In 1965, a new band appeared on the global musical horizon - Pink Floyd. It was founded by students of the Faculty of Architecture at the London Polytechnic, four rock enthusiasts: Roger Waters (vocals and bass), Richard Wright (vocals and keyboards), Nick Mason (drums) and Sid Barrett (vocals and slide guitar). In 1968, when Barrett left the band, David Gilmore, a well-trained guitar player, also possessing vocal abilities, took his place.
From generation to decay
The recognized head of the band musically and administratively was Roger Waters, a born leader and talented poet. From 1973 to 1984, he single-handedly wrote lyrics and was the main author of the most recognized album - The Wall. Three significant events took place for Pink Floyd in 1994 when the penultimate disc of The Division Bell was released, the last tour and the unofficial breakup of the group took place. In its classic lineup, Pink Floyd took to the stage in the summer of 2005, at the Live 8 concert, for the last time.
A bit of history
Roger Waters and Nick Mason met at the architectural department of the University of Westminster in London. There already existed a group organized by students Cleve Metcalf and Keith Nomble. They began to play four, it turned out pretty well. Then Richard Wright joined the quartet. The group was named Sigma 6 and played compositions by student Ken Chapman, who later became an impresario of the band and songwriter.
In September 1963, Waters and Mason moved to the apartment, which was rented by one of the university teachers Mike Leonard. There, musicians began to gather. As usual, some began to leave the group, and others came. Roger's friend Sid Barrett arrived in October and joined the musicians as a guitarist.
After the departure of Metcalf and Nobel in 1964, the group remained virtually without vocalists. They began to look for singers. Soon, Close introduced the musicians to Chris Dennis, who had a good blues timbre and could play any song with virtually no accompaniment. The updated team changed its name to The Pink Floyd Sound. The musicians were satisfied, and Barrett was simply happy. He constantly reminded that the Pink Floyd group took its name from the names of the bluesmen Floyd Councilsil and Pink Anderson.
Swing intonation
Thanks to Chris Dennis, it was now possible to include spirituals, gospels, and even soul in the repertoire. In the early sixties of the last century, the blues was in high esteem, and the musicians took advantage of this fact. However, the Pink Floyd group (its members) decided not to play pure blues, so as not to become the next performer of "black" music. The blues rhythmic pattern was only inserted into the composition, but it turned out, nevertheless, very beautifully.
The concerts of the Pink Floyd band went on and on, the audience liked the young musicians who tried to create something unusual. Thus, the group quickly became popular, first in London, and then outside the UK.
Timbre and its meaning
Speaking in clubs, the musicians played mainly rhythm and blues hits, which were heard by everyone. This technique justified itself, and once Peter Peter Jenner drew attention to them. This man was not a professional musician, he taught economics at one of the London schools. But he was struck by the rare in purity of timbre acoustics that Wright managed to create with Barrett.
Jenner became a friend of the musicians and began to promote them. By the fall of 1966, Pink Floyd became one of the most popular and successful.
First records
In January 1967, two recordings were made at the Polydor studio: Interstellar Overdrive and Arnold Layne. Then the musicians signed a contract with another studio - EMI, and the recordings that were made on good equipment were now successfully replicated and went on sale. So began the commercial era, very successful when you consider the millions of album sales.
Not all participants withstood the burden of success; the first to receive the “resignation” was Sid Barrett, who abused drugs. The guitarist left for his mother and began to lead a hermit's lifestyle until he died of cancer.
In 1973, the star album "The Dark Side of the Moon" was released, which became the quintessential work of the group and a powerful catalyst for the future.
In the early eighties of the last century, the Pink Floyd group began to stage incredible performances on stage, with many special noise and visual effects. A show was created in which music was no longer heard. Lasers, balls and figures, pyrotechnics - all this destroyed a group that rock fans have known for many years.
Pink Floyd, line-up
At the time of the collapse, the musicians worked as follows:
- Waters Roger is a vocalist, bass player.
- Wright Richard - keyboards, vocals.
- Nick Mason - Percussion Instruments.
- Gilmore David - vocalist, guitar.
Most famous albums
- "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" (1967).
- "Music from the film" (1969).
- "The Heart of Mother" (1970).
- "Cloudy Weather" (1972).
- The Dark Side of the Moon (1973).
- "Animals" (1977).
- The Wall (1979).
- The Endless River (2014).
Pink Floyd's albums were sold in the amount of 74.5 million copies in America, which is a kind of record, given the very short sales period. In the world, excluding solo compositions of albums, nearly 300 million were sold.