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Pink Floyd (formed in 1965 in Cambridge, England) is a British rock band noted for progressive compositions, philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative cover art and elaborate live shows. One of rock music's most successful and influential acts, the group is believed to have sold an estimated 73.5 million albums in the U.S., and over 200 million albums worldwide.

Pink Floyd enjoyed moderate success in the late 1960s as a psychedelic band led by Syd Barrett. Barrett's erratic behaviour caused his colleagues to replace him with guitarist David Gilmour and the band went on to record several elaborate concept albums, achieving worldwide success with 1973's The Dark Side of the Moon, 1975's Wish You Were Here, 1977's Animals, and 1979's The Wall, among the best-selling, most critically acclaimed, and enduringly popular albums in rock music history. In 1985, bassist Roger Waters declared Pink Floyd defunct, but the remaining members continued recording and touring under the name. Waters attempted to stop them via court action and eventually settled out of court, giving the post-Waters band rights to the name and most of the songs.

Waters rejoined the band on 2 July 2005 at the London Live 8 concert, playing to Pink Floyd's biggest audience ever. On 3 February 2006 Gilmour gave an interview to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica which indicated the band would no longer tour or produce any new material, although various members still plan on producing solo or collaborative material. The possibility of an appearance similar to Live 8 has not been ruled out by either Mason or Gilmour.

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The images of Pink Floyd

Nearly as famous as Floyd's music is the artwork that comes with it. Throughout the band's career, this aspect was mainly provided by photographer and graphic artist Storm Thorgerson and his graphic studio Hipgnosis ("hip" gnosis or hypnosis). Many of these images have acquired fame in their own right; notably the cover depicting a man shaking the hand of his burning alter-ego for Wish You Were Here and the refracting prism for Dark Side of the Moon. The cover of Meddle underlined the band's ideas about the visualization of sound with its close-up of a human ear accompanied by visible sound waves.

Thorgerson was involved in the artwork for every album except The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the front cover of which was a photograph by Vic Singh and the back cover a drawing by Barrett; The Wall, for which the band employed Gerald Scarfe; and The Final Cut, which was designed by Waters himself, using photography made by his then brother-in-law, Willie Christie. Only the covers for The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, A Saucerful of Secrets, and Ummagumma include images of the band members themselves. Roger Waters explained this on a video/DVD on the making of Dark Side of the Moon: "We always wanted to kind of... not be on our covers ourselves; not have pictures".

Live performances

Main article: Pink Floyd live performances

Pink Floyd is renowned for its lavish stage shows, combining over-the-top visual experiences with music to create a show in which the performers themselves are almost secondary.

Discography

Main article: Pink Floyd discography

Studio Albums

• 1967: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
• 1968: A Saucerful of Secrets
• 1969: Music From the Film More
• 1969: Ummagumma
• 1970: Atom Heart Mother
• 1971: Meddle
• 1972: Obscured by Clouds
• 1973: Dark Side of the Moon
• 1975: Wish You Were Here
• 1977: Animals
• 1979: The Wall
• 1983: The Final Cut
• 1987: A Momentary Lapse of Reason
• 1994: The Division Bell

Top 20 singles

• 1967: "Arnold Layne" / "Candy and a Currant Bun" (#20 UK)
• 1967: "See Emily Play" / "The Scarecrow" (#6 UK, #134 U.S.)
• 1973: "Money" / "Any Colour You Like" (#13 U.S.)
• 1979: "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" / "One of My Turns" (#1 UK, #1 U.S.)

(Chart numbers taken from Schaffner, p. 320-321)

Additional song samples

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Band members

Official Pink Floyd members

• Syd Barrett (1965-1968)
• David Gilmour (1968-present)
• Bob Klose (1965)
• Nick Mason (1965-present)
• Roger Waters (1965-1985)
• Richard Wright (1965-1981, 1987-present)

Notable or frequent contributors

Note that these are not official members of Pink Floyd, but musicians who have made significant studio or live contributions:

• Sam Brown - backing vocals
• Jon Carin - keyboards and vocals
• Bob Ezrin - production, keyboards and composition
• Ron Geesin - orchestration and composition
• Roy Harper - guest lead vocal
• Michael Kamen - orchestration and keyboards
• Carol Kenyon - backing vocals
• Dick Parry - saxophone
• Guy Pratt - bass guitar and vocals
• Tim Renwick - guitars
• Clare Torry - guest lead vocal and backing vocals
• Gary Wallis - percussion
• Snowy White - guitars

See also

• List of Rock Instrumentals
• List of songs over fifteen minutes in length
• List of best-selling music artists - World's top-selling music artists chart.

External links

Official sites

• Pink Floyd's UK site
• Pink Floyd's U.S. site
• Roger Waters official site
• David Gilmour official site
• Denis O'Regan - Official site of the photographer whose work appeared on The Division Bell and P*U*L*S*E

Other links

• Another Link on the Wall - A large collection of fan sites, news resources and other external links, updated regularly.

References

• Fitch, Vernon. The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia (3rd edition), 2005. ISBN 1-894959-24-8
• Jones, Cliff. Another Brick in the Wall: The Stories Behind Every Pink Floyd Song, 1996. ISBN 0553067338
• Mason, Nick. Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd, 2004. ISBN 0297843877 (followed in 2005 by the paperback edition (ISBN 0753819066) which features an updated section on the band's Live 8 reunion)
• Miles, Barry. Pink Floyd: A Illustrated Documentary, 1982. ISBN 0399410015
• Palacios, Julian. Lost in the Woods: Syd Barrett and the Pink Floyd, 2001. ISBN 0-7522-2328-3
• Schaffner, Nicholas. Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey, 1991. ISBN 0517576082
• Various authors. "The Amazing Pudding", 1982-1992. (a fanzine)

Notes

1. RIAA, retrieved 22 April 2006
2. About.com, retrieved 9 February 2006
3. "la Repubblica", 3 February 2006, translation here
4. "Die Welt" interview, 6 February 2006
5. Billboard interview, 20 February 2006

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• Pink Floyd
• Peel Sessions artists
• Rock music groups
• Music from Cambridge