Misplaced Pages

#9990

172-600: The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd , released on 1 March 1973, by Harvest Records in the UK and Capitol Records in the US. Developed during live performances before recording began, it was conceived as a concept album that would focus on the pressures faced by the band during their arduous lifestyle, and also deal with the mental health problems of

344-461: A Leslie speaker swirls around the listener. Wright's "The Great Gig in the Sky" features Clare Torry , a session singer and songwriter and a regular at Abbey Road. Parsons liked her voice, and when the band decided to use a female vocalist he suggested that she could sing on the track. The band explained the album concept to her, but they were unable to tell her exactly what she should do, and Gilmour, who

516-451: A PA system , a 28-track mixing desk with a four channel quadraphonic output, and a custom-built lighting rig. Nine tonnes of kit was transported in three lorries . This would be the first time the band had taken an entire album on tour. The album had been given the provisional title of Dark Side of the Moon (an allusion to lunacy, rather than astronomy). After discovering that title had already been used by another band, Medicine Head , it

688-408: A prismatic spectrum , was designed by Storm Thorgerson in response to the keyboardist Richard Wright 's request for a "simple and bold" design which would represent the band's lighting and the album's themes. The album was promoted with two singles: " Money " and " Us and Them ". The Dark Side of the Moon has received widespread critical acclaim and is often featured in professional listings of

860-451: A psychedelic cover designed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis . The first of several Pink Floyd album covers designed by Hipgnosis, it was the second time that EMI permitted one of their groups to contract designers for an album jacket. The release reached number nine, spending 11 weeks on the UK chart. Record Mirror gave the album an overall favourable review, but urged listeners to "forget it as background music to

1032-422: A recording contract . These demos are usually sent to record labels in hopes that the artist will be signed onto the label's roster and allowed to record a full-length album in a professional recording studio . However, large record labels usually ignore unsolicited demos that are sent to them by mail; artists generally must be more creative about getting the demos into the hands of the people who make decisions for

1204-575: A Day", Smith stepped in as his replacement. Wright recalled Smith's attitude about the sessions, "Norman gave up on the second album ... he was forever saying things like, 'You can't do twenty minutes of this ridiculous noise ' ". As neither Waters nor Mason could read music, to illustrate the structure of " A Saucerful of Secrets ", they invented their own system of notation. Gilmour later described their method as looking "like an architectural diagram". Released in June 1968, A Saucerful of Secrets featured

1376-399: A circle, the doors facing away from the centre. Waters used his own vehicle to arrive at the venue and stayed in different hotels from the rest of the band. Wright returned as a paid musician, making him the only band member to profit from the tour, which lost about $ 600,000 (US$ 2,010,835 in 2023 dollars ). The Wall was adapted into a film, Pink Floyd – The Wall. The film was conceived as

1548-586: A club in Birmingham . The second LP contained a single experimental contribution from each band member. Ummagumma was released in November 1969 and received positive reviews. It reached number five, spending 21 weeks on the UK chart. In October 1970, Pink Floyd released Atom Heart Mother . An early version premièred in England in mid January, but disagreements over the mix prompted the hiring of Ron Geesin to work out

1720-475: A combination of live concert footage and animated scenes; however, the concert footage proved impractical to film. Alan Parker agreed to direct and took a different approach. The animated sequences remained, but scenes were acted by actors with no dialogue. Waters was screentested but quickly discarded, and they asked Bob Geldof to accept the role of Pink. Geldof was initially dismissive, condemning The Wall 's storyline as "bollocks". Eventually won over by

1892-406: A compromise between Waters and Gilmour, who were both satisfied with the result. Thomas was responsible for significant changes, including the perfect timing of the echo used on "Us and Them". He was also present for the recording of "The Great Gig in the Sky". Waters said in an interview in 2006, when asked if he felt his goals had been accomplished in the studio: When the record was finished I took

SECTION 10

#1732891120010

2064-481: A demo to send to artists in hopes of having the song professionally recorded, or a publisher may need a simple recording for publishing or copyright purposes. Demos are typically recorded on relatively crude equipment such as "boom box" cassette recorders , small four- or eight-track machines , or on personal computers with audio recording software. Songwriters' and publishers' demos are recorded with minimal instrumentation, usually just an acoustic guitar or piano and

2236-605: A fellow architecture student, joined later that year, and the group became a sextet, Sigma 6. Waters played lead guitar, Mason drums, and Wright rhythm guitar, later moving to keyboards. The band performed at private functions and rehearsed in a tearoom in the basement of the Regent Street Polytechnic. They performed songs by the Searchers and material written by their manager and songwriter, fellow student Ken Chapman. In September 1963, Waters and Mason moved into

2408-473: A fitting summary of the rise and fall of their former bandmate. Waters commented: "Because I wanted to get as close as possible to what I felt ... [that] indefinable, inevitable melancholy about the disappearance of Syd." While Pink Floyd were working on the album, Barrett made an impromptu visit to the studio. Thorgerson recalled that he "sat round and talked for a bit, but he wasn't really there". He had changed significantly in appearance, so much so that

2580-650: A flat at 39 Stanhope Gardens, Highgate in London, owned by Mike Leonard, a part-time tutor at the nearby Hornsey College of Art and the Regent Street Polytechnic. Mason moved out after the 1964 academic year, and guitarist Bob Klose moved in during September 1964, prompting Waters's switch to bass. Sigma 6 went through several names, including the Meggadeaths, the Abdabs and the Screaming Abdabs, Leonard's Lodgers, and

2752-443: A full-length album. With the evolution of the access to software allowing musicians to produce high quality music on their own, the amount of music released every day has skyrocketed. With over 100,000 new songs released on Spotify every day, the level of quality required for demos to convince record labels has also increased, and the limits between demos and actual finished recordings have become blurrier. Demos are seldom heard by

2924-557: A general malaise and with a sense of apathy, both of which interfered with his drumming. Despite the lack of creative direction, Waters began to visualise a new concept after several weeks. During 1974, Pink Floyd had sketched out three original compositions and had performed them at a series of concerts in Europe. These compositions became the starting point for a new album whose opening four-note guitar phrase, composed purely by chance by Gilmour, reminded Waters of Barrett. The songs provided

3096-400: A heartbeat, exploring the nature of the human experience and, according to Waters, "empathy". " Speak to Me " and "Breathe" together highlight the mundane and futile elements of life that accompany the ever-present threat of madness, and the importance of living one's own life – "Don't be afraid to care". By shifting the scene to an airport, the synthesiser-driven instrumental "On

3268-517: A home recording studio at his house in Islington in a converted tool shed at the back of his garden. In January 1971, upon their return from touring Atom Heart Mother , Pink Floyd began working on new material. Lacking a central theme, they attempted several unproductive experiments; engineer John Leckie described the sessions as often beginning in the afternoon and ending early the next morning, "during which time nothing would get [accomplished]. There

3440-402: A leading band of the progressive rock genre, cited by some as the greatest progressive rock band of all time. Pink Floyd were founded in 1965 by Syd Barrett (guitar, lead vocals), Nick Mason (drums), Roger Waters (bass guitar, vocals) and Richard Wright (keyboards, vocals). With Barrett as their main songwriter, they released two hit singles, " Arnold Layne " and " See Emily Play ", and

3612-445: A megalomaniac, a development inspired partly by the decline of Syd Barrett. At the end of the album, the increasingly fascist audience would watch as Pink tore down the wall, once again becoming a regular and caring person. During the recording of The Wall , the band became dissatisfied with Wright's lack of contribution and fired him. Gilmour said that Wright was dismissed as he "hadn't contributed anything of any value whatsoever to

SECTION 20

#1732891120010

3784-557: A new 30th-anniversary poster. In 2007, the album was included in Oh, by the Way , a box set celebrating the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd, and a DRM -free version was released on the iTunes Store . In 2011, it was reissued featuring a remastered version with various other material. In 2023, Pink Floyd released the Dark Side of the Moon 50th Anniversary box set, including a newly remastered edition of

3956-524: A party". John Peel described a live performance of the title track as "like a religious experience", while NME described the song as "long and boring ... [with] little to warrant its monotonous direction". On the day after the album's UK release, Pink Floyd performed at the first ever free concert in Hyde Park . In July 1968, they made a second visit to the US. Accompanied by the Soft Machine and

4128-419: A quartet of life-sized cardboard cut-outs of the band, and the stereo mix of the album was played over a poor-quality public address system . Generally, however, the press were enthusiastic; Melody Maker ' s Roy Hollingworth described Side One as "so utterly confused with itself it was difficult to follow", but praised Side Two, writing: "The songs, the sounds, the rhythms were solid and sound, Saxophone hit

4300-486: A recording engineer on the Beatles albums Abbey Road and Let It Be . The Dark Side of the Moon sessions made use of advanced studio techniques , as the studio was capable of 16-track mixes which offered greater flexibility than the eight- or four-track mixes Pink Floyd had previously worked with, although the band often used so many tracks that second-generation copies were still needed to make more space available on

4472-430: A recording studio and storage space. In 1976, they recorded their tenth album, Animals , in their newly finished 24-track studio. The album concept originated with Waters, loosely based on George Orwell 's political fable Animal Farm . The lyrics describe different classes of society as dogs, pigs, and sheep. Hipgnosis received credit for the packaging; however, Waters designed the final concept, choosing an image of

4644-432: A reel-to-reel copy home with me and I remember playing it for my wife then, and I remember her bursting into tears when it was finished. And I thought, "This has obviously struck a chord somewhere", and I was kinda pleased by that. You know when you've done something, certainly if you create a piece of music, you then hear it with fresh ears when you play it for somebody else. And at that point I thought to myself, "Wow, this

4816-543: A reported advance of $ 1,000,000 (US$ 6,178,138 in 2023 dollars). In Europe, they continued to be represented by Harvest Records. After a tour of the UK performing Dark Side , Pink Floyd returned to the studio in January 1975 and began work on their ninth studio album, Wish You Were Here . Parsons declined an offer to continue working with them, becoming successful in his own right with the Alan Parsons Project , and so

4988-421: A ringing cash register, and a clicking adding machine, which were used to create a 7- beat effects loop. This was later adapted to four tracks to create a "walk around the room" effect in quadraphonic presentations of the album. At times, the degree of sonic experimentation on the album required the studio engineers and all four band members to operate the mixing console's faders simultaneously, in order to mix down

5160-534: A tour of Britain, Japan and the United States that December. In a band meeting at the home of the drummer, Nick Mason , in North London, the bassist, Roger Waters , proposed that a new album could form part of the tour. Waters conceived an album that dealt with things that "make people mad", focusing on the pressures associated with the band's arduous lifestyle, and dealing with the mental health problems suffered by

5332-426: A tour of England; however, Barrett's depression worsened as the tour continued. In December 1967, reaching a crisis point with Barrett, Pink Floyd added guitarist David Gilmour as the fifth member. Gilmour already knew Barrett, having studied with him at Cambridge Tech in the early 1960s. The two had performed at lunchtimes together with guitars and harmonicas, and later hitch-hiked and busked their way around

The Dark Side of the Moon - Misplaced Pages Continue

5504-463: A turning point towards what would later be realised on the album. The Dark Side of the Moon ' s lyrical themes include conflict, greed, the passage of time, death and insanity, the last inspired in part by Barrett's deteriorating mental state. The album contains musique concrète on several tracks. Each side of the vinyl album is a continuous piece of music. The five tracks on each side reflect various stages of human life, beginning and ending with

5676-606: A variety of topics, from the murder of John Lennon to his relationship with Waters. He later stated that he used the album to distance himself from Pink Floyd. Soon afterwards, Waters began touring his first solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984). Wright formed Zee with Dave Harris and recorded Identity , which went almost unnoticed upon its release. Mason released his second solo album, Profiles , in August 1985. Gilmour, Mason, Waters and O'Rourke met for dinner in 1984 to discuss their future. Mason and Gilmour left

5848-472: A very low price. Amateur (and some professional) musicians may choose to make demos available to interested listeners through websites such as SoundCloud or Bandcamp in order to share new ideas, receive feedback and/or provide fans with "behind the scenes" access to the songwriting process. In 1977, punk band the Sex Pistols released an album of demos called Spunk , which has been comparared favourably to

6020-488: A year before its release, and was critically acclaimed. Michael Wale of The Times described the piece as "bringing tears to the eyes. It was so completely understanding and musically questioning." Derek Jewell of The Sunday Times wrote "The ambition of the Floyd's artistic intention is now vast." Melody Maker was less enthusiastic: "Musically, there were some great ideas, but the sound effects often left me wondering if I

6192-463: A £5,000 advance (equivalent to £114,600 in 2023 ). EMI released the band's first single, " Arnold Layne ", with the B-side " Candy and a Currant Bun ", on 10 March 1967 on its Columbia label. Both tracks were recorded on 29 January 1967. "Arnold Layne"'s references to cross-dressing led to a ban by several radio stations; however, creative manipulation by the retailers who supplied sales figures to

6364-456: Is 23 times platinum, but as a double album this signifies sales of 11.5 million. "Money" has sold well as a single, and as with "Time", remains a radio favourite; in the US, for the year ending 20 April 2005, "Time" was played on 13,723 occasions, and "Money" on 13,731 occasions. In 2017, The Dark Side of the Moon was the seventh-bestselling album of all time in the UK and the highest-selling album never to reach number one. As one of

6536-462: Is a pretty complete piece of work", and I had every confidence that people would respond to it. It felt like the whole band were working together. It was a creative time. We were all very open. – Richard Wright The album was originally released in a gatefold LP sleeve designed by Hipgnosis and George Hardie . Hipgnosis had designed several of the band's previous albums, with controversial results; EMI had reacted with confusion when faced with

6708-594: Is derived from the given names of two blues musicians whose Piedmont blues records Barrett had in his collection, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council . By 1966, the group's repertoire consisted mainly of rhythm and blues songs, and they had begun to receive paid bookings, including a performance at the Marquee Club in December 1966, where Peter Jenner , a lecturer at the London School of Economics , noticed them. Jenner

6880-511: Is the sole author of the lyrics. Released in March 1973, the LP became an instant chart success in the UK and throughout Western Europe, earning an enthusiastic response from critics. Each member of Pink Floyd except Wright boycotted the press release of The Dark Side of the Moon because a quadraphonic mix had not yet been completed, and they felt presenting the album through a poor-quality stereo PA system

7052-509: The Astoria , on Christmas Eve 1987. In 2013, Waters said he regretted the lawsuit and had failed to appreciate that the Pink Floyd name had commercial value independent of the band members. Demo (music) Musicians often use demos as quick sketches to share with bandmates or arrangers , or simply for personal reference during the songwriting process; in other cases, a songwriter might make

The Dark Side of the Moon - Misplaced Pages Continue

7224-510: The Billboard 200 albums chart for 736 nonconsecutive weeks (from 17 March 1973 to 16 July 1988). Of those first 736 charted weeks, the album had two notable consecutive runs in the Billboard 200 chart: 84 weeks (from 17 March 1973 to 19 October 1974) and 593 weeks (from 18 December 1976 to 23 April 1988). It made its final appearance in the Billboard 200 albums chart during its initial run on

7396-523: The EMS VCS 3 and a Synthi A . The engineer Alan Parsons was responsible for many of the sonic aspects of the recording, and for the recruitment of the session singer Clare Torry , who appears on " The Great Gig in the Sky ". The Dark Side of the Moon explores themes such as conflict, greed, time, death, and mental illness. Snippets from interviews with the band's road crew and others are featured alongside philosophical quotations. The sleeve, which depicts

7568-587: The London Polytechnic at Regent Street in September 1962 to study architecture, and Syd Barrett , two years younger than the rest of the band, who had moved to London in 1964 to study at the Camberwell College of Arts . Waters and Barrett were childhood friends; Waters had often visited Barrett and watched him play guitar at Barrett's mother's house. Mason said about Barrett: "In a period when everyone

7740-601: The SACD format. Guthrie had worked with Pink Floyd since their eleventh album, The Wall , and had previously worked on surround versions of The Wall for DVD-Video and Waters' In the Flesh for SACD. In 2003, Parsons expressed disappointment with Guthrie's SACD mix, suggesting he was "possibly a little too true to the original mix", but was generally complimentary. The 30th-anniversary edition won four Surround Music Awards in 2003, and sold more than 800,000 copies. The cover image of

7912-573: The Tower Records label. Pink Floyd continued to draw large crowds at the UFO Club; however, Barrett's mental breakdown was by then causing serious concern. The group initially hoped that his erratic behaviour would be a passing phase, but some were less optimistic, including Jenner and his assistant, June Child , who commented: "I found [Barrett] in the dressing room and he was so ... gone. Roger Waters and I got him on his feet, [and] we got him out to

8084-941: The UK Albums Chart . Their hit singles include "Arnold Layne" (1967), "See Emily Play" (1967), " Money " (1973), " Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 " (1979), " Not Now John " (1983), " On the Turning Away " (1987) and " High Hopes " (1994). Pink Floyd were inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. In 2008, they were awarded the Polar Music Prize in Sweden for their contribution to modern music. The founding members of Pink Floyd were Roger Waters , Nick Mason , and Richard Wright , who enrolled at

8256-450: The blockbuster LPs of the album era (1960s–2000s), The Dark Side of the Moon also led to an increase in record sales overall into the late 1970s. In 2013, industry sources suggested that worldwide sales of The Dark Side of the Moon totalled about 45 million. In 1993, Gilmour attributed the album's success to the combination of music, lyrics and cover art: "All the music before had not had any great lyrical point to it. And this one

8428-450: The 30th-anniversary edition was created by a team of designers including Thorgerson. The image is a photograph of a custom-made stained glass window, built to match the dimensions and proportions of the original prism design. Transparent glass, held in place by strips of lead, was used in place of the opaque colours of the original. The idea is derived from the "sense of purity in the sound quality, being 5.1 surround sound ..." The image

8600-624: The BBC's Top of the Pops , a popular programme that controversially required artists to mime their singing and playing. Though Pink Floyd returned for two more performances, by the third, Barrett had begun to unravel, and around this time the band first noticed significant changes in his behaviour. By early 1967, he was regularly using LSD , and Mason described him as "completely distanced from everything going on". Morrison and EMI producer Norman Smith negotiated Pink Floyd's first recording contract. As part of

8772-641: The Controls for the Heart of the Sun ", " Let There Be More Light ", and " Corporal Clegg ". Wright composed " See-Saw " and " Remember a Day ". Norman Smith encouraged them to self-produce their music, and they recorded demos of new material at their houses. With Smith's instruction at Abbey Road, they learned how to use the recording studio to realise their artistic vision. However, Smith remained unconvinced by their music, and when Mason struggled to perform his drum part on "Remember

SECTION 50

#1732891120010

8944-529: The Gates of Dawn not designed by Hipgnosis. Gerald Scarfe produced a series of animations for the Wall tour. He also commissioned the construction of large inflatable puppets representing characters from the storyline, including the "Mother", the "Ex-wife" and the "Schoolmaster". Pink Floyd used the puppets during their performances. Relationships within the band reached an all-time low; their four Winnebagos parked in

9116-611: The Machine (" What the Water Gave Me ", among others) and Cults on the EP Sunday Jams . The event of a demo tape appearing on eBay has happened in the past, with the recordings being leaked onto the internet. In rare instances, a demo may end up as the final released recording of a song, as was the case with Foster the People 's " Pumped Up Kicks ". The version of "Pumped Up Kicks" that

9288-424: The Moon achieved a combined total of 1,716 weeks on the Billboard  200 and Pop Catalog charts. After a change in chart methodology in 2009 which allowed catalogue titles to be included in the Billboard 200, The Dark Side of the Moon returned to the chart at number 189 on 12 December of that year for its 742nd charting week. It has continued to sporadically appear on the Billboard 200 since then, with

9460-537: The Moon and Wish You Were Here . Meddle was released in October 1971, and reached number three, spending 82 weeks on the UK chart. It marks a transition between the Barrett-led group of the late 1960s and the emerging Pink Floyd; Jean-Charles Costa of Rolling Stone wrote that "not only confirms lead guitarist David Gilmour's emergence as a real shaping force with the group, it states forcefully and accurately that

9632-463: The Moon featured as part of Pink Floyd's US tour. The album is one of the most commercially successful rock albums of all time. A US number-one, it remained on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart for more than fourteen years during the 1970s and 1980s, selling more than 45 million copies worldwide. In Britain, it reached number two, spending 364 weeks on the UK chart. The Dark Side of

9804-677: The Moon had sold over 45 million copies worldwide, making it the band's best-selling release, the best-selling album of the 1970s, and the fourth-best-selling album in history . In 2012, the album was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. Following Meddle in 1971, Pink Floyd assembled for

9976-441: The Moon is the world's third best-selling album, and the twenty-first best-selling album of all time in the US. The success of the album brought enormous wealth to the members of Pink Floyd. Waters and Wright bought large country houses while Mason became a collector of expensive cars. Disenchanted with their US record company, Capitol Records , Pink Floyd and O'Rourke negotiated a new contract with Columbia Records , who gave them

10148-472: The Moon was the last album that Pink Floyd were obliged to release before formally signing a new contract. Menon's enthusiasm for the new album was such that he began a huge promotional advertising campaign, which included radio-friendly truncated versions of "Us and Them" and "Time". In some countries – notably the UK ;– Pink Floyd had not released a single since 1968's " Point Me at

10320-482: The Run" evokes the stress and anxiety of modern travel, in particular Wright's fear of flying. " Time " examines the manner in which its passage can control one's life and offers a stark warning to those who remain focused on mundane pursuits; it is followed by a retreat into solitude and withdrawal in " Breathe (Reprise) ". The first side of the album ends with Wright and Clare Torry's soulful metaphor for death, "The Great Gig in

10492-575: The Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau found its lyrical ideas clichéd and its music pretentious, but called it a " kitsch masterpiece" that can be charming with highlights such as taped speech fragments, Parry's saxophone, and studio effects which enhance Gilmour's guitar solos. The Dark Side of the Moon was released first in the US on 1 March 1973, and then in the UK on 16 March. It became an instant chart success in Britain and throughout Western Europe; by

SECTION 60

#1732891120010

10664-577: The Sky ", and unusually "Money" was released as a single on 7 May, with "Any Colour You Like" on the B-side . It reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1973. A two-sided white label promotional version of the single, with mono and stereo mixes, was sent to radio stations. The mono side had the word "bullshit" removed from the song – leaving "bull" in its place – however,

10836-407: The Sky". " Money ", the first track on side two, opens with the sound of cash registers and rhythmically jingling coins. The song mocks greed and consumerism with sarcastic lyrics and cash-related sound effects . "Money" became the band's most commercially successful track and was covered by other artists. "Us and Them" addresses the isolation of the depressed with the symbolism of conflict and

11008-693: The Spectrum Five, before settling on the Tea Set. In September 1963, as Metcalfe and Noble left to form their own band, the guitarist Syd Barrett joined Klose and Waters at Stanhope Gardens. Klose introduced the band to the singer Chris Dennis, a technician with the Royal Air Force (RAF). In December 1964, they secured their first recording time, at a studio in West Hampstead, through one of Wright's friends, who let them use some downtime free. Wright, who

11180-413: The UK and number six in the US. Waters wrote all the lyrics, as well as all the music. Rolling Stone gave the album five stars, with Kurt Loder calling it "a superlative achievement ... art rock's crowning masterpiece". He viewed The Final Cut as "essentially a Roger Waters solo album". Gilmour recorded his second solo album, About Face , in 1984, and used it to express his feelings about

11352-469: The UK and number three in the US. NME described it as "one of the most extreme, relentless, harrowing and downright iconoclastic hunks of music", and Melody Maker 's Karl Dallas called it "[an] uncomfortable taste of reality in a medium that has become in recent years, increasingly soporific". Pink Floyd performed much of Animals during their " In the Flesh " tour. It was their first experience playing large stadiums, whose size caused unease in

11524-559: The UK chart. It premièred at the Bath Festival on 27 June 1970. Pink Floyd toured extensively across America and Europe in 1970. In 1971, Pink Floyd took second place in a reader's poll, in Melody Maker , and for the first time were making a profit. Mason and Wright became fathers and bought homes in London while Gilmour, still single, moved to a 19th-century farm in Essex. Waters installed

11696-425: The UK, Japan, North America, and Europe. Producer Chris Thomas assisted Parsons. Hipgnosis designed the packaging, which included George Hardie 's iconic refracting prism design on the cover. Thorgerson's cover features a beam of white light, representing unity, passing through a prism, which represents society. The refracted beam of coloured light symbolises unity diffracted, leaving an absence of unity. Waters

11868-417: The Wall (Part II) ", which topped the charts in the US and the UK. The Wall was released on 30 November 1979 and topped the Billboard chart in the US for 15 weeks, reaching number three in the UK. It is tied for sixth most certified album by RIAA , with 23 million certified units sold in the US. The cover, with a stark brick wall and band name, was the first Pink Floyd album cover since The Piper at

12040-513: The Who , it marked Pink Floyd's first major tour. That December, they released " Point Me at the Sky "; no more successful than the two singles they had released since "See Emily Play", it was their last single until " Money " in 1973. Ummagumma represented a departure from Pink Floyd's previous work. Released as a double LP on EMI's Harvest label, the first two sides contained live performances recorded at Manchester College of Commerce and Mothers ,

12212-480: The ageing Battersea Power Station , over which they superimposed an image of a pig. The division of royalties was a source of conflict between band members, who earned royalties on a per-song basis. Although Gilmour was largely responsible for " Dogs ", which took up almost the entire first side of the album, he received less than Waters, who contributed the much shorter two-part " Pigs on the Wing ". Wright commented: "It

12384-506: The air, the band rocked and rolled, and then gushed and tripped away into the night." Steve Peacock of Sounds wrote: "I don't care if you've never heard a note of the Pink Floyd's music in your life, I'd unreservedly recommend everyone to The Dark Side of the Moon ". In his 1973 review for Rolling Stone magazine, Loyd Grossman declared Dark Side "a fine album with a textural and conceptual richness that not only invites, but demands involvement". In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of

12556-441: The album lyrics, and Wright's request for a "simple and bold" design. At Waters' suggestion, the spectrum of light continues through to the gatefold. Added shortly afterwards, the gatefold design also includes a visual representation of the heartbeat sound used throughout the album, and the back of the album cover contains Thorgerson's suggestion of another prism recombining the spectrum of light, to make possible interesting layouts of

12728-443: The album's early American success is attributed to the efforts of Pink Floyd's US record company, Capitol Records . Newly appointed chairman Bhaskar Menon set about trying to reverse the relatively poor sales of the band's 1971 studio album Meddle . Meanwhile, disenchanted with Capitol, the band and manager O'Rourke had been quietly negotiating a new contract with CBS president Clive Davis , on Columbia Records . The Dark Side of

12900-517: The album, surround sound mixes (including the 5.1 mix and a new Dolby Atmos mix), a photo book, and The Dark Side of the Moon Live at Wembley 1974 , on vinyl. Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments, philosophical lyrics, and elaborate live shows . They became

13072-523: The album. With marital problems of his own, he remained distant. Pink Floyd did not use Thorgerson for the cover design, and Waters designed the cover himself. Gilmour did not have any material ready and asked Waters to delay the recording until he could write some songs, but Waters refused. Gilmour later said "I'm certainly guilty at times of being lazy ... but he wasn't right about wanting to put some duff tracks on The Final Cut ." Released in March 1983, The Final Cut went straight to number one in

13244-462: The album: "I've been mad for fucking years. Absolutely years. Over the edge... It's working with bands that does it." The band's road manager Peter Watts (father of the actress Naomi Watts ) contributed the repeated laughter during "Brain Damage" and "Speak to Me", as well as the line "I can't think of anything to say". His second wife, Patricia "Puddie" Watts (now Patricia Gleason), was responsible for

13416-504: The albums A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994), both backed by major tours. In 2005, all but Barrett reunited for a performance at the global awareness event Live 8 . Barrett died in 2006 and Wright in 2008. The last Pink Floyd studio album, The Endless River (2014), was based on unreleased material from the Division Bell recording sessions. In 2022, Gilmour and Mason reformed Pink Floyd to release

13588-419: The album—he did very, very little". According to Mason, Wright would sit in on the sessions "without doing anything, just 'being a producer ' ". Waters said the band agreed that Wright would either have to "have a long battle" or agree to "leave quietly" after the album was finished; Wright accepted the ultimatum and left. The Wall was supported by Pink Floyd's first single since "Money", " Another Brick in

13760-537: The answer was "Nah, let's not bother", signalling the end of Barrett's tenure with Pink Floyd. Waters later said, "He was our friend, but most of the time we now wanted to strangle him." In early March 1968, Pink Floyd met with business partners Jenner and King to discuss the band's future; Barrett agreed to leave. Jenner and King believed Barrett was the creative genius of the band, and decided to represent him and end their relationship with Pink Floyd. Morrison sold his business to NEMS Enterprises , and O'Rourke became

13932-915: The appointment, Barrett refused to come out of the car. A stay in Formentera with Sam Hutt , a doctor well established in the underground music scene, led to no visible improvement. The band followed a few concert dates in Europe during September with their first tour of the US in October. As the US tour went on, Barrett's condition grew steadily worse. During appearances on the Dick Clark and Pat Boone shows in November, Barrett confounded his hosts by giving terse answers to questions (or not responding at all) and staring into space. He refused to move his lips when it came time to mime "See Emily Play" on Boone's show. After these embarrassing episodes, King ended their US visit and immediately sent them home to London. Soon after their return, they supported Jimi Hendrix during

14104-512: The artwork of a Black Magic chocolate box". The design was inspired by a photograph of a prism with a beam of white light projected through it and emerging in the colours of the visible spectrum that Thorgerson had found in a 1963 physics textbook, as well as by an illustration by Alex Steinweiss , the inventor of album cover art, for the New York Philharmonic 's 1942 performance of Ludwig van Beethoven 's Emperor Concerto . The artwork

14276-518: The band and prevent the use of the Pink Floyd name, declaring Pink Floyd "a spent force creatively". When Waters's lawyers discovered that the partnership had never been formally confirmed, Waters returned to the High Court in an attempt to obtain a veto over further use of the band's name. Gilmour responded with a press release affirming that Pink Floyd would continue to exist. The sides reached an out-of-court agreement, finalised on Gilmour's houseboat,

14448-455: The band did not initially recognise him. Waters was reportedly deeply upset by the experience. Most of Wish You Were Here premiered on 5 July 1975, at an open-air music festival at Knebworth . Released in September, it reached number one in both the UK and the US. In 1975, Pink Floyd bought a three-storey group of church halls at 35 Britannia Row in Islington and began converting them into

14620-585: The band drop the "Sound" from their name. Under Jenner and King's guidance, Pink Floyd became part of London's underground music scene, playing at venues including All Saints Hall and the Marquee. While performing at the Countdown Club, the band had experimented with long instrumental excursions, and they began to expand them with rudimentary but effective light shows, projected by coloured slides and domestic lights. Jenner and King's social connections helped gain

14792-419: The band members each holding a one-sixth share. By late 1966, their set included fewer R&B standards and more Barrett originals, many of which would be included on their first album. While they had significantly increased the frequency of their performances, the band were still not widely accepted. Following a performance at a Catholic youth club, the owner refused to pay them, claiming that their performance

14964-591: The band prominent coverage in the Financial Times and an article in the Sunday Times which stated: "At the launching of the new magazine IT the other night a pop group called the Pink Floyd played throbbing music while a series of bizarre coloured shapes flashed on a huge screen behind them ... apparently very psychedelic." In 1966, the band strengthened their business relationship with Blackhill Enterprises, becoming equal partners with Jenner and King and

15136-490: The band realised that "songs could be extended with lengthy solos", wrote Mason. After pressure from his parents and advice from his college tutors, Klose quit in mid-1965 and Barrett took over lead guitar. The group rebranded as the Pink Floyd Sound in late 1965. Barrett created the name on the spur of the moment when he discovered that another band, also called the Tea Set, were to perform at one of their gigs. The name

15308-551: The band returned to London on 9 January 1973 to complete the album. The Dark Side of the Moon was built upon experiments Pink Floyd had attempted in their previous live shows and recordings, although it lacked the extended instrumental excursions which, according to the critic David Fricke , had become characteristic of the band following the departure of the founding member Syd Barrett in 1968. Gilmour, Barrett's replacement, later referred to those instrumentals as "that psychedelic noodling stuff". He and Waters cited 1971's Meddle as

15480-421: The band turned to Brian Humphries. Initially, they found it difficult to compose new material; the success of The Dark Side of the Moon had left Pink Floyd physically and emotionally drained. Wright later described these early sessions as "falling within a difficult period" and Waters found them "tortuous". Gilmour was more interested in improving the band's existing material. Mason's failing marriage left him in

15652-454: The band would occasionally stop to watch Monty Python's Flying Circus on television while Parsons worked on the tracks. Gilmour recalled, "...but when we were on a roll, we would get on." After returning from the US in January 1973, they recorded "Brain Damage", "Eclipse", "Any Colour You Like" and "On the Run", and fine-tuned work from previous sessions. Four female vocalists were assembled to sing on "Brain Damage", "Eclipse" and "Time", and

15824-921: The band's personal manager. Blackhill announced Barrett's departure on 6 April 1968. After Barrett's departure, the burden of lyrical composition and creative direction fell mostly on Waters. Initially, Gilmour mimed to Barrett's voice on the group's European TV appearances; however, while playing on the university circuit, they avoided Barrett songs in favour of Waters and Wright material such as " It Would Be So Nice " and " Careful with That Axe, Eugene ". Mason said later that Gilmour added greater structure to Pink Floyd's music and that "we became far less difficult to enjoy, I think". In 1968, Pink Floyd returned to Abbey Road Studios to complete their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets , which they had begun in 1967 under Barrett's leadership. The album included Barrett's final contribution to their discography, " Jugband Blues ". Waters developed his own songwriting, contributing " Set

15996-492: The band, and asked them to release him from his contractual obligations. Gilmour believed that Waters left to hasten the demise of Pink Floyd. Waters later stated that, by not making new albums, Pink Floyd would be in breach of contract—which would suggest that royalty payments would be suspended—and that the other band members had forced him from the group by threatening to sue him. He went to the High Court in an effort to dissolve

16168-481: The band. Waters began arriving at each venue alone, departing immediately after the performance. On one occasion, Wright flew back to England, threatening to quit. At the Montreal Olympic Stadium , a group of noisy and enthusiastic fans in the front row of the audience irritated Waters so much that he spat at one of them. The end of the tour marked a low point for Gilmour, who felt that the band achieved

16340-409: The beginning of 1974, the band signed for Columbia with a reported advance fee of $ 1M (in Britain and Europe they continued to be represented by Harvest Records ). The Dark Side of the Moon became one of the best-selling albums of all time and is in the top 25 of a list of best-selling albums in the United States. Although it held the number one spot in the US for only a week, it remained in

16512-562: The closing "There is no dark side in the moon really. Matter of fact, it's all dark" – came from the studios' Irish doorman, Gerry O'Driscoll. "The bit you don't hear," said Parsons, "is that, after that, he said, 'The only thing that makes it look alight is the sun.' The band were too overjoyed with his first line, and it would have been an anticlimax to continue." Paul and Linda McCartney were interviewed, but their answers – judged to be "trying too hard to be funny" – were not used. The McCartneys' Wings bandmate Henry McCullough contributed

16684-408: The closing heartbeats. A quadraphonic mix, created by Alan Parsons, was commissioned by EMI but never endorsed by Pink Floyd, as Parsons was disappointed with his mix. For the album's 30th anniversary, an updated surround version was released in 2003. The band elected not to use Parsons' quadraphonic mix, and instead had the engineer James Guthrie create a new 5.1  channel surround sound mix on

16856-457: The concepts of otherness and unity, while encouraging the listener to recognise the common traits shared by humanity. The Dark Side of the Moon was recorded at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios ) in approximately 60 days between 31 May 1972 and 9 February 1973. Pink Floyd were assigned the staff engineer Alan Parsons , who had worked as the assistant tape operator on their fifth album, Atom Heart Mother (1970), and had gained experience as

17028-402: The cover designs for Atom Heart Mother and Obscured by Clouds , as they had expected to see traditional designs which included lettering and words. Designers Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell were able to ignore such criticism, as they were employed by the band. For The Dark Side of the Moon , Wright suggested something "smarter, neater – more classy", and simple, "like

17200-415: The deal, the band agreed to record their first album at EMI Studios in London. Mason recalled that the sessions were trouble-free. Smith disagreed, stating that Barrett was unresponsive to his suggestions and constructive criticism. EMI-Columbia released The Piper at the Gates of Dawn in August 1967. The album reached number six, spending 14 weeks on the UK charts. One month later, it was released under

17372-461: The engineer Alan Parsons used techniques such as double tracking vocals and guitars, which allowed Gilmour to harmonise with himself. Prominent use was also made of flanging and phase-shifting on vocals and instruments, odd trickery with reverb , and the panning of sounds between channels, most notably in the quadraphonic mix of "On the Run", where the sound of the Hammond B3 organ played through

17544-495: The film company, prompting them to release the soundtrack album as Obscured by Clouds , rather than La Vallée . The film was retitled La Vallée (Obscured by Clouds) on its release. The songs on Obscured by Clouds were all short and economical, with a strong country music influence. The album also featured the EMS VCS 3 synthesiser, which Wright had purchased from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop . " Burning Bridges "

17716-507: The film. The album was mixed from 4–6 April at Morgan Studios in London. During the first recording session in February 1972, the French television station ORTF filmed a short segment of the band recording the album, including interviews with Waters and Gilmour. Waters said that early UK pressings of the album contained "excessive sibilance". After recording had finished, the band fell out with

17888-413: The final mix. The interviewees were placed in front of a microphone in a darkened Studio 3 and shown such questions as "What's your favourite colour?" and "What's your favourite food?", before moving on to themes central to the album, including those of madness, violence, and death. Questions such as "When was the last time you were violent?", followed immediately by "Were you in the right?", were answered in

18060-505: The following month, it had gained a gold certification in the US. Throughout March 1973 the band played the album as part of their US tour , including a midnight performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on 17 March before an audience of 6,000. The album reached the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart's number one spot on 28 April 1973, and was so successful that the band returned two months later for another tour. Much of

18232-479: The former band member Syd Barrett , who had departed the group in 1968. New material was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios ) in London. The record builds on ideas explored in Pink Floyd's earlier recordings and performances, while omitting the extended instrumentals that characterised the band's earlier work. The group employed multitrack recording , tape loops , and analogue synthesisers , including experimentation with

18404-413: The former band member Syd Barrett . The band had explored a similar idea with the 1969 concert suite The Man and The Journey . In an interview for Rolling Stone , the guitarist, David Gilmour , said: "I think we all thought – and Roger definitely thought – that a lot of the lyrics that we had been using were a little too indirect. There was definitely a feeling that

18576-480: The former. Bob Ezrin co-produced and wrote a forty-page script for the new album. Ezrin based the story on the central figure of Pink—a gestalt character inspired by Waters's childhood experiences, the most notable of which was the death of his father in World War II . This first metaphorical brick led to more problems; Pink would become drug-addled and depressed by the music industry, eventually transforming into

18748-563: The greatest albums of all time. It brought Pink Floyd international fame, wealth and plaudits to all four band members. A blockbuster release of the album era , it also propelled record sales throughout the music industry during the 1970s. The Dark Side of the Moon is certified 14x platinum in the United Kingdom, and topped the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, where it has charted for 990 weeks. By 2013, The Dark Side of

18920-413: The group is well into the growth track again". NME called it "an exceptionally good album", singling out " Echoes " as the "Zenith which the Floyd have been striving for". However, Melody Maker's Michael Watts found it underwhelming, calling the album "a soundtrack to a non-existent movie", and shrugging off Pink Floyd as "so much sound and fury, signifying nothing". Pink Floyd had already recorded

19092-440: The group planned that Gilmour would "cover for [Barrett's] eccentricities". When this proved unworkable, it was decided that Barrett would just write material. In an expression of his frustration, Barrett, who was expected to write additional hit singles to follow up "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", instead introduced " Have You Got It Yet? " to the band, intentionally changing the structure on each performance so as to make

19264-453: The intricately assembled multitrack recordings of several of the songs, particularly "On the Run". Along with conventional rock band instrumentation, Pink Floyd introduced prominent synthesisers to their sound. The band experimented with an EMS VCS 3 on "Brain Damage" and "Any Colour You Like", and a Synthi A on "Time" and "On the Run". They also devised and recorded unconventional sounds, such as assistant engineer Peter James running around

19436-445: The introduction of platinum certification in 1976 by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and therefore held only a gold certification until 16 February 1990, when it was certified 11 times platinum. On 4 June 1998, the RIAA certified the album 15× platinum, denoting sales of fifteen million in the United States. This makes it Pink Floyd's biggest-selling work there; The Wall

19608-502: The invasion of the Falklands as jingoistic and unnecessary, and dedicated the album to his late father. Immediately arguments arose between Waters and Gilmour, who felt that the album should include all new material, rather than recycle songs passed over for The Wall . Waters felt that Gilmour had contributed little to the band's lyrical repertoire. Michael Kamen , a contributor to the orchestral arrangements of The Wall , mediated between

19780-480: The line about the "geezer" who was "cruisin' for a bruisin ' ", used in the segue between "Money" and "Us and Them", and the words "I never said I was frightened of dying" halfway through "The Great Gig in the Sky". Several of the responses – "I am not frightened of dying. Any time will do, I don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying? There's no reason for it  ... you've got to go sometime"; "I know I've been mad, I've always been mad, like most of us have"; and

19952-423: The line, "I don't know, I was really drunk at the time." When the flashcard sessions were finished, producer Chris Thomas was hired to provide "a fresh pair of ears" for the final mix. Thomas's background was in music rather than engineering; he had worked with Beatles producer George Martin and was an acquaintance of Pink Floyd's manager, Steve O'Rourke . The members of the band were said to have disagreed over

20124-471: The mix, with Waters and Mason preferring a "dry" and "clean" mix that made more use of the non-musical elements and Gilmour and Wright preferring a subtler and more "echoey" mix. Thomas said later, "There was no difference in opinion between them, I don't remember Roger once saying that he wanted less echo. In fact, there were never any hints that they were later going to fall out. It was a very creative atmosphere. A lot of fun." Thomas's intervention resulted in

20296-451: The music business meant that the single reached number 20 in the UK. EMI-Columbia released Pink Floyd's second single, " See Emily Play ", on 16 June 1967. It fared slightly better than "Arnold Layne", peaking at number 6 in the UK. The band performed on the BBC's Look of the Week , where Waters and Barrett, erudite and engaging, faced tough questioning from Hans Keller . They appeared on

20468-540: The opening of "Money". Mason created a rough version of "Speak to Me" at his home before completing it in the studio. The track serves as an overture and contains cross-fades of elements from other pieces on the album. A piano chord, replayed backwards, serves to augment the build-up of effects, which are immediately followed by the opening of "Breathe". Mason received a rare solo composing credit for "Speak to Me". The sound effects on "Money" were created by splicing together Waters' recordings of clinking coins, tearing paper,

20640-630: The opportunity to make improvements to the scale and quality of their performances. Work on the album was interrupted in late February when the band travelled to France and recorded music for the French director Barbet Schroeder 's film La Vallée . They performed in Japan, returned to France in March to complete work on the film, played more shows in North America, then flew to London and resumed recording in May and June. After more concerts in Europe and North America,

20812-411: The order they were presented. Roadie Roger "The Hat" Manifold was recorded in a conventional sit-down interview. Waters asked him about a violent encounter he had had with a motorist, and Manifold replied "... give 'em a quick, short, sharp shock ..." Asked about death, he responded, "Live for today, gone tomorrow, that's me ..." Another roadie, Chris Adamson, recorded the words that open

20984-568: The other an infrared photograph of the Great Pyramids of Giza , created by Powell and Thorgerson. The band were so confident of the quality of Waters' lyrics that, for the first time, they printed them on the album's sleeve. As the quadraphonic mix of the album was not then complete, the band (with the exception of Wright) boycotted the press reception held at the London Planetarium on 27 February. The guests were, instead, presented with

21156-473: The others could do", wrote biographer Nicholas Schaffner . In 1967, Pink Floyd began to attract the attention of the music industry. While in negotiations with record companies, IT co-founder and UFO club manager Joe Boyd and Pink Floyd's booking agent, Bryan Morrison , arranged and funded a recording session at Sound Techniques in Kensington . On 15 February 1967, Pink Floyd signed with EMI, receiving

21328-629: The prospect of participation in a significant film and receiving a large payment for his work, Geldof agreed. Screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1982, Pink Floyd – The Wall premièred in the UK in July 1982. In 1982, Waters suggested a project with the working title Spare Bricks , originally conceived as the soundtrack album for Pink Floyd – The Wall. With the onset of the Falklands War , Waters changed direction and began writing new material. He saw Margaret Thatcher 's response to

21500-520: The public, although some artists do eventually release rough demos in compilation albums or box sets , such as the album Demolicious by Green Day . Other demo versions have been unofficially released as bootleg recordings , such as the Beatles ' bootleg demos and the Beach Boys ' Sea of Tunes series. Several artists have eventually made official releases of demo versions of their songs as albums or companion pieces to albums, such as Florence and

21672-412: The record company. Many signed bands and artists record demos of new songs before recording an album. The demos may allow the artist to provide sketches for sharing ideas with bandmates, or to explore several alternate versions of a song, or to quickly record many proto-songs before deciding which ones merit further development. Demos may include as few as one or two songs or as many as would be contained on

21844-452: The restaurant thinking that Pink Floyd could continue after Waters had finished The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking , noting that they had had several hiatuses before; however, Waters left believing that Mason and Gilmour had accepted that Pink Floyd were finished. Mason said that Waters later saw the meeting as "duplicity rather than diplomacy", and wrote in his memoir: "Clearly, our communication skills were still troublingly nonexistent. We left

22016-550: The restaurant with diametrically opposed views of what had been decided." Following the release of The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking , Waters publicly insisted that Pink Floyd would not reunite. He contacted O'Rourke to discuss settling future royalty payments. O'Rourke felt obliged to inform Mason and Gilmour, which angered Waters, who wanted to dismiss him as the band's manager. He terminated his management contract with O'Rourke and employed Peter Rudge to manage his affairs. Waters wrote to EMI and Columbia announcing he had left

22188-428: The result of this mix, which he attributed to a lack of time and a shortage of multitrack tape recorders. "Time" and "The Great Gig in the Sky" were recorded next, followed by a two-month break, during which the band spent time with their families and prepared for a tour of the United States. The recording sessions were frequently interrupted: Waters, a supporter of Arsenal F.C. , would break to see his team compete, and

22360-535: The saxophonist Dick Parry was booked to play on "Us and Them" and "Money". With the director Adrian Maben, the band also filmed studio footage for Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii . The album was completed and signed off at Abbey Road on 9 February 1973. Gilmour recalled the band listening to the finished album for the first time as "a moment of great joy and of satisfaction and the feeling of achievement that we'd really gone that extra mile". The album features metronomic sound effects during "Speak to Me" and tape loops for

22532-411: The sleeve in record shops. The light band emanating from the prism on the album cover has six colours, missing indigo , compared with the usual division of the visible spectrum into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Inside the sleeve were two posters and two pyramid-themed stickers. One poster bore pictures of the band in concert, overlaid with scattered letters to form PINK FLOYD, and

22704-540: The song " Hey, Hey, Rise Up! " in protest of the Russian invasion of Ukraine . By 2013, Pink Floyd had sold more than 250 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time . The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame , and are among the best-selling albums of all time . Four Pink Floyd albums topped the US Billboard 200 and five topped

22876-457: The song impossible to follow and learn. In a January 1968 photoshoot of Pink Floyd, the photographs show Barrett looking detached from the others, staring into the distance. Working with Barrett eventually proved too difficult, and matters came to a conclusion in January while en route to a performance in Southampton when a band member asked if they should collect Barrett. According to Gilmour,

23048-457: The song, accompanied by a series of Rototoms . The recordings were initially created as a quadraphonic test by Parsons, who recorded each timepiece at an antique clock shop. Although these recordings had not been created specifically for the album, elements of this material were eventually used in the track. Several tracks, including "Us and Them" and "Time", demonstrated Wright's and Gilmour's ability to harmonise their similar-sounding voices, and

23220-435: The songwriting royalties , arguing that her contribution to "The Great Gig in the Sky" was substantial enough to be considered co-authorship. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, with all post-2005 pressings crediting Wright and Torry jointly. In the final week of recording, Waters asked staff and others at Abbey Road to respond to questions printed on flashcards and some of their replies were edited into

23392-405: The sound problems. Geesin worked to improve the score, but with little creative input from the band, production was troublesome. Geesin eventually completed the project with the aid of John Alldis , who was the director of the choir hired to perform on the record. Smith earned an executive producer credit, and the album marked his final official contribution to the band's discography. Gilmour said it

23564-570: The soundtrack of The Body , and the basic structure of " Us and Them " was borrowed from an original composition, "The Violent Sequence", by the keyboardist, Richard Wright , for Zabriskie Point . The band rehearsed at a warehouse in London owned by the Rolling Stones and at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park , London. They also purchased extra equipment, which included new speakers,

23736-406: The soundtracks to the films The Committee (1968) and More (1969) and part of Zabriskie Point (1970). On the back of More ' s success, the director Barbet Schroeder asked them to record the soundtrack of his next major project, La Vallée . The band took two breaks to Strawberry Studios , Château d'Hérouville , France, either side of a Japanese tour, to write and record music for

23908-424: The south of France. In 1965, while a member of Joker's Wild , Gilmour had watched the Tea Set. Morrison's assistant, Steve O'Rourke , set Gilmour up in a room at O'Rourke's house with a salary of £30 per week (equivalent to £700 in 2023 ). In January 1968, Blackhill Enterprises announced Gilmour as the band's newest member, intending to continue with Barrett as a nonperforming songwriter. According to Jenner,

24080-455: The stage ... The band started to play and Syd just stood there. He had his guitar around his neck and his arms just hanging down". Forced to cancel Pink Floyd's appearance at the prestigious National Jazz and Blues Festival , as well as several other shows, King informed the music press that Barrett was suffering from nervous exhaustion. Waters arranged a meeting with psychiatrist R. D. Laing , and though Waters personally drove Barrett to

24252-408: The stereo side retained the uncensored version. This was subsequently withdrawn; the replacement was sent to radio stations with a note advising disc jockeys to dispose of the first uncensored copy. On 4 February 1974, a double A-side single was released with "Time" on one side, and "Us and Them" on the opposite side. Menon's efforts to secure a contract renewal with Pink Floyd were in vain however; at

24424-402: The studio's echo chamber during "On the Run", and a specially treated bass drum made to simulate a human heartbeat during "Speak to Me", "On the Run", "Time" and "Eclipse". This heartbeat is most prominent in the intro and the outro to the album, but it can also be heard sporadically on "Time" and "On the Run". "Time" features assorted clocks ticking, then chiming simultaneously at the start of

24596-433: The success they had sought, with nothing left for them to accomplish. In July 1978, amid a financial crisis caused by negligent investments, Waters presented two ideas for Pink Floyd's next album. The first was a 90-minute demo with the working title Bricks in the Wall; the other later became Waters's first solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking . Although both Mason and Gilmour were initially cautious, they chose

24768-783: The successful debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (all 1967). David Gilmour (guitar, vocals) joined in 1967; Barrett left in 1968 due to deteriorating mental health. While all four members contributed compositions, Waters became the primary lyricist and thematic leader, devising the concepts behind Pink Floyd's most successful albums, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979). The musical film based on The Wall , Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982), won two BAFTA Awards . Pink Floyd also composed several film scores . Following personal tensions, Wright left Pink Floyd in 1981, followed by Waters in 1985. Gilmour and Mason continued as Pink Floyd, rejoined later by Wright. They produced

24940-431: The tape. The mix supervisor Chris Thomas recalled later, "There were only two or three tracks of drums when we came to mixing it. Depending on the song, there would be one or two tracks of guitar, and these would include the solo and the rhythm guitar parts. One track for keyboard, one track for bass, and one or two sound effects tracks. They had been very, very efficient in the way they'd worked." The first track recorded

25112-413: The total at 990 weeks on the chart as of May 2024. "On a slow week" between 8,000 and 9,000 copies are sold. As of April 2013, the album had sold 9,502,000 copies in the US since 1991 when Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales for Billboard . One in every fourteen people in the US under the age of 50 is estimated to own, or to have owned, a copy. The Dark Side of the Moon was released before

25284-539: The two, performing the role traditionally occupied by the then-absent Wright. The tension within the band grew. Waters and Gilmour worked independently; however, Gilmour began to feel the strain, sometimes barely maintaining his composure. After a final confrontation, Gilmour's name disappeared from the credit list, reflecting what Waters felt was his lack of songwriting contributions. Though Mason's musical contributions were minimal, he stayed busy recording sound effects for an experimental Holophonic system to be used on

25456-440: The use of simple dichotomies to describe personal relationships. " Any Colour You Like " tackles the illusion of choice one has in society. " Brain Damage " looks at mental illness resulting from the elevation of fame and success above the needs of the self; in particular, the line "and if the band you're in starts playing different tunes" reflects the mental breakdown of Syd Barrett. The album ends with " Eclipse ", which espouses

25628-428: The version used on the track. She left the studio under the impression that her vocals would not make the final cut, and she only became aware that she had been included in the final mix when she picked up the album at a local record store and saw her name in the credits. For her contribution she was paid her standard session fee of £30, equivalent to about £500 in 2024. In 2004, Torry sued EMI and Pink Floyd for 50% of

25800-454: The vocals. Both Elton John and Donovan gained studio experience early in their careers by recording publishers' demos for other artists since their managers also handled music publishing, as did Garth Brooks , who was so impressed when recording the demo of " Friends in Low Places " that he asked to release the song himself. Many unsigned bands and artists record demos in order to obtain

25972-543: The week ending 8 October 1988, in its 741st charted week. It re-appeared on the Billboard charts with the introduction of the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart in the issue dated 25 May 1991, and was still a perennial feature ten years later. It reached number one on the Pop Catalog chart when the 2003 hybrid CD/ SACD edition was released and sold 800,000 copies in the US. On the week of 5 May 2006 The Dark Side of

26144-452: The words were going to be very clear and specific." The band approved of Waters' concept for an album unified by a single theme, and all the members participated in writing and producing material. Waters created demo tracks in a small studio in a garden shed at his home in Islington . Parts of the album were taken from previously unused material; the opening line of " Breathe " came from an earlier work by Waters and Ron Geesin , written for

26316-452: Was "A neat way of saying that he didn't ... do anything". Waters was critical of Atom Heart Mother , claiming that he would prefer if it were "thrown into the dustbin and never listened to by anyone ever again". Gilmour once described it as "a load of rubbish", stating: "I think we were scraping the barrel a bit at that period." Pink Floyd's first number-one album, Atom Heart Mother was hugely successful in Britain, spending 18 weeks on

26488-432: Was "Us and Them" on 31 May, followed seven days later by "Money". For "Money", Waters had created effects loops in an unusual 4 time signature from recordings of money-related objects, including coins thrown into a mixing bowl in his wife's pottery studio. These were re-recorded to take advantage of the band's decision to create a quadraphonic mix of the album, although Parsons later expressed dissatisfaction with

26660-434: Was also suffering. Animals was the first Pink Floyd album with no writing credit for Wright, who said: "This was when Roger really started to believe that he was the sole writer for the band ... that it was only because of him that [we] were still going ... when he started to develop his ego trips, the person he would have his conflicts with would be me." Released in January 1977, Animals reached number two in

26832-452: Was being cool in a very adolescent, self-conscious way, Syd was unfashionably outgoing; my enduring memory of our first encounter is the fact that he bothered to come up and introduce himself to me." Waters and Mason met while studying architecture at the London Polytechnic at Regent Street . They first played music together in a group formed by fellow students Keith Noble and Clive Metcalfe, with Noble's sister Sheilagh. Richard Wright ,

27004-493: Was clear and concise." Mason said that, when they finished the album, Pink Floyd felt confident it was their best work to date, but were surprised by its commercial success. He said it was "not only about being a good album but also about being in the right place at the right time". In 1979, The Dark Side of the Moon was released as a remastered LP by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab , and in April 1988 on their "Ultradisc" gold CD format. It

27176-419: Was created by an associate of Hipgnosis, George Hardie. Hipgnosis offered a choice of seven designs for the sleeve, but all four members of the band agreed that the prism was the best. "There were no arguments," said Roger Waters. "We all pointed to the prism and said 'That's the one'." The design depicts a glass prism dispersing white light into colours and represents three elements: the band's stage lighting,

27348-467: Was created out of a desire to be "the same but different, such that the design was clearly DSotM, still the recognisable prism design, but was different and hence new". The Dark Side of the Moon was rereleased in 2003 on 180-gram virgin vinyl and mastered by Kevin Gray at AcousTech Mastering. It included slightly different versions of the posters and stickers that came with the original vinyl release, along with

27520-410: Was impressed by the sonic effects Barrett and Wright created and, with his business partner and friend Andrew King , became their manager. The pair had little experience in the music industry and used King's inheritance to set up Blackhill Enterprises , purchasing about £1,000 (equivalent to £23,500 in 2023 ) worth of new instruments and equipment for the band. Around this time, Jenner suggested

27692-477: Was in a bird-cage at London Zoo." The following tour was praised by the public. The new material was performed in the same order in which it was eventually sequenced on the album. Differences included the lack of synthesisers in tracks such as " On the Run ", and Clare Torry 's vocals on " The Great Gig in the Sky " replaced by readings from the Bible. Pink Floyd's lengthy tour through Europe and North America gave them

27864-407: Was in charge of the session, asked her to try to express emotions rather than sing words. In a few takes on a Sunday night, Torry improvised a wordless melody to accompany Wright's emotive piano solo. She was initially embarrassed by her exuberance in the recording booth and wanted to apologise to the band, who were impressed with her performance but did not tell her so. Her takes were edited to produce

28036-500: Was insufficient. Melody Maker 's Roy Hollingworth described side one as "utterly confused ... [and] difficult to follow", but praised side two, writing: "The songs, the sounds ... [and] the rhythms were solid ... [the] saxophone hit the air, the band rocked and rolled". Rolling Stone 's Loyd Grossman described it as "a fine album with a textural and conceptual richness that not only invites, but demands involvement." Throughout March 1973, The Dark Side of

28208-402: Was no record company contact whatsoever, except when their label manager would show up now and again with a couple of bottles of wine and a couple of joints". The band spent long periods working on basic sounds, or a guitar riff. They also spent several days at Air Studios, attempting to create music using a variety of household objects, a project which would be revisited between The Dark Side of

28380-529: Was not music. When their management filed suit in a small claims court against the owner of the youth organisation, a local magistrate upheld the owner's decision. The band was much better received at the UFO Club in London, where they began to build a fan base. Barrett's performances were enthusiastic, "leaping around ... madness ... improvisation ... [inspired] to get past his limitations and into areas that were ... very interesting. Which none of

28552-412: Was one of two songwriting collaborations between Wright and Waters. " Childhood's End " was the last song Pink Floyd released to have lyrics written by Gilmour until the release of A Momentary Lapse of Reason in 1987. " Free Four " was the first Pink Floyd song since "See Emily Play" to attract significant airplay in the US, and the second to refer to the death of Waters' father during World War II. "Stay"

28724-515: Was partly my fault because I didn't push my material ... but Dave did have something to offer, and only managed to get a couple of things on there." Mason recalled: "Roger was in full flow with the ideas, but he was really keeping Dave down, and frustrating him deliberately." Gilmour, distracted by the birth of his first child, contributed little else toward the album. Similarly, neither Mason nor Wright contributed much toward Animals ; Wright had marital problems, and his relationship with Waters

28896-545: Was released as a single and subsequently became a hit was a demo recorded by frontman Mark Foster alone, before he had formed the group. In 1982, Bruce Springsteen recorded ten demo songs in his bedroom that he intended to later record with his E Street Band , but he subsequently decided that he preferred the acoustic demos and released them as the 1982 album Nebraska . In more underground forms of music, such as noise music , black metal or punk rock , demos are often distributed by bands to fans as self-releases or sold at

29068-428: Was released by EMI and Harvest on CD in Japan in June 1983 and in the US and Europe in August 1984. In 1992, it was rereleased as a remastered CD in the box set Shine On . This version was re-released as a 20th-anniversary box set edition with postcards the following year, with a cover design by Thorgerson. On some pressings, an orchestral version of the Beatles' " Ticket to Ride " is faintly audible after "Eclipse" over

29240-540: Was taking a break from his studies, did not participate. When the RAF assigned Dennis a post in Bahrain in early 1965, Barrett became the band's frontman. Later that year, they became the resident band at the Countdown Club near Kensington High Street in London, where from late night until early morning they played three sets of 90 minutes each. During this period, spurred by the need to extend their sets to minimise song repetition,

29412-563: Was temporarily changed to Eclipse . The new material was premiered at The Dome in Brighton , on 20 January 1972, and after the commercial failure of Medicine Head's album the title was changed back to the band's original preference. Dark Side of the Moon: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics , as it was then known, was performed for an assembled press on 17 February 1972 at the Rainbow Theatre, more than

29584-472: Was written and sung by Wright, with lyrics by Waters. The closing instrumental on the album ends with a recording of the Mapuga tribe chanting, as seen in the film. Pink Floyd recorded The Dark Side of the Moon between May 1972 and January 1973 with EMI staff engineer Alan Parsons at Abbey Road. The title is an allusion to lunacy rather than astronomy. The band had composed and refined the material while touring

#9990