Biography of Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd was a 5-piece English rock band formed in 1965. Stay with Plaza to learn more about Pink Floyd’s biography and band members.

Pink Floyd was an English rock band formed in London in 1965. The group gained a following as a psychedelic pop band, distinguished by their long-tempo tracks, philosophical lyrics, and elaborate live performances, becoming a pioneer in the progressive rock genre. Pink Floyd was one of the first British psychedelicmelorefy bands and has influenced genres such as neo-progressive rock

Pink Floyd was founded by Syd Burt (guitarist, lead singer), Nick Mason (drums), Roger Waters (bass guitarist, vocalist) and Richard Wright (keyboardist, vocalist) who were students at the time. Under Brett’s leadership, they released two hit singles and an album. In December 1968, guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour joined the band. In April 1968, Brett left Pink Floyd due to his deteriorating mental health.

The early years and formation of the group 1963 to 1967:

Roger Waters and Nick Mason met while studying architecture at London Polytechnic University. In the same year, Richard Wright, who was also an architecture student, was added to them. Waters and Wright played guitar and Mason played drums. Their group was originally called Sigma 6 and later changed to various other names. In 1964, guitarist Syd Brett, a childhood friend of Waters who had moved to London to attend art college, joined the band. In 1965, the group first referred to themselves as the Pink Floyd Sound. This name is taken from the names of two blues musicians: Pink Anderson and Floyd Council

In 1966, the band Pink Floyd, which mainly played rhythm and blues songs, met Peter Jenner while performing in a club, who was impressed by the sound effects of Wright and Burt. Jenner became their manager along with his business partner and friend, Andrew King. The two had little experience in the music industry and bought new musical instruments and equipment for the band. At the same time, Jenner suggested that they remove Sound from the band’s name, and thus the band’s name was changed to Pink Floyd. Mentored by Jenner and King, Pink Floyd became part of London’s underground music scene, playing at venues including All Saints Hall. English newspaper Sunday Times wrote about Pink Floyd

Last night a band called Pink Floyd played pounding music while a series of strange colored shapes were projected on a huge screen behind them… very psychedelic looking.

By the end of 1966, although they had significantly increased the number of performances, the group was still not widely accepted. After performing at a Catholic youth club, the owner refused to pay them, believing that what they performed was not music. Pink Floyd’s reception at London’s UFO club was much greater and their fans grew day by day. Brett’s performances were passionate.

Signing a contract with EMI

By 1967, Pink Floyd had gained a lot of attention in the music industry. They signed with EMI and released their first single, Arnold Layne. Although the song was banned on many radio stations, it was very creative and became a top 20 song in the UK. EMI Columbia released Pink Floyd’s second single, See Emily Play, in 1967. This song was chosen as the sixth best song. They were invited to appear on many television shows, and at the same time Brett, who was using LSD, was getting worse and worse.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn album

EMI released Pink Floyd’s first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, in 1967. The album was number six in the UK for 14 weeks. However, Brett’s mental breakdown worried the other Pink Floyd band members. Even during one of the performances on stage when the band started playing, Brett just stood motionless with his hands hanging and guitar around his neck! Because of this, they had to cancel many of their performances and these issues related to Brett caused a lot of noise in the press.

Burt replaced by Gilmore 1967:

In December 1967, as Brett’s condition worsened, Pink Floyd added David Gilmour as guitarist, leaving Brett to remain in the band only as a songwriter. In a January 1968 photo of the group of five, Brett stood apart from the others, staring at a spot in the distance. In March 1968, Brett, who had become difficult to work with, agreed to leave the band. After Brett left the band, the burden of songwriting and creative music fell on Waters. At first, Gilmour tried to imitate Burt’s voice

Ummagumma album, Atom Heart Mother album and Meddle

The album Ummagumma, released in November 1969, was quite different from Pink Floyd’s previous work and received many positive reviews. The album spent 21 weeks at number five in the UK charts.

In October 1970, Pink Floyd released the album Atom Heart Mother. But the band members were not satisfied with this album. Nevertheless, the album was a huge success, topping the Britannia chart for 18 weeks and winning the Bath Festival Award.

In October 1971, guitarist Meddle’s album established Gilmour as an influential member and strongly indicated that the group was on the way to growth. The album spent 82 weeks at number 3 in the UK charts.

The Dark Side of the Moon album 1973:

The album The Dark Side of the Moon was released in March 1973. This name is an allusion to madness and insanity and has nothing to do with astronomy. The cover design of this album is also the famous work of Hypnosis, which became known as Pink Floyd’s prism. The design shows a beam of white light, representing unity, passing through a prism that symbolizes community. Colored broken rays symbolize the dispersion of unity.

Waters was the songwriter of all the songs in this album. The album became an instant hit in England and Western Europe and was met with enthusiastic critical acclaim. This album is one of the most commercially successful rock albums of all time. Number 1 in the US, it was on the Billboard charts for over 14 years and sold over 45 million copies worldwide. The album was number two in the UK for 364 weeks and is the third best-selling album in the world and the twenty-first best-selling album of all time in the US.

The Wall and The Final Cut albums

Pink Floyd’s Wall album was released in November 1979 and spent 15 weeks at the top of the Billboard charts in the US and number three in the UK. At the time of the recording of this album, Wright, who was underemployed, was fired from the band. A film was adapted from this album with the same name, which won an award at the Cannes Film Festival. The Final Cut album was released in March 1983 and immediately became number one in the UK and number six in the US.