Monday 20 December 2010

Unlike John Lydon I Love Pink Floyd



I've always loved Pink Floyd and I don't mean the hip Pink Floyd of the Syd Barrett days which is acceptable to name drop without being laughed out the pub. That stuff  is okay, well most of it but if you ask me the world could have done without Bike or Gnome; the stuff I love is the over blown pomposity of Dark Side of The Moon, The Wall and The Final Cut. I make no apologies for this and neither do I find it in the slightest bit embarrassing. it was not unknown for me in my teenage years to be sporting a Pink Floyd t-shirt much to the umbrage of some of my either trendier or cooler friends

Ever since Christmas 1979 when I got The Wall on double vinyl as a present from Aunt Betty I was sold on all of the nonsense that Roger Waters wrote and from that moment I started delving into the back catalogue which was easier then you would think.  Everybody over the age of twenty seemed to have a copy of Dark Side Of The Moon , Wish You Were Here or Animals. It only got difficult the further back I looked. It took me until about 16 to get hold of Obscured By Clouds and I was in my twenties before I got given a pristine copy of Meddle from a friend.

I'm not sure what it is that I see in Pink Floyd, as this kind of rock music usually has me retching into a bucket after about 5 minutes or so but like them I do. I don't think that a month goes by without me playing something by them.

As for post Waters Floyd? Absolute pish, does nothing for me at all,  bought a couple of the albums A Momentary Lapse Of Reason and The Division Bell but neither floats my boat.

Roger Waters solo output I find myself getting lost in and if i put an album on, then it's played in it's entirety. I know that these "concept" albums provoke ridicule from hipsters but I really do enjoy them.  One of the best gigs that I have every seen was when a mate's dad took me and him to see The Pro's And Con's Of Hitchhiking live at the NEC in 1984.

Here are a couple of my favourite Floyd tracks.

Pink Floyd - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

Pink Floyd - Nobody Home

8 comments:

Mondo said...

Love a bit of Floyd although not really a fan of The Wall era output..

Fat Old Sun, If, Meddle, Dark Side ~ the lyrics on that album are just genius. Actually the lyrics on Wish You Were Here are pretty special too

Have you tried Dub Side of the Moon?

Artog said...

Two awesome tunes. I'm post all the punk silliness that forbade you to listen to Pink Floyd. The Wall was my intro, it's no longer my favourite Floyd album but it's one of the few concept albums worthy of the name.

Webbie - FootieAndMusic said...

...bought a couple of the albums A Momentary Lapse Of Reason and The Division Bell but neither floats my boat.

Not even High Hopes ?

Ah come on...

chocolategirl64 said...

wish you were here and umma gumma were the secret soundtracks to my late teens:
bought a copy of animals from a friend who was desp for some cash ~ it's possibly the thickest and heaviest piece of vinyl I own!

Swiss Adam said...

Sorry to be the voice of dissent but I can't stand 'em. They make me physically ill.

davyh said...

The Division Bell has some sublime moments - 'High Hopes' and 'Poles Apart'...but then I'm a Gilmour man, I reckon!

TH said...

Dark Side of The Moon approaches genius status. I am particularly fond of Wish You were Here as well.
I remember going to see Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii in 1978 at the local fleapit in my hometown. There was me, 16 years old my smart new Paul Weller haircut, ben sherman shirt and tie three button suit and brogues sitting amongst a room full of hippies smoking dope. I got some looks.

George said...

Nice to see some prog posted. Is the beginning of a thread? Tangerine Dream? The Nice? King Crimson? But please no Gentle Giant, truly dreadful load of nonsense.