The Floydians' Accents...

I am curious as to whether you believe it was a deliberate decision by the Floydians to retain their accents when singing. It seems to me most British artists sing in an American accent...why is this? I would think that would be forced...!

Also, I hear three VERY different accents from the three Floydians when they sing (RW, RWr, DG). Can anyone explain if these are regional differences, and if so, what regions do their accents "represent"?

Well if you listent to the beatles and Cream and many other British bands of the time you can hear their British accents, it is when they are singing the accent is not as much prominient as you would might expect. In terms of the Regions of where the Floyd members came from, well i don't know much about the regions however i don't think they sound all that different. It seems and i maybe very wrong about this but they all lived near london meaning (they were not scattered throught the country) they came from the same general area, if even there is a difference in speech between those areas i am very interested to find out

I don't remember for sure, but I think London may be as diverse as New York City, when it comes to accents.

BTW--your name reminds me...I committed an error in my first post, and should've listed Mr. Barrett with the PF vocalists.

Their accents DO weaken some, but still sound to me very strong compared to most British artists (especially contemporary ones).

Weren't they all from the Cambridge area?
I can't really tell the difference between their accents. And there are some differences between accents in London, I think... If my fair lady is anything to go by...

cheers

Yeah, 'cause musicals are so realistic and all. :smile:

you mean you don't spontaneously break out into a perfect song and dance that was never rehearsed before?

Isn't pink floyd an Irish band

problably in Jail yeah

Never seen "My Fair Lady", but I'll take your word for it.

I do hear strong differences. That could be because I study languages so much; I could have a sensitivity to that kind of thing.

So...does anyone from Britain want to take a shot at this?

you're not serious right?

Nope, they're from Perth, Australia.

Dave and Roger are both from Cambridge, while Rick Wright is originally from Hatch End (small place in Hertfordshire, just north of London) and Nick is from Birmingham.
Dave, Roger and Rick are all from traditionally wealthy parts of England, and they have southern, middle-class, accents to show for it.
Nick's a little more interesting. Birmingham is largely a working-class city, and most people there and in the West Midlands region have a distinctive accent.
Nick, however, doesn't. He sounds like the other members of Floyd.
This is probably because of either an expensive education, or maybe because he left Birmingham young (No offence to any Brummies, I like the people, he just doesn't sound like one).

So, are those all variations on the same accent? To me, Mr. Waters in particular sounds very different. As for the others, they do not sound the same to me, though there are similarities. Is it their singing styles that cause this?

I'd love to plan one of those routines with a bunch of friends... then have them all placed strategically about a busy street as if none of them knows another... then on cue we could all burst into a perfectly choreographed song-and-dance number. Wouldn't that be great?

As an ardent "outside" observer and afficionado of most things British, I must agree with Doctor Wolf's analysis of the band member's accents.

It has always amazed me how such a relatively small country (the US state I come from is comparable in size) could host so many differences in accents in the same language. It is very possible to drive only 50 miles and find a village where the accent is totally different from the starting point. Even in London, one can certainly distinguish a "cockney" accent from a Knightsbridge ("Sloane") accent from a Sarf Londoner, etc...

Nick may well have come from Birmingham, and the accent there is MARKEDLY different from, say a Scouser (Liverpool - NW) or Geordie (Newcastle - NE) or West Country (SW - "ooh arr"), but he may have been a middle-class "brummie." Didn't he also study at Cambridge, or in London? Could he have had elocution lessons, or grown up amongst the well-spoken?

Of course, one's accent could derive from one's parents, and who knows where THEY came from?