Pink Floyd

At the end of the 1960s, rock'n'roll, like music in general, came to be confronted with something new, unusual, and which would be responsible for the creation of a musical universe totally different from the existing ones. The responsible for this feat is Pink Floyd, one of the main bands on the planet. Psychedelia, experimentalism and mega-shows are hallmarks of this band, which transformed the way of "making" rock and marked a new era in music, with progressive rock.

The history of Pink Floyd began in 1965. Rick Wright, Roger Waters and Nick Mason studied architecture at Cambridge University in London, and decided to form a band and venture into small shows in London pubs. The trio was named Sigma 6 and their initial repertoire featured blues and folk covers.

Shortly after, they decide to increase the contingent of members and Waters introduces two friends from college, Roger Keith (Syd Barret) and David Gilmour. With a new group formed, the musicians decide to change the band's name to The Screaming Abdabds, Barret's guess. There were other names like Abdabs and T-Set, before they arrived at Pink Floyd, which is nothing more than the combination of the names of two bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, of whom Syd Barret was a fan.

David Gilmour decides to leave the group and go to France, establishing from there the following Pink Floyd formation: Roger Waters on bass and vocals, Syd Barret on guitar and vocals, Rick Wright, keyboard and vocals and Nick Manson on drums . The group was performing at small festivals that took place in London.

The great thing about Pink Floyd was the use of slides in her presentations. During the show, several slides were projected over the entire stage, a totally innovative initiative that would be adopted by several other bands later. Syd Barret, who besides being a musician was also painter, was one of the main responsible for the project. The foursome started to gain greater visibility in the London music scene and soon were invited to record some singles, which were broadcast on the radio. But the great opportunity came with the hiring of the band by the record company EMI, who took them to record at the magical Abbey Road studio.

The band had a huge challenge ahead of them. Enter a music scene that had names like Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, among others. It would not be an easy task. In this same period and in the same studio in which Pink Floyd recorded their first album, the Beatles recorded Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Being face to face with the Beatles may have helped Floyd a lot.

Then in 1967 The Piper at the Gates of Down was released, which immediately ranks at the top of the English charts. This work is considered by many to be the starting point of progressive rock and rivals Sgt. Peppers ... the title of the first work of rock art.

The band was already enjoying success, but not everything was happiness. Barrett's mental health was impaired due to the excessive use of drugs, reaching the limit of, in one of the performances, the musician being able to play only one chord. No longer able to play, Barret was gradually removed from the group; an unfortunate situation since he was one of the most creative musicians in the band. During this period, David Gilmour returned from France and was invited to join Pink Floyd again.

Roger Waters begins to assume the leadership of the band and soon leaves the second album, A Saucerful of Secrets (1968). The work is very well accepted and ends up proving that the group can move on without Barret.

In 1969, they composed More, the soundtrack of the homonymous film (directed by Barbet Schroeder). Still in 69, they released Ummagumma, a double album, one recorded in the studio and the other live. The 70s start with Atom Heart Mother, which has a very curious cover about the title, showing a photo of a cow. Parallel to this, Gilmour and Waters tried to help their friend Syd, producing the albums The Madcap Laughs and Barrets, both of 1970. However, Syd was unable to rehabilitate himself and his musical career came to an end. After that, he isolates himself and starts to dedicate himself only to painting.

In 1971 Meddle is released and the following year Obscured By Clouds, track by film La Vallée (1972, again under the direction of Barbet Schroeder). Following the cinematographic line, Live at Pompeii (1972, with directed by Adrian Maben), documentary of the group's anthological show in ruins of Pompeii, Italy.

Despite several projects and releases, the peak of Pink Floyd would happen in 1973, with Dark Side of the Moon. It is a masterpiece without precedent in history, which broke and created several records. He stayed on the American charts for more than 14 years, he was among the 50 best selling albums in England for more than two years and among the 100 for more than eight. A curiosity: EMI, the band's record company, even built factories for the exclusive production of Dark Side of the Moon, the demand was so great. The album was handled by the respected sound engineer Alan Parson, who played a key role in the production of this symbolic work. Songs like 'Time' and 'Money' demonstrate the quality of the record.

The next job would not be very well accepted in the beginning, due to the strong criticisms to the entertainment industry. However, after a while, the album received the recognition it deserved, being considered one of the best of Pink Floyd. Wish You Were Here (1975) is a kind of tribute to Syd Barret, who is said to have appeared dirty, bald and wearing rags, in the studio where the band recorded. Due to the state of the former Pink Floyd member, his colleagues found it difficult to recognize him and felt touched by the situation. The track 'Wish You Were Here', nowadays, one of the most famous of the band, ended up giving the title to the album, which paid homage to the troubled Barret.

Animals (1977) was a work based on the book The Animal Revolution, by George Orwell, which makes a severe critique of the capitalist system. This album accentuates the band's stage of protest and psychedelia. At the same time as the Animals tour, members of the group were working on side projects. David Gilmour released a self-titled album and Rick Wright released Wet Dream, both from 1978. At the time, Roger Waters was especially devoted to Pink and established himself as the band's leader.

After Dark Side ... and Wish You Were Here, it would be hard to imagine that Pink Floyd producing a better or as good job as the previous two. But in 1979, The Wall was launched, a highly emblematic work that criticized the education system in England, in addition to portraying human weaknesses. The album's success was devastating. The production of the tour was one of the most expensive and grandiose in the history of music. The work was classified as a rock opera, like Tommy (1969), from The Who, and became a film of the same name in 1982, directed by Alan Parker. Like the album, the film was a huge success and was also considered a masterpiece. Roger Waters was considered the main responsible for this phase of Pink Floyd and his relationship with the rest of the band was not very good.

The Final Cut (1983) is more an individual work by Waters than Pink Floyd. The whole idea of ​​the album and the compositions are his own. Rick Wright was removed from the group by Waters and the relationship problems between him and his colleagues worsened. In 1985 he decided to leave Pink Floyd, leaving David Gilmour as the new leader.

From there, a legal battle between Gilmour and Waters is fought over the possession of the name Pink Floyd, with Gilmour being the winner. Wright is brought back to the group and soon they release A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987), considered one of Floyd's weakest works. Waters begins his solo career and launches Radio K.A.O.S and When the Wind Blows, both from 1978.

The last record recorded by Pink Floyd was The Division Bell (1994). Before that, in 88, the live album Delicate Sound of Thunder was released. In 1995 Pulse came out, also live. After this work, several compilations were released, being: Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd (2001), the best known.

During the late 90s and early 2000s, Roger kept on tour, playing songs from his solo career and Pink Floyd classics, in shows highly praised by critics and audiences. He even performed here in Brazil, in 2002, in the cities of Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. David Gilmour did not stand still either. In 2001 he recorded an acoustic at the Royal Albert Hall festival (which has no connection with acoustic acquaintances promoted by MTV) and which featured the participation of Rick Wright, a former friend of Pink Floyd. And to everyone's surprise, in July of this year Pink Floyd, whose members had been separated for more than 20 years, got together for a presentation at Live Aid 8 "” an event held to fight hunger on the African continent.

You don't have to look far to see the marks left by Pink Floyd on the music scene. From mega-productions to inventive CD covers, the band exudes art from all sides. The complexity, excellence, precision and creativity of the members of Floyd, whether in the process of composition or in the production of the shows, established innovative musical techniques and patterns, which broke with any other established paradigm and are used by several bands today. Pink Floyd is music, it's history, and it's art. The best.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on February 3, 2006, Gilmour indicated the end of Pink Floyd, declaring that the celebrated group will not produce any new material, nor will it meet again. However, the possibility of making a presentation similar to Live 8 was not ruled out either by Gilmour or Mason.

Waters was invited to join him in London, but the last rehearsals for his 2006 tour made him refuse. Mason joined Waters on June 29, 2006 in the second half of the show in Cork, Ireland, where he played the entire Dark Side of the Moon.

Waters and Wright both worked on solo albums, and it is rumored that Waters would be making a Broadway musical version of The Wall, with extra songs written by him. Waters also embarked on his world tour "The Dark Side of the Moon Live Tour", and the repertoire consisted of the entire Dark Side of the Moon, along with a few selections of Pink Floyd songs and a few solo songs from Waters' career. Waters also contributed the song "Hello (I Love You)", co-written by Howard Shore, for the 2007 film, "The Key of the Universe" (The Last Minzy). Waters had his opera "Ça Ira" performed in Brazil during the 12th Manaus Opera Festival, with performances on the 15th, 22nd and 24th of April 2008. During the show on the 15th, Waters was present.

Pink Floyd keyboardist and founding member Richard Wright died Monday, September 15, 2008, aged 65 after a short battle with cancer, as his adviser announced.