving quickly, Pink Floyd blossomed under Barrett's inspired leadership into a pre-eminent Psychedelic Pop band. Indeed, fuelled by Barrett's frequent adventures with LSD, the music soared into entirely uncharted sonic territory, combining the new pallet of distortion guitar with classically influenced organ and driving percussion. Lyrically, the songs painted a bemused and whimsical landscape of interstellar travel and childhood daydreams, a terrain perfectly suited as a soundtrack for countless thousands of neophyte acid trippers.
In early January, 1967, the band inked a deal with EMI, receiving a 5,000 Pound advance. The company released Pink Floyd's first single, "Arnold Layne", on March 10th, 1967, and saw it climb to #20 on the UK chart. On June 16th of that year, they issued a Syd Barrett single called "See Emily Play", which peaked at #6 in the U.K. The song became the center of some dissatisfaction among fans however, when Pink Floyd refused to perform it in concert.
Barrett's fading sanity, eroded by his passion for LSD, soon began to take its toll. His indulgence in hallucinogenic drugs exacerbated his problems and he often proved near-comatose on-stage and incoherent with interviewers. A third single, "Apples And Oranges", failed to crack the British chart, while further recordings, "Vegetable Man" and "Scream Thy Last Scream" were deemed unsuitable for release. His colleagues, fearful for their friend and sensing a possible end to the band, brought Dave Gilmour into the line-up in February, 1968. Plans for Barrett to maintain a back room role, writing for the group but not touring, came to naught and his departure was announced the following April. He subsequently followed with a short-lived, solo career. Barrett severed all links with the music industry by 1974 and steadfastly resisted all attempts to entice him back. Widely believed to have suffered psychosis, exacerbated by prolific use of hallucinogenic drugs in the 1960s, he retreated to the cellar of his childhood home in Cambridge where he shunned all contact with the outside world.
Now without their principle songwriter, the re-aligned Pink Floyd completed their second album, "Saucerful Of Secrets". It featured one Barrett original, the harrowing "Jugband Blues", as well as two songs destined to become an integral part of their live concerts, the title track itself and "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun". Although the album sold well, both singles flopped. Each successive album, supported by regular concert tours, built Pink Floyd's stature and broadened their epic ambition. The release of "Dark Side of the Moon" in 1973 was a thunderclap across all of Pop music. A tour-de-force of production, arrangement, song-writing and timing, "Dark Side" rose to #1 on the Billboard chart and stayed on the list for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988, carving Pink Floyd a legend that remains untouched to date and will likely remain indefinitely.
But what do you do after you conquer the world? The albums "Wish You Were Here" and "Animals", sold millions of records and were supported by record-breaking, over-the-top tours. But it wasn't until "The Wall", Roger Waters' dismal vision of modern life and alienation, that Pink Floyd would again break new ground. Waters' influence, though darker and more earth-bound, also yielded material better suited to the singles format. "Another Brick In The Wall" became a #1 hit single in both the US and UK. The touring production for "The Wall" involved the construction of a huge wall between the band and the audience during the show and remains to this day one of the most ambitious road shows ever toured.
Such success did nothing to ease Pink Floyd's internal hostility. Long-standing feuds between Waters and Wright, the latter almost left the group with Barrett, resulted in the bass player demanding Wright's departure. He finally did leave in 1979. By the early '80s, relations within the band had not improved. Friction over financial matters and composing credits tore at the heart of the group. 'Because we haven't finished with each other yet,' was Mason's caustic reply to a question as to why Pink Floyd were still together, and to the surprise of many, another album did appear in 1983. "The Final Cut" was a stark, humorless set which Waters totally dominated. It comprised songs written for "The Wall", but rejected by the group. Mason's contributions were negligible, Gilmour showed little interest, eventually asking that his production credit be removed, and Pink Floyd's fragmentation was evident to all. One single, "Not Now John", did reach the UK Top 30, but by the end of the year knives were drawn and an acrimonious parting ensued.
In 1987, Mason and Gilmour decided to resume work together under the Pink Floyd banner. Rick Wright also returned, albeit as a salaried member. Waters instigated an injunction, which was over-ruled, allowing temporary use of the Pink Floyd name. The cryptically titled "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason", although tentative in places, sounded more like a Pink Floyd album than its sombre predecessor. The band relied heavily on session musicians, including Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music. A massive world tour began in September that year, culminating twelve months and two hundred concerts later. A live set, "Delicate Sound Of Thunder", followed in its wake but, more importantly, the rigors of touring rekindled Wright and Mason's confidence. Meanwhile, Waters led a new band in an extravagant adaptation of "The Wall", performed live on the remains of the Berlin Wall in 1990. Despite international television coverage, the show failed to re-ignite his fortunes.
In 1994, his former colleagues released "The Division Bell", an accomplished set which may yet enter the Pink Floyd lexicon as one of their finest achievements. 'It sounds more like a genuine Pink Floyd album than anything since Wish You Were Here', Gilmour later stated, much to the relief of fans, critics and the group themselves. With Wright a full-time member again and Mason on sparkling form, the group embarked on another lengthy tour, judiciously balancing old and new material. The group also showcased their most spectacular light show to date during these performances. The album, "Pulse" cashed in on the success of the tours and was a perfectly recorded live album. The packaging featured a flashing LED, which was supposed to last (in flashing mode) for six months.
Into the new century, Pink Floyd, although not officially disbanded, had not been heard from in quite a while. Los Angeles-based radio station KLOS reported in January of 2000, that 'Rumor has it that David Gilmour is working on assembling the players for a Pink Floyd tour', but it never happened. It wasn't until June, 2005, that word finally came that Pink Floyd would again take to the stage. They were slated to perform with Elton John, Madonna, Paul McCartney and others at an anti-poverty concert in London, England on July 2.
Fans of the band were saddened to hear of the death of Syd Barrett on July 7th, 2006 at the age of 60. In 1992, Atlantic Records had offered Barrett $500,000 for new material, but the offer went unheeded. He apparently spent his time painting and writing. In 2002, his sister, who had kept an eye on him since their mother's death in 1991, gave him a stereo, but he expressed little interest in "Echoes", a compilation of Pink Floyd's recordings. He had written nearly a fifth of the tracks on it, though he had worked with the group for less than a 30th of its existence. He did agree to watch an BBC Omnibus documentary about himself, but later said he found it 'a bit noisy.' On May 10th, 2007, the surviving members of Pink Floyd took part in a tribute concert to pay respects to their former front man, Roger "Syd" Barrett. Guitarist David Gilmour, bassist Roger Waters, drummer Nick Mason and keyboardist Rick Wright all appeared on stage in London. Unfortunately, the long-feuding Gilmour and Waters had yet to bury the hatchet. The pair appeared separately and were not photographed together. Gilmour, Mason and Wright performed "Arnold Layne", the group's first hit and one of Barrett's best-known works. Waters performed a solo version of his own track, "Flickering Flame".
Sadly, Rick Wright died of cancer on September 15th, 2008 at his home in Britain. The remaining members, Waters, Gilmour and Mason reunited for one of Roger Waters' The Wall Tour shows on May 12th, 2011 at The O2 Arena in London. Gilmour performed "Comfortably Numb" with Waters and "Outside The Wall" with Mason and Waters. On September 26th, 2011, Pink Floyd and EMI Records launched an aggressive re-release campaign under the title "Why Pink Floyd...?", which re-issued the band's back catalogue in newly re-mastered versions, including special multi-disc, multi-format editions. All albums were re-mastered by the co-producer of "The Wall", James Guthrie.
Unfortunately for Pink Floyd fans, the band's website said in 2012 that 'It now seems highly unlikely that the surviving members will ever convene under the name chosen by Syd Barrett, nor under it make new music.' Roger Waters, however, was making the most of his solo career, racking up $158.1 million in concert ticket sales worldwide during the first six months of 2012, outselling perennial leaders Bruce Springsteen and Madonna. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in November, 2013, Waters revealed that he was working on his first new album in over twenty years.
David Gilmour and Nick Mason announced in July, 2014 that they would unveil a new Pink Floyd LP, "The Endless River" the following November. The album was based on a series of tracks originally recorded in 1994 and previously intended for release under the title "The Big Spliff". Gilmour and Mason said that they expanded the existing tracks and added some vocals to the songs, but that they would not be hitting the road to promote the album and that the collection is is almost certainly Floyd's final LP. In a statement to the press, David Gilmour was quoted as saying, 'I'm really enjoying my life and my music. There's no room for Pink Floyd. The thought of doing any more causes me to break out in a cold sweat.'
In December, 2014, the band's iconic album "Dark Side Of The Moon" made a surprise return to the #13 position on the Billboard 200 Album Chart after it was discounted to 99-cents in the Google Play store and moved over 38,000 units in one week. That's the album's highest ranking since October, 2011, when it reached #12 following the release of a new deluxe edition. "Dark Side" continues to hold the record for the most charted weeks in Billboard history.
On November 30th, 2015, Pink Floyd released a limited edition EP called "1965 - Their First Recordings". The six song collection, recorded prior to the group's 1967 breakthrough album "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn", features Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright along with guitarist Rado Klose, a classmate of Waters and Barrett. The EP's half dozen tracks were recorded when the band was still known as Sigma 6 and The Abdabs.
In mid-July, 2015, Roger Waters announced that Roger Waters: The Wall Live, the best selling tour by any solo artist in history, had been adapted for the silver screen and would debut in theatres on September 29th. For 2016, he was planning to tour behind a new album as well as releasing his memoirs. As for any future reunion of Pink Floyd, David Gilmour seemed to end all hope of that happening in August, 2015 when he told a UK radio station, '...it has run its course, we are done. And it would be fakery to go back and do it again. To do it without Rick would just be wrong.' On September 25th, Gilmour's solo album, "Rattle That Lock" rose to the top of the UK album chart, selling 20,000 more copies than his next nearest competitor.
In late February, 2017, the 73-year-old Roger Waters was in a New York recording studio, preparing a new album in advance of a tour scheduled to begin that May. In mid-October, the band announced the reissues of two albums from the 1980s that will be available on vinyl for the first time in more than two decades. 1981's "A Collection of Great Dance Songs" and 1988's "Delicate Sound of Thunder" continue Pink Floyd Records' re-release program, which already includes the band's re-mastered studio catalog on vinyl. Scheduled for release on Record Day, April 21, 2018 was their debut album, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn", on mono vinyl for the first time in fifty years.
For the Summer of 2018, Roger Waters was on the road with his Us + Them tour, where he performed many Pink Floyd classics in a show dotted with political statements and protests. On January 1st, 2019, drummer Nick Mason was named a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to music. Another treat for fans was set for April 13th (Record Day) when the band's own label, Pink Floyd Records was scheduled to re-issue the mono mix of their second album, "A Saucerful of Secrets" as a vinyl disc. The LP is significant because it's the only one to feature both founding guitarist, Syd Barrett, and his replacement, David Gilmour. Also on tap was the reissue of a limited, blue vinyl edition of their 1994 album "The Division Bell" to commemorate the disc's 25th anniversary. The album, set for release on June 7th, features eleven tracks, including "Marooned", which won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. On June 20th, David Gilmour auctioned off 127 guitars from his collection at Christie's in New York. The event set several world records for sales of guitars and raised a total of $21,490,750.
In September, 2019, the band announced a November 29th release date for a new, 16-disc, box set that includes material created by David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright from 1987 onwards. Called "Pink Floyd The Later Years", the collection features songs recorded after the departure of co-founder Roger Waters, including three studio albums: "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason", "The Endless River" and "The Division Bell", as well as two live albums: "Pulse" and "Delicate Sound Of Thunder".
In early March, 2021, David Gilmour again dismissed any hope of a Pink Floyd reunion when he told Guitar Player magazine, "It has run its course, we are done." That comment echoed Roger Waters 2020 statement that getting the band back together "Wouldn't be nice. It would be fucking awful." The two did however agree on a release plan for a deluxe edition of the 1977 Pink Floyd masterpiece, "Animals", which will feature new mixes. Gilmour and Waters had been at odds over the liner notes that were to be included with the album.
Roger Waters was in the news again in mid-June, 2021 when he revealed that he had rejected an offer from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for the use of the 1979 Pink Floyd track "Another Brick in the Wall Part II" in a film to promote Instagram. In declining the offer, Waters called Zuckerberg "one of the powerful idiots in the world," and made it clear that he wanted no part of the deal. One project that did meet with Water's approval was making twelve live albums, spanning the years 1970 to 1972, available on streaming services, starting in December of that year.
On April 8th, 2022, Pink Floyd fans learned that David Gilmour and Nick Mason had released a song called "Hey Hey Rise Up", the band's first new original material since 1994's "Division Bell" album. The track was in support of the people of Ukraine in the midst attacks from Russia. The song featured Gilmour and Mason, joined by longtime Pink Floyd bassist Guy Pratt, with Nitin Sawhney on keyboards, as well as vocals by Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the Ukrainian band Boombox. Proceeds from sales of the song were to benefit the Ukraine Humanitarian Relief Fund. Gilmour stated that the effort was a "one-off" event and didn't mean there will be more new band activity to follow. Three months later, Warner Music and Sony Music announced that a 2018 remix of the band's 1977 album "Animals" would be released in Deluxe Gatefold, CD, LP, Blu-ray and SACD formats on October 7th.
In mid-July, 2022, Roger Waters made the news after he asked an interviewer from The Globe and Mail why his recent shows in Toronto weren't reviewed by the publication or any others in the area. He was told that the Canadian artist known as The Weeknd was appearing the same night, and responded by saying "Would it not have been possible to review his show one night and my show another night?" He then went on to mention Canadian rapper Drake, adding, "And, by the way, with all due respect to the Weeknd or Drake or any of them, I am far, far, far more important than any of them will ever be, however many billions of streams they've got."
A company called Mercury Studios announced in October, 2022 that they were in the process of producing a documentary called Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd . Featuring new interviews with his former bandmates, the film was said to chronicle the early years of Pink Floyd, as well as the life of Barrett after he left the band.
The middle of November, 2022 saw Roger Waters release a new, re-recorded version of the Pink Floyd classic "Comfortably Numb", that was captured during a recent North American leg of his This Is Not A Drill tour. Waters said in a statement, "During Lockdown I made a demo of a new version of 'Comfortably Numb' as an opener for our new show, This Is Not A Drill. I pitched it a whole step down, in A Minor, to make it darker and arranged it with no solos, except over the outro chord sequence, where there is a heartrendingly beautiful female vocal solo from Shanay Johnson, one of our new singers."
In December, 2022, Pink Floyd quietly released 18 live albums from the year 1972, along with a five-track EP of alternative tracks from the same time period. The new releases covered concert recordings from throughout the year, when the band was touring in support of their sixth and seventh albums – "Meddle" (1971) and "Obscured By Clouds" and road-testing songs from the following year's "The Dark Side Of The Moon". For 2023, the band marked the 50th anniversary of "The Dark Side of the Moon" with a massive reissue that includes an unreleased 1974, full-album performance of the legendary LP. A 2CD, 2LP, 2-Blu-ray edition coupled the remastered LP with the live album "The Dark Side Of The Moon - Live At Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974".
Meanwhile, Roger Waters told journalist Tristram Fane Saunders of The Telegraph that he was working on re-recording the 1973 album "The Dark Side of the Moon" without the help or knowledge of Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Nick Mason. In the midst of a forty date tour of Europe in April, 2023, Waters also announced the release of a solo album called "The Lockdown Sessions" on June 2nd of that year. The songs were recorded at his home in England during the COVID-19 lockdown.
A new, Collector's Edition Of "The Dark Side Of The Moon" was scheduled for release on March 24th, 2024. One of the most iconic and influential albums ever, it has sold over 50 million copies worldwide. Meanwhile, David Gilmour was busy with a new solo album, "Luck And Strange", which he called his best work since 1973's "Dark Side Of The Moon". In support of that effort, he was booked heavily in Italy, Great Britain and New York for the autumn of 2024.
Around the first of October, 2024, Pink Floyd became the latest iconic music artist to sell their catalog when SONY purchased their recorded music and name-and-likeness rights for $400 million (£301 million).
