Pink Floyd was an English progressive rock band formed in 1965. Its original member Syd Barrett tragically lost his mind and left the band in 1967, leaving Richard Wright on keyboard, Dave Gilmour on lead guitar and vocals, Roger Waters on bass and Nick Mason on drums. Waters, Gilmour and Wright became the main songwriters and the band soon established their classic sound.
Dave Gilmour’s unique style of guitar playing became a distinctive element in Pink Floyd’s sound. Gilmour’s playing was bluesy, emotional and very expressive, he is considered by many to be one of the greatest guitarists of all time. His guitar solo on ‘Comfortably Numb’ is highly regarded and is often voted as the greatest guitar solo of all time in magazines and so on. Here is video taken from the movie ‘The Wall’, Gilmour’s amazing solo is right at the end.
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The 1970s was the breakthrough era for the band, much of their best work was created during this period. Floyd released great albums such as 'Meddle', 'The Wall, 'Dark Side of the Moon' and "Wish You Were Here'. Many of these albums are considered masterpices, and helped establish Pink Floyd as one of the greatest bands in the world as well as defining the progressive rock genre. Dark side of the moon was so successful that it remained in the Billboard top 200 from 1976 to 1988.
While more of an ‘albums band’, Pink Floyd had a number of highly successful singles like ‘Wish You Were Here’, ‘Money’, ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ and ‘Comfortably Numb’.
Pink Floyd was also renowned for their live performances. Floyd were pioneers of the live music experience. Their stage shows often consisted of amazing over the top visuals and special effects like pyrotechnics and stunning light shows. The band reformed for a one off show in 2005 at the Live 8 concert in London, their first in 24 years. This performance sparked many rumours the band would reform for a world tour, but members of the band denied this. Richard Wright died in 2008, making it even more unlikely the band would ever play together again.
The video below, brillantly captures Pink Floyd live in their prime, performing the epic song 'Echoes' from the album 'Meddle'. The clip is taken from the 'live in Pompeii' concert.
Dave Gilmour’s unique style of guitar playing became a distinctive element in Pink Floyd’s sound. Gilmour’s playing was bluesy, emotional and very expressive, he is considered by many to be one of the greatest guitarists of all time. His guitar solo on ‘Comfortably Numb’ is highly regarded and is often voted as the greatest guitar solo of all time in magazines and so on. Here is video taken from the movie ‘The Wall’, Gilmour’s amazing solo is right at the end.
object width="425" height="344">
The 1970s was the breakthrough era for the band, much of their best work was created during this period. Floyd released great albums such as 'Meddle', 'The Wall, 'Dark Side of the Moon' and "Wish You Were Here'. Many of these albums are considered masterpices, and helped establish Pink Floyd as one of the greatest bands in the world as well as defining the progressive rock genre. Dark side of the moon was so successful that it remained in the Billboard top 200 from 1976 to 1988.
While more of an ‘albums band’, Pink Floyd had a number of highly successful singles like ‘Wish You Were Here’, ‘Money’, ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ and ‘Comfortably Numb’.
Pink Floyd was also renowned for their live performances. Floyd were pioneers of the live music experience. Their stage shows often consisted of amazing over the top visuals and special effects like pyrotechnics and stunning light shows. The band reformed for a one off show in 2005 at the Live 8 concert in London, their first in 24 years. This performance sparked many rumours the band would reform for a world tour, but members of the band denied this. Richard Wright died in 2008, making it even more unlikely the band would ever play together again.
The video below, brillantly captures Pink Floyd live in their prime, performing the epic song 'Echoes' from the album 'Meddle'. The clip is taken from the 'live in Pompeii' concert.
For more information about the band including a biography, check out fansite http://www.pinkfloyd.net/
Great post. Very appropriate to talk about Pink Floyd first. I think, with their mainstream success (actually in the 70s and while they were still prog unlike 80s Genesis :P) that they're one of the first introductions to the genre for most of us to an extent. They were completely that for me, I had a long phase of Floyd obsession before opening out to the other more complex, but not necessarily any better bands.
ReplyDeleteAlso good picture choice. :P