{{{Note that I put this here because it is more of an essay.}}}
The first Pink Floyd album I ever bought was "Dark Side of the Moon." It was possibly one of the most brilliant--both musically and lyrically--pieces of work by any band in history. Yet I knew nothing about them (besides who the members were in 1973, from the liner notes, and what the members looked like--though for a while I confused the picture of Wright as being that of Gilmour). I knew them only vaguely as, like I have stated, the "We-don't-need-no-education-band." Three months before I had stumbled upon a vinyl copy of "A Collection of Great Dance Songs" in our garage. From that information, I developed the information and opinion that Pink Floyd was strange, and had the following albums; "Meddle," "Dark Side of the Moon," "Animals," "Wish You Were Here," and "The Wa--" (the paper was torn on that spot, so I knew nothing of the album being named "The Wall." Though it should have been obvious--the song mentioned on the record was "Another Brick in the WALL, Part 2," which at the time I had no idea was the "we-don't-need-no-education" song.) Anyway, I bought "Dark Side..." the following March (though I hate to admit now that I was looking for the "we-don't-need-no-education" song). As I stated above, it was sheer genius. I had picked up the fact that the album had a theme of insanity from a VH1 Top 100 Albums of Rock & Roll countdown. But shortly after buying the album, I copied a few pages on Pink Floyd out of the Guiness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (and from that, it took me a few months to discover that their 1972 album was not titled "Obscured By CLOWNS", but rather CLOUDS--the result of a misprint in the book). But somehow, after reading and gathering thousands of pieces of the Pink Floyd puzzle, the experience of their music was never the same as it had been in those few days before I knew anything about them. It didn't make the Pink Floyd experience worse--just...different. However, sometimes, I find myself wishing I had never known anything about the history of the band--just their every piece of music. Strange, isn't it?
--Bud Sturguess, Texas

_________________
"Make a joke and I will sigh
And you will laugh
And I will cry..."