Pink Floyd - The true story

Pink Floyd
“The pink flood? I remember it... 1939 what a sweet year it was. ”

~ Oscar Wilde on Pink Floyd


The Early Years (1960-1965)

Formed by Syd Barrett and Roger Waters in the early 60's, Pink Floyd started life as a garage band. Usually they would practice at Waters until his mother got home and had to park the car, or on some occasions at Barretts where they risked being attacked by the possums who had taken up residence in the garage. It was only when the dynamic duo were at college in Cambridge that the Floyds full potential was realized, and twins Nick and Rick Mason joined the band to add both drums and the electric cowbell to the Floyds instrumental repertoire. After two years at university, the band was finally given the big break that it needed in the form of a record signing, and they knew that it was a one shot deal.
Nobody knows very much about this.


Giant Barn Dance

The Floyd's first psychadelic album was panned by critics for not being able to capture the essence and drugged out feel of their live shows, famous for their lighting effects and pyrotechnics. Syd Barrett, depressed by the albums lackluster reviews, began heavily using LSD, cocaine, and even began huffing kittens. This was the first catalyst in the saga of Syds steady decline.

Games For May

Syd Barrett proposed that the Floyd do a big concert outside and Games For May was the result. It wasn't so much a concert as a sports event with a few sets thrown in. Waters invited fans to take part in rugby while Barrett hosted badminton and the Masons organized an ultimate frisby tournament. Unfortunately for those taking part in rugby, Waters took the game very seriously and as in conventional rugby, gouging, punching, kicking, and biting were legal. Twenty five fans were injured in the half hour long event but no charges were filed. Overall, Games For May was a success and helped to boost the Floyds flagging popularity.

The Departure of Syd Barrett

After Giant Barn Dance, Syd's drug intake increased dramatically, more than doubling the amount of drugs that the rest of the band had taken... up to that point in their lives. After a while, everyone got sick of Syd's drug problem and they all agreed that they had to get rid of him somehow. In a series of depressing yet strangely hilarious misadventures, the other members of the Floyd attempted to ditch Syd. These included throwing him down a well, putting him on a plane to Siberia, and just leaving him by the side of the road in the English countryside. Success was finally acheived when Roger Waters lured a dissilusioned Barrett into a hot air balloon with fresh kittens and cut all of the sandbags. This was the same balloon that was to take Syd to Antarctica where he would discover starbelly penguins. After Syd's sad departure, local low-life and guitar master David Gilmoure was immediately summoned from his mothers basement to replace him.


The Floyd's Giant Barn Dance was also released under the title Whose Underpants Are These?.



Hazy Stage (1965-1972)

The Barrettless Floyd launched onto the English music scene in a blaze of no publicity at all, making it hard for them to get another record deal. They did a few soundtracks for movies like more and mission impossible but none of the Floyds, specifically Roger Waters were satisfied with any of their work so far. At this point, everyone in the Floyd was more or less broke so they began sharing a tiny, grimy, but thankfully rent controlled flat in Cambridge. Life for the bandmates soon began to resemble a sitcom. Roger unfortunately cooked all of their meals which usually involved cabbage and water (which was included as a free utility) and the other bandmembers used to rag on him about his cooking, except for Dave who was smitten by Waters giggly personality and good looks. It was not long until Roger realized that he and Dave were meant to be and they began dating, making band outings increasingly awkward for twins Nick and Rick. The band continued to struggle to make ends meet. The income from the frequent gigs that played in the various clubs in around Cambridge was Paltry, and Dave's male modeling did not pay much either. Roger was determined to bring the band to the next level, financially and musically.

GummaUmma

The Floyd's next album was considered by some to be even worse than Giant Barn Dance, but it sold better and supplemented their income considerably. Roger began to get his hopes up and pushed his bandmates even harder than he had before, allowing them to get a slightly bigger apartment that would allow for them to sleep in seperate beds. Nonstop gigging and driving from venue to venue imposed a tight schedule on the Floyd and left little time for anything else, so sleeping and eating were done in their questionable transport made of two halves of two different cars. According to Dave, Nick and Rick had to constantly apply duckt tape to keep the shaky auto together. For some reason, people began to think that Pink Floyd was a sci-fi oriented band around this time which Roger greatly resented.

A Saucerful of Sucrets

The follow up album to GummaUmma, A Saucerful of Sucrets did not help to dispell the commonly held belief that the Floyd was a sci-fi band and actually fueled the myth. This left Roger in a fluster because most people missed the main theme of the album, which was a cough that had been plagueing the band for well over a year. As the story goes, Nick gave it to Rick, Rick gave it to Dave, and Dave gave it to Roger who continued the vicious cycle by giving it back to Nick. Eventually they all decided to split for two weeks and the cough terror was ended. Sales for A Saucerful were considerably better than those for GummaUmma and the Floyd was sure that it was on it's way to superstardom.

Atom Heart Mother

This was more a setback for the Floyd than a step forward. In a bizarre burst of insparation, Roger used all of the profits from A Saucerful of Sucrets to hire the London Symphony Orchestra out for half an hour and got some of the janitors from the Floyds Cambridge Flat to do vocals in a strange symphonic piece. The rest of the band was furious when they found out what Roger had done while they were out, and had thought it initially suspicious that Waters had given them money to buy some new satin shirts and tight pants. To compromise, Roger allowed Nick and Rick to use a photo of a cow they had taken while picknicking in the countryside for the album cover.


The Pink Floyds 1978 Album was panned by PETA.

(cont.)

Nevermind this

This niether then....