2010 – U.K. Declares Abbey Road A Historic Site
February 23, 2010
2010 – With all the talk about EMI possibly selling Abbey Road Studios, the U.K. government has stepped in and declared it a historic site so that no radical changes can be made. Culture Minister Margaret Hodge declared the iconic venue a “Grade II” listed building, which means that although changes to its interior are permitted, any proposed alterations must respect the character and preservation of the site. In a statement, Hodge said the listing had been granted “overwhelmingly on the historic merit of the studios” and because “it has huge cultural importance and a very special place in the hearts of recording artists and music lovers alike.”
“The Abbey Road Studios have been listed in acknowledgement of their outstanding cultural interest and to ensure that recording artists for generations to come can continue to make and record music in the same rooms as musical icons of years gone by,” said Hodge’s statement. “Music – of whichever genre – is the thread that follows us through all our lives and Abbey Road Studios have produced some of the very best music in the world. It’s a testament to both the importance of music in people’s lives as well as the passion this kind of issue stirs up, that so much interest has been generated by the perceived threat to the future of Abbey Road.”
Among those calling for the studios to be saved were Sir Paul McCartney and Andrew Lloyd Webber, who signaled that he was a potential buyer. However, EMI said over the weekend that it did not want to sell Abbey Road, although it was talking to other parties about revitalizing the site. EMI said it had been in discussions since November 2009 to find ways to regenerate the studios.
“EMI confirms that it is holding preliminary discussions for the revitalization of Abbey Road with interested and appropriate third parties,” the company said in the statement. “We believe that Abbey Road should remain in EMI’s ownership.”
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — Berry Gordy called Michael Jackson the “greatest entertainer that ever lived” as family, friends, colleagues and fans gathered to remember the King of Pop at the Staples Center in Los Angeles Tuesday.
Michael Jackson’s casket is placed in front of the stage at the Staples Center.
“The more I think and talk about Michael Jackson, I feel the King of Pop is not big enough for him,” Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, said as the crowd rose to its feet. “I think he is simply — I think he is simply the greatest entertainer that ever lived.”
Jackson’s golden casket was placed in front of the stage at his memorial as a choir sang.
Several of Jackson’s older brothers served as pallbearers, carrying the coffin to the stage as the Andrae Crouch choir sang “Soon and Very Soon.”
The stage at the Staples Center resembled a church sanctuary with a stain-glassed backdrop.
Mariah Carey was joined by Trey Lorenz singing The Jackson 5’s 1970 hit “I’ll Be there” as a montage of Jackson photographs appeared on arena screens.
Queen Latifah, saying she was on stage to represent “millions of fans inspired by Michael,” said “Michael was the biggest star on earth.” Lionel Richie then performed the song “Jesus is Love.” Stevie Wonder took the stage to sing “Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer.”
Smokey Robinson read personal messages from several of Jackson’s celebrity friends who could not attend.
“Michael was a personal love of mine, a treasured part of my life, part of the fabric of my life, in a way that I can’t seem to find words to express” Diana Ross said in a message read by Smokey Robinson.
Robinson also read a message from Nelson Mandela, saying they had grown close after trips and performances in South Africa.
“We had great admiration for his talent and that he was able to triumph over tragedy on so many occasions in his life. Michael was a giant and a legend in the music industry. And we mourn with the millions of fans worldwide,” Robinson said, relaying Mandela’s message. “We also mourn with his family and his friends over the loss of our dear friend.”
The public memorial began after Jackson’s family and closest friends attended a gathering at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills on Tuesday morning.
Jackson’s family and friends were at the chapel, which can hold about 1,000 people. Seven men carried the golden casket covered in red flowers from Forest Lawn’s Hall of Liberty.
“It wouldn’t be fair for the fans who are going to appear and be here at the Staples Center not to see his casket,” Teddy Riley, a singer who worked closely with Jackson on several albums, said. Watch Riley talk about working with Jackson »
An army of fans poured into Los Angeles from places far-flung, hoping to collectively mourn their idol in a massive ceremony.
Thousands appeared to be on hand, but the atmosphere was peaceful, almost festive. People waited patiently, talking to each other, taking pictures and singing Jackson songs. Some fans were excited, others somber, as they entered the arena.
Parking lots in the area raised their prices, some as high as $30. Airports in Southern California saw a spike in bookings. And several movie theaters in the area announced special screenings of the event, which also will be carried live by some television networks and Web sites.
The first fans — those holding the best seats — began entering the arena at 7:30 a.m. The service is set to start at 10 a.m. (1 p.m. ET).
Deka Motanya, a San Francisco, California, woman who won tickets in the computer lottery, posted a message on Twitter just before 9 a.m. saying she had reached her “not-too-bad seats.” “(M)ichael jackson music playing. people filling in; very organized w/ assigned seats” her message said.
2009 – Phil Spector Found Guilty of Killing Actress. Mr. Spector post engineered Let it be… the album.
LOS ANGELES — Phil Spector, the rock music impresario behind hits like “Da Doo Ron Ron,” and “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling,” was convicted Monday of murdering a struggling actress at his mansion in 2003 after a night of drinking.
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Pool photo by Al Seib
Phil Spector, right, listened to his lawyer Doran Weinberg before the verdict was read in Los Angeles on Monday.
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Murder Indictment (Ca v. Spector) (findlaw.com)
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Pool photo by Lawrence K. Ho
Music producer Phil Spector, center, surrounded by his defense team during closing arguments at the retrial murder case in Los Angeles in March.
Mr. Spector, 68, faces at least 18 years in prison. The jury, ending a five-month trial, reached its decision after 27 hours of deliberating whether he shot the woman in a fit of anger or, as his lawyers argued, merely witnessed her suicide.
In addition to second-degree murder, the jury found Mr. Spector guilty of illegally discharging a firearm.
This was the second murder trial in the case; the first ended in a hung jury in 2007. Mr. Spector has been out on bail for most of the last six years, but was immediately taken into custody after the verdict on Monday.
Mr. Spector came into court looking frail and sullen. He wore a long blue overcoat, a bright red tie, and a shaggy shoulder-length hairstyle. Gone were his psychedelic glasses and the swagger that carried him through decades at the top of the pop music scene.
Mr. Spector whispered only a few words to his lawyers. As a court clerk read the verdict, he leaned forward intently. His face betrayed little emotion throughout the proceeding.
The family of the actress, Lana Clarkson, who was 40, reacted with relief and embraces. They declined to speak to reporters gathered at the Los Angeles Superior Court downtown.
Mr. Spector, who was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, was famous for his Wall of Sound, lush orchestrations heard on an array of hits in the 1960s and 1970s with groups like the Ronettes. He worked with the Beatles, Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones and others but had receded from the public stage and in recent years was known as much for his eccentric behavior — he has been often photographed wearing a large fright wig — as for his talent as a producer.
And according to at least five women who testified in court, Mr. Spector also had a frightening penchant for firearms and drunken discourses — often mixing them.
On Feb. 3, 2003, Ms. Clarkson’s body was found in the foyer of Mr. Spector’s eccentric, castle-style mansion in Alhambra, a Los Angeles suburb. She had been shot in the mouth. Prosecutors said Mr. Spector had tried to clean up the murder scene. Defense lawyers argued that Ms. Clarkson’s Hollywood ambitions had been frustrated, that she had been suicidal and that she had turned the gun on herself.
The previous trial ended in September 2007, when a jury deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of conviction.
The verdict was a victory for Los Angeles prosecutors who have endured high-profile defeats in celebrity murder trials, including the acquittals of O. J. Simpson and the actor Robert Blake.
Alan Jackson, a deputy district attorney who rose to national prominence as the Spector case played out on Court TV, now truTV, was the prosecutor in both trials.
Just as in the Simpson case, the Clarkson family is pursuing a wrongful-death civil suit against Mr. Spector, which has been pending while the criminal case proceeded.
Ms. Clarkson starred in a 1985 cult hit, “Barbarian Queen,” and had a bit part in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” in 1982.
She was working as a hostess at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip when Mr. Spector visited, struck up a conversation and took her out drinking.
They finished the night at his mansion, known as the Castle, but, when she spurned his advances and tried to leave, he shoved a gun in her mouth and pulled the trigger, prosecutors said.
The prosecutors argued that this fit a pattern of Mr. Spector’s drinking and threatening women with guns over decades.
“I want to acknowledge the many women who testified and presented a picture of Phil Spector,” said Steve Cooley, the Los Angeles County district attorney, after the verdict.
Mr. Spector, prosecutors said, essentially confessed when he emerged from the home, gun in hand, and told his limousine driver, “I think I killed somebody.”
The defense disputed the accusations on several fronts, including the account of the limousine driver, Adriano De Souza.
They noted that Mr. De Souza was a Brazilian immigrant not fully proficient in English and said he might have misquoted Mr. Spector, who they suggested might have actually been telling him to “call somebody.” A gurgling fountain nearby and the driver’s fatigue and hunger from working all night may have added to confusion, they told jurors.
Mr. Cooley said Monday that he had no idea how much money the county had spent to convict Mr. Spector.
“We just get the job done,” Mr. Cooley said. “We don’t really keep track of that.”
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By SOLOMON MOORE and RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Published: April 13, 2009
Abstract:
Marking the 40th Anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Geoff Emerick, the Beatles engineer on the original recording was commissioned by the BBC to re-record the entire album on the original vintage equipment using contemporary musicians for a unique TV program.
Celebrating its own anniversary, the APRS is proud to present for a select AES audience, this unique project featuring recorded performances by young UK and US artists including the Kaiser Chiefs, The Fray, Travis, Razorlight, the Stereophonics, the Magic Numbers, and a few more—and one older Canadian, Bryan Adams.
These vibrant, fresh talents recorded the original arrangements and orchestrations of the Sgt. Pepper album using the original microphones, desks, and hard-learned techniques directed and mixed in mono by the Beatles own engineering maestro, Geoff Emerick.
Hear how it was done, how it should be done, and how many of the new artists want to do it in the future. Geoff will be available to answer a few questions about the recording of each track and, of course, more general questions regarding the recording processes and the innovative contribution he and other Abbey Road wizards made to the best ever album.
APRS, The Association of Professional Recording Services, promotes the highest standards of professionalism and quality within the audio industry. Its members are recording studios, postproduction houses, mastering, replication, pressing and duplicating facilities, and providers of education and training, as well as record producers, audio engineers, manufacturers, suppliers, and consultants. Its primary aim is to develop and maintain excellence at all levels within the UK’s audio industry.
2008 – Motown producer and songwriter Norman Whitfield, who helped craft some of the Detroit label’s biggest hits, died Tuesday at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Hospital. He was 65. While an exact cause of death wasn’t revealed, Whitfield reportedly suffered ailments from diabetes. Whitfield started out at Motown as a tambourine player before writing some early hits for Marvin Gaye with lyricist Barrett Strong. One of those songs, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” ended up topping multiple charts and became the label’s biggest hit of the ’60s. Whitfield also worked with the Temptations, co-writing their hits “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” as well as “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” which won Motown its first Grammy. Whitfield left Motown in 1973, forming his own Whitfield Records. The label released the Rose Royce hit “Car Wash,” and later won Whitfield another Grammy in 1977 for the Car Wash soundtrack.
2008 – Associated Press – LONDON – Richard Wright, a founding member of the rock group Pink Floyd, died today… this day in rock! He was 65.
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Pink Floyd’s spokesman Doug Wright, who is not related to the artist, said Wright died after a battle with cancer at his home in Britain. He says the band member’s family did not want to give more details about his death.
Wright met Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and Nick Mason in college and joined their early band, Sigma 6. Along with the late Syd Barrett, the four formed Pink Floyd in 1965.
The group’s jazz-infused rock and drug-laced multimedia “happenings” made them darlings of the London psychedelic scene, and their 1967 album, “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,” was a hit.
In the early days of Pink Floyd, Wright, along with Barrett, was seen as the group’s dominant musical force. The London-born musician and son of a biochemist wrote songs and sang.
The band released a series of commercially and critically successful albums including 1973’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” which has sold more than 40 million copies. Wright wrote “The Great Gig In The Sky” and “Us And Them” for that album, and later worked on the group’s epic compositions such as “Atom Heart Mother,” “Echoes” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.”
But tensions grew between Waters, Wright and fellow band member David Gilmour. The tensions came to a head during the making of “The Wall” when Waters insisted Wright be fired. As a result, Wright was relegated to the status of session musician on the tour of “The Wall,” and did not perform on Pink Floyd’s 1983 album “The Final Cut.”
Wright formed a new band Zee with Dave Harris, from the band Fashion, and released one album, “Identity,” with Atlantic Records.
Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985 and Wright began recording with Mason and Gilmour again, releasing the albums “The Division Bell” and “A Momentary Lapse of Reason” as Pink Floyd. Wright also released the solo albums “Wet Dream” (1978) and “Broken China” (1996).
In July 2005, Wright, Waters, Mason and Gilmour reunited to perform at the “Live 8″ charity concert in London — the first time in 25 years they had been onstage together.
Wright also worked on Gilmour’s solo projects, most recently playing on the 2006 album “On An Island” and the accompanying world tour.
Richard William Wright (28 July 1943 – 15 September 2008) was a self-taught pianist and keyboardist best known for his long career with Pink Floyd. Though not as prolific a songwriter as his bandmates Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and David Gilmour, he did write significant parts of the music for classic albums such as Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, as well as for Pink Floyd’s final studio album The Division Bell. Wright’s richly textured keyboard layers have been a vital ingredient and a distinctive characteristic of Pink Floyd’s sound. In addition, Wright frequently sang background and occasionally lead vocals onstage and in the studio with Pink Floyd (most notably on the songs “Time,” “Echoes,” and on the Syd Barrett composition “Astronomy Domine”). Wright died on 15 September 2008, following a short battle with cancer.
Biography
Pink Floyd career
Wright was educated at the Haberdashers’ Aske’s School and the Regent Street Polytechnic College of Architecture, where he met fellow band members Roger Waters and Nick Mason. He was a founding member of The Pink Floyd Sound (as they were then called) in 1965, and also participated in its previous incarnations, Sigma 6 and The (Screaming) Abdabs.
In the early days of Pink Floyd, Wright was seen as a dominant musical force in the group (though not as much of one as Syd Barrett, the band’s chief songwriter and front man at the time) and he wrote and sang several songs of his own during 1967–68. While not credited as a singer on The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, he sung lead on Barrett-penned songs like “Astronomy Domine” and “Matilda Mother,” as well as notable harmonies on “Scarecrow” and “Chapter 24.” Examples of his early compositions include “Remember a Day”, “Paintbox” and “It Would Be So Nice”. As the sound and the goals of the band evolved, Wright became less interested in songwriting and focused primarily on contributing his distinctive style to extended instrumental compositions such as “Interstellar Overdrive”, “A Saucerful of Secrets”, “Careful with That Axe, Eugene”, “One Of These Days” and to musical themes for film scores (More, Zabriskie Point and Obscured by Clouds). He also made essential contributions to Pink Floyd’s long, epic compositions such as “Atom Heart Mother”, “Echoes” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”. His most commercially popular compositions are “The Great Gig in the Sky” and “Us and Them” from 1973’s The Dark Side of the Moon. He also contributed significantly to other mid-period Floyd classics like “Breathe” and “Time”.
Wright recorded his first solo project, Wet Dream, and released it in September 1978 with little fanfare. However, the album is regarded with some acclaim among Pink Floyd fans. Battling both personal problems and an increasingly rocky relationship with Roger Waters, he was forced to resign from Pink Floyd during The Wall sessions by Roger Waters, who threatened to pull the plug on the album’s tapes if Wright did not leave the band. However, he was retained as a salaried session musician during the subsequent live concerts to promote that album in 1980 and 1981. Ironically, Wright became the only member of Pink Floyd to profit from those hugely spectacular shows, since the net financial loss had to be borne by the three remaining “full-time” members. He was the only member of the band not to attend the 1982 première of the film version of The Wall. In 1983, Pink Floyd released the only album on which Wright does not appear with The Final Cut.
During 1984, Wright formed a new musical duo with Dave Harris (from the band Fashion) called Zee. They signed a record deal with Atlantic Records and released only one album, Identity, which was a commercial and critical flop. Wright rejoined Pink Floyd following Waters’ departure. Because of legal and contractual issues from his “hired gun” status during The Wall world tour, Wright’s photo was not included in the 1987 album A Momentary Lapse of Reason and his name was listed in smaller letters than Mason and Gilmour. By the time of the Momentary Lapse world tour and the 1988 live album The Delicate Sound of Thunder, Wright was contractually a member of Pink Floyd once again. In 1994, he co-wrote five songs and sang lead vocals on one song (“Wearing the Inside Out”) for the next Pink Floyd album, The Division Bell. This recording provided material for the double live album and video release P*U*L*S*E in 1995. Wright, like Nick Mason, has performed on every Pink Floyd tour.
Modern days
In 1996, inspired by his successful input into The Division Bell, Wright released his second solo album, Broken China, including contributions from Sinéad O’Connor on vocals, Pino Palladino on bass, Manu Katché on drums, Dominic Miller (known from his guitar work with Sting) and Tim Renwick, another Pink Floyd associate, on electric guitar. Broken China was considered to be a more focused and artistically successful work than Wet Dream and marked a new phase in Richard Wright’s modus operandi, with extensive use of computer-based recording and production techniques, assisted by Anthony Moore with whom he co-wrote the album’s lyrics.
On 2 July 2005, Wright, Gilmour, Mason were joined by Waters on stage for the first time since the Wall concerts for a short set at the Live 8 concert in London. Wright underwent eye surgery for cataracts in November 2005, preventing him from attending Pink Floyd’s induction into the UK Music Hall of Fame. Roger Waters, who was also unable to attend the band’s induction due to rehearsals for the opening of his opera Ça Ira in Rome, appeared in video link and stated, tongue-in-cheek:
“ Rick actually hasn’t had an eye operation, he and I have eloped to Rome and we’re living happily in a small apartment off the Via Venuti! ”
Wright contributed keyboards and background vocals to David Gilmour’s most recent solo album, On an Island, and performed with Gilmour’s touring band for over two dozen shows in Europe and North America in 2006 . On stage with Gilmour he performed piano, electric piano and synth leads with his Kurzweil K2600 workstation, Hammond organ and even his long-inactive Farfisa organ, which was resurrected especially for performing “Echoes” and a couple of Pink Floyd’s and Syd Barrett’s older numbers that Gilmour chose to revisit in his recent concerts. He also provided backing vocals and lead vocals (notably on “Echoes”, “Time”, “Comfortably Numb”, “Wearing the Inside Out” “Astronomy Domine” and “Arnold Layne” – the latter released as a live single). He declined an offer to join Roger Waters and Nick Mason on Waters’ The Dark Side of the Moon Live tour in order to spend more time working on an upcoming solo project (which may be an instrumental album released in 2008).
On 4 July 2006, Wright joined Gilmour and Mason for the official screening of the P•U•L•S•E DVD. Inevitably, Live 8 surfaced as a subject in an interview. When asked about performing again, Wright replied he would be happy on stage anywhere. He explained that his plan is to “meander” along and said about playing live:
“ …and whenever Dave wants me to play with him, I’m really happy to play with him. And you’ll play with me, right? ”
However, Wright stated that he had no desire to perform as part of an officially-reformed ‘Pink Floyd’ again, saying that the Live 8 concert was nice as a “one off.”
Wright had the lowest profile of any member of a band known for their lack of individual attention seeking. Unlike the three other surviving band members who have emerged as public figures, Wright rarely spoke in public. Wright was very rarely seen in the live footage from the Live 8 reunion performance; with a few exceptions he was only shown in wide shots. Some have suggested that the director of the broadcast did not know which musician was the fourth member of Pink Floyd until the very end when they got together for a group shot.
Personal
He married his first wife, Juliette Gale, in 1964 and they divorced in 1982 after having two children. He married his second wife Franka in 1984 and they divorced in 1994. Wright married his third wife Millie (to whom he dedicated his second solo album Broken China) in 1996; their one child is named Ben.
In 1996 Wright’s daughter Gala married Guy Pratt, a session musician who has played bass for Pink Floyd since Roger Waters’ exit.
Wright died on 15 September 2008 after a battle with cancer.
Influence
Wright’s style fuses jazz and neoclassical influences that complemented the simple harmonic structures of the more blues and folk-based songs written by Roger Waters and David Gilmour. As a keyboardist, he is more interested in complementing each piece with organ or synthesizer layers and tasteful piano or electric piano passages. Unlike his contemporaries Rick Wakeman, Tony Banks or Keith Emerson, only occasionally did he opt for solo playing, notably in “Atom Heart Mother”, “Echoes”, “Any Colour You Like”, “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” Parts 1-5 and 6-9, “Welcome to the Machine”, “Dogs”, “Run Like Hell” and “Keep Talking”. Another notable solo is the first solo in Syd Barrett’s song “Love Song”. Wright is known for his ghostly atmospheric textures such as the Leslie piano arpeggios at the beginning of “Echoes”, the echoed Farfisa Organ in the live versions of “Careful with That Axe, Eugene” and “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”, the distinctive Minimoog solos in “Any Colour You Like” and, more famously, “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and the jazzy electric piano passages in “Money”, “Time” and “Sheep”. In “A Saucerful of Secrets” and “Sysyphus” he experimented with ‘treated piano’. “Sysyphus” also made extensive use of Mellotron sounds, something of a rarity in the Pink Floyd canon. Wright also used Indian modal scales in “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” and “Matilda Mother”. Although he is not often mentioned among the ’synthesizer greats’, it is widely acknowledged that Wright’s inventive use of keyboards and synthesizers with Pink Floyd has been pioneering.
Equipment
In the early days of the band, Wright dabbled with brass before settling on the Farfisa organ as his main instrument onstage (in addition to piano and Hammond Organ in the studio). For a brief period in 1969, Wright played vibraphone on several of the band’s songs and in some live shows, and he even played trombone on “Biding My Time” (also dating from this experimental period). During the formative years of Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett, Wright relied heavily on his Farfisa organ, fed through a Binson Echorec platter echo, to achieve distinctive sounds that helped the band gain their “psychedelic rock” edge. He started using a Hammond organ regularly onstage thereafter, and a grand piano later became part of his usual live concert setup when “Echoes” was added to Pink Floyd’s regular set-list. For tours in the 1970s centering around The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall, the Farfisa was dropped (although it was brought back when Wright toured with David Gilmour on his On An Island tour), and an array of other instruments were added to the lineup, such as: Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer and Hohner electric pianos, VCS 3, Minimoog, ARP String Ensemble and Prophet 5 synthesizers. Since 1987 Wright favoured Kurzweil digital synthesisers for reproducing his analogue synthesiser sounds, even though he still used his favourite Hammond C-3 organ. However, the one that he used with Pink Floyd at Live 8 and with David Gilmour was a “chopped” version (being stripped down of unnecessary weight and put into a more compact casing).
Discography
Further information: Pink Floyd discography
Solo albums
* Wet Dream – 15 September 1978
* Broken China – 26 November 1996
Zee albums
* Identity – 9 April 1984
With David Gilmour
* David Gilmour in Concert (DVD) – October, 2002
o Appears on two tracks: “Breakthrough” (Keyboard / Vocals) & “Comfortably Numb (With Bob Geldof)” (Keyboard)
* On an Island – 6 March 2006
o Appears on two tracks: “On an Island” (Hammond organ) & “The Blue” (Keyboards / Vocals)
* Remember That Night (DVD) – September, 2007
With Syd Barrett
* The Madcap Laughs – 3 January 1970
* Barrett – 14 November 1970
2006 – Producer Dallas Austin is jailed in Dubai for alleged drugs offenses. The hit-maker – who has crafted songs for TLC, Gwen Stefani, Madonna, and Michael Jackson – faces the full Midnight Express treatment if found guilty.
Dallas Austin (born December 29, 1970) is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician, based in Atlanta, Georgia. Some of his most notable clients include TLC, Boyz II Men, P!nk, Monica, Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Stacie Orrico, Another Bad Creation, Leona Lewis, Texas, and Brand New Heavies.
1970 – In 1970, The Beatles had their last original single, “The Long and Winding Road,” hit number 1. Since then, they’ve had moderate success with “Got to Get You Into My Life” and “Back in the USSR” (1976), “The Beatles’ Movie Medley” (1982), “Twist and Shout” (1986, because of its inclusion in the movies, Ferris Bueller’s Day Offand Back to School), “Baby It’s You,” and “Free As a Bird” (both 1995) and “Real Love” (1996).
1960 – Steve Vai: Widdlywiddlywiddlywiddlywiddlywiddlywiddly-SCREECH! Yes, it’s happy birthday to Steve Vai, born today in Long Island, N.Y. this day in rock Guitar God History!
Steven “Steve” Siro Vai (born June 6, 1960 in Carle Place, New York) is an American instrumental rock guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and producer.
After starting his professional career as a music transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, Vai would also record and tour in Zappa’s backing band starting in 1980. The guitarist began a solo career starting in 1984 and has released 13 solo albums as of 2008. Apart from his work with Frank Zappa, Vai has also recorded and toured with numerous musical artists including Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake. Vai has been a regular touring member of the G3 Concert Tour which began in 1996. In 1999 Vai started his own record label Favored Nations with the intent to showcase, as Vai describes: “…artists that have attained the highest performance level on their chosen instruments.”.
Career
1970s and 1980s
In 1974, Vai took guitar lessons from guitarist Joe Satriani, and played in numerous local bands. He has acknowledged the influence of many guitarists including Jeff Beck and fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth. Vai then attended the Berklee College of Music.
Vai mailed Frank Zappa a transcription of Zappa’s “The Black Page”, an instrumental song written for drums, along with a tape with some of Vai’s guitar playing. Zappa was so impressed with the abilities of the young musician that he hired him in 1979 to do work transcribing several of his guitar solos, including many of those appearing on the Joe’s Garage album and the Shut Up ‘n’ Play Yer Guitar series. These transcriptions were published in 1982 in The Frank Zappa Guitar Book.
Subsequent to being hired as a transcriber, Vai did overdubs on many of the guitar parts for Zappa’s album You Are What You Is. Thereafter he became a full-fledged band member, going on his first tour with Zappa in the Autumn of 1980. One of those early shows with Vai on guitar, recorded in Buffalo was released in 2007. While touring with Zappa’s band, Vai would sometimes ask audience members to bring musical scores and see if he could sight-read them on the spot. Zappa referred to Vai as his “little Italian virtuoso” and was listed in liner notes as “stunt guitar” or “impossible guitar parts”. He would later be a featured artist on the 1993 recording, Zappa’s Universe. In 2006 he returned to playing Zappa music as a special guest on Dweezil Zappa’s ‘Zappa Plays Zappa’ tour.
After leaving Zappa in 1982 he moved to California where he recorded his first album Flex-Able and performed in a couple of bands. In 1985 he replaced Yngwie Malmsteen as lead guitarist in Graham Bonnet’s Alcatrazz with whom he recorded the album Disturbing the Peace. Later in 1985 he joined former Van Halen front man David Lee Roth’s group to record the albums Eat ‘Em and Smile and Skyscraper. This significantly increased Vai’s visibility to general rock audiences, since Roth was in a highly public battle with the Van Halen members and Vai was favorably compared by many commentators to Eddie Van Halen.
In 1986 Vai also surprised everyone by playing with ex-Sex Pistols John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd on their album Album (also known as Compact Disc or Cassette). Then in 1989 Vai stepped into guitarist Adrian Vandenberg’s shoes to record with British rock-group Whitesnake after Vandenberg injured his wrist shortly before recording was due to begin for the album Slip of the Tongue. Vai also played on the Alice Cooper album Hey Stoopid along with Joe Satriani on the song Feed my Frankenstein.
1990s and 2000s
Vai continues to tour regularly, both with his own group and with his one-time teacher and fellow guitar instrumentalist friend Joe Satriani on the G3 series of tours. Former David Lee Roth and Mr. Big bassist Billy Sheehan also joined him for a world tour. In 1990 Vai released his critically acclaimed solo album Passion and Warfare. The song For the Love of God was voted #29 in a readers’ poll of the 100 greatest guitar solos of all time for the magazine Guitar World.
In 1994 Vai began writing and recording with Ozzy Osbourne. Only one track from these sessions—”My Little Man”—was released on the Ozzmosis album. Despite Vai penning the track he does not appear on the album. His guitar parts were replaced by Zakk Wylde. Vai’s band members throughout the 1990s included drummer Mike Mangini, guitarist Mike Keneally and bassist Philip Bynoe. In 1994 Vai received a Grammy Award for his performance on the Frank Zappa song Sofa from the album Zappa’s Universe.
Vai playing a twin-necked IbanezIn July 2002, Steve Vai performed with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan, in the world premiere of composer Ichiro Nodaira’s Fire Strings, a concerto for electric guitar and 100-piece orchestra. In 2004, a number of his compositions for orchestra, as well as orchestra arrangements of previously recorded pieces, were performed in The Netherlands by the Metropole Orchestra in a concert series entitled The Aching Hunger. In 2003, drummer Jeremy Colson joined Vai’s group replacing previous drummer Virgil Donati. Vai’s latest album, Sound Theories, was released in 2007.
Steve Vai released a DVD of his performance at The Astoria in London in December 2001, featuring the lineup of bassist Billy Sheehan, guitarist/pianist Tony MacAlpine, guitarist Dave Weiner and drummer Virgil Donati.
In 2004, Steve Vai was featured on Xbox’s Halo 2 Volume 1 soundtrack, performing a heavy rock-guitar rendition of the Halo theme, known as Halo Theme (Mjolnir Mix). He also performed on the track Never Surrender. He later featured in the second volume of the soundtrack, where he performed on the track Reclaimer.
In February 2005, Vai premiered a dual-guitar (electric and classical) piece that he wrote called The Blossom Suite with classical guitarist Sharon Isbin at the Châtelet Theatre in Paris. In 2006, Vai played as a “special guest” guitarist alongside additional guest Zappa band members, drummer Terry Bozzio and saxophonist-singer Napoleon Murphy Brock in the Zappa Plays Zappa tour led by Frank’s son Dweezil Zappa in Europe and the U.S. in the Spring as well as a short U.S. tour in October.
On September 21 2006, Vai made a special appearance at the Video Games Live concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, California. He played two songs with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. One song being the Halo Theme, the second was for the world premier trailer for Halo 3.
Steve Vai made an appearance at the London Guitar Show 2007 on the 28th April 2007 at the ExCeL Center by doing a masterclass. In late April 2007, Vai confirmed the release of his next record, called Sound Theories, on June 26. The release will be a 2-CD set consisting mostly of previously released material that Vai rearranged and played in front of a full orchestra. Vai says that the project was a great joy because he considers himself to be a composer more than a guitarist, and he is happy to see music he has composed played by an orchestra that can play it well. A DVD will eventually accompany the record but will be released in August. He makes a guest appearance on the most recent Dream Theater album, Systematic Chaos, on the song “Repentance”. However, this appearance is vocal rather than instrumental, as Vai is one of many musical guests recorded apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings committed in their pasts.
Vai is set to release a DVD of his show dated 19 September 2007 at the Minneapolis State Theater from his 2007 Tour.
Movies
Steve Vai’s music has been featured in a number of feature films, including Dudes and Ghosts of Mars. He appeared onscreen in the 1986 Ralph Macchio movie Crossroads, playing the demonically-inspired Jack Butler. At the film’s climax, Vai engages in a guitar duel with Macchio, whose guitar parts were dubbed by Vai and also Ry Cooder, who played the initial slide work in the duel and Macchio’s earlier performances in the film. The fast-paced neo-classical track entitled Eugene’s Trick Bag with which Macchio wins the competition was also composed by Vai. The body of the piece was heavily based on Paganini’s Caprice #5. He later borrowed the opening riff from the track Head Cuttin’ Duel for a song called Bad Horsie from his 1995 EP Alien Love Secrets. Later the Crossroads duel reappeared on the 2002 album The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1.
In 1991’s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey the introductory riff to KISS’ God Gave Rock ‘N Roll To You II, as performed by the Wyld Stallyns in the Battle of the Bands was performed by Vai. He also composed and performed the soundtrack to PCU (1994), and made contributions in 2001 to the score for John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars, performing on the tracks Ghosts of Mars and Ghost Poppin. His track Drive the Hell Out Of Here can be heard during 1992’s Encino Man in the scene where Brendan Fraser is taking a driving lesson.
Musical style
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Vai performing in 2001Vai is widely recognized as a technically highly advanced rock guitarist and has been described as a virtuoso in the world of guitar music . He has mastered many performance techniques on the instrument including legato, pinch harmonics and volume swells, and is noted for his whammy bar effects and sporadic outbursts on the instrument often contrasting sweep-picking or finger tapping with slower sections to his compositions. His 1990 album Passion and Warfare and the ballad For the Love of God in particular received a significant amount of press and are often cited by critics and fans alike as amongst his best work to date .
Vai’s playing style has been characterized as quirky and angular, owing to his technical facility with the instrument and deep knowledge of music theory. Vai was the first to use the 7-string guitar in a rock context – having designed the 7-string electric guitar, and has used double and triple neck guitars on many occasions.
Equipment
Vai is an accomplished studio producer (he owns two: “The Mothership” and “The Harmony Hut” ) and his own recordings combine his signature guitar prowess with novel compositions and considerable use of studio and recording effects, such as the Eventide H3000 ultra harmonizer and Digidesign’s Pro Tools HD recording system and plug-in effects architecture.
Vai also helped design his signature Ibanez JEM series of guitars. They feature a hand grip (fondly referred to as a “monkey grip”) cut into the top of the body of the guitar, a humbucker-single coil-humbucker DiMarzio pickup configuration with several different types of pickup including Evolution, Breed and EVO 2. He also uses Floyd Rose locking tremolo system, as well as an elaborate and extensive “Vine of Life” inlay down the neck. Vai also equips many of his guitars with an Ibanez Backstop, a tremolo stabilizer that has been discontinued. Vai also has a 7-string model designed by him named Ibanez Universe. The Universe later influenced the 7-string guitars used by Korn and other bands to create nu metal sounds in the late 1990s. He also has a signature Ibanez acoustic, the Euphoria. Before he used Ibanez, he briefly endorsed Jackson guitars, but this relationship would only last for two years.
Steve Vai has also worked with Carvin Guitars and Pro Audio to develop the Carvin Legacy line of guitar amplifiers. Vai wanted to create an amp that was unique and equal in sound, versatility, and affordability to any guitar amp he had previously used. Over his long musical career, Steve Vai has used and designed an array of guitars. He even had his DNA put into the swirl paint job on one of his signature JEM guitars, the JEM2KDNA, in the form of his blood. Only 300 of these were ever made. Nowadays he mainly uses his white “Evo”, a JEM7V, and his “Flo”, which is a customized Floral Jem 777FP painted white. They are both inscribed with their names in two places, mainly in order to allow him to distinguish between the guitars he uses onstage. “Flo” is equipped with a Fernandes sustainer system.
He also has a guitar named “Mojo” in which the dot inlays are blue LED lights. Additionally, he has a custom-made triple-neck guitar that has the same basic features as his JEM7V guitars. The top neck is a 12-string guitar, the middle is a 6-string, and the bottom is a 6-string fretless guitar with a Fernandes Sustainer pickup. This guitar was featured on the G3 2003 tour on the piece I Know You’re Here. Vai’s effects pedals include a modified Boss DS-1, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Morley Bad Horsie, TC Electronics G-System, Morley Little Alligator Volume pedal, Digitech Whammy, and an MXR Phase 90. His flight cases are labeled “Mr. Vai”, or latterly, “Dr. Vai”. He used a number of rack effects units controlled via MIDI, but used a floor-based TC electronics G system instead for the Zappa Plays Zappa tour. Vai also has a signature pedal in the works with Ibanez called the “Jemini” pedal (see external links for a picture). This pedal is expected to be released at Winter NAMM 2008.
Philanthropy
In 2005, Vai signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the U.S.A. He sits on its board of directors as an honorary member.
Favored Nations
Vai owns Favored Nations, a recording and publishing company that specializes in internationally procuring and maintaining recording artists. Favored Nations is separated into three sections, ‘Favored Nations’, ‘Favored Nations Acoustic’ and ‘Favored Nations Cool (Jazz style)’
Artists who the Favored Nations label works or has worked with include Eric Johnson, Steve Lukather, Neal Schon, Yngwie Malmsteen, Mattias IA Eklundh, Tommy Emmanuel, Vernon Reid, The Yardbirds, Larry Coryell, Mimi Fox, Eric Sardinas, Dweezil Zappa, Dave Weiner and Johnny A.
Personal life
Vai is married to Pia Maiocco, former bass player of Vixen, who can be seen in Hardbodies. Vai and Maiocco have two children, Julian Angel and Fire. In his spare time Vai enjoys keeping bees, which regularly produce a crop of honey that Vai sells for his Make a Noise Foundation.
Band History – not including guest appearances
Frank Zappa (1980-1982)
Steve Vai (1982-1984)
Alcatrazz (1985)
David Lee Roth (1985-1986)
Public Image Ltd. (1985-1986)
Frank Zappa (1986)
David Lee Roth (1987-1988)
Whitesnake (1988-1990)
Solo (1989-present)
Ozzy Osbourne (1995)
Current band members
Steve Vai – vocals, lead guitar
Dave Weiner – rhythm guitar
Ann Marie Calhoun – Fiddle, keyboard
Brian Beller – bass guitar
Jeremy Colson – drums, percussion
Alex Depue- Violin
Discography
Solo albums
Flex-Able (1984)
Flex-Able Leftovers (1984)
Passion and Warfare (1990)
Sex & Religion (1993)
Alien Love Secrets (1995)
Fire Garden (1996)
The Ultra Zone (1999)
The 7th Song (2000)
Alive in an Ultra World (2001)
The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1 (2002)
The Infinite Steve Vai: An Anthology (2003)
Real Illusions: Reflections (2005)
Sound Theories (2007)
Appearances on Zappa albums
Year Album Credit
1981 Tinseltown Rebellion Rhythm guitar, vocals
1981 Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar Rhythm guitar
1981 You Are What You Is Strat abuse
1982 Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch Guitar parts
1983 The Man from Utopia Guitar parts
1984 Them or Us Guitar
1984 Thing-Fish Guitar, vocals
1985 Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention Guitar
1987 Jazz from Hell Guitar
1988 Guitar Stunt guitar
1988 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore Sampler Stunt guitar
1988 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 Stunt guitar
1989 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3 Stunt guitar
1991 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 Stunt guitar, vocals
1991 Beat the Boots I: As An Am Stunt guitar
1992 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5 Stunt guitar
1992 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6 Stunt guitar
1995 Strictly Commercial Guitar
1997 Have I Offended Someone? Guitar
1998 Cheap Thrills Guitar
1999 Son of Cheep Thrills Guitar, vocals
With other artists
Year Artist Album
1983 Lisa Popeil Lisa Popeil
1985 Heresy At The Door
1985 Alcatrazz Disturbing the Peace
1985 Public Image Ltd. Album
1986 Bob Harris The Great Nostalgia
1986 Shankar & Caroline The Epidemics
1986 David Lee Roth Eat ‘Em and Smile / Sonrisa Salvaje
1986 Randy Coven Funk Me Tender
1986 Western Vacation Western Vacation
1988 David Lee Roth Skyscraper
1989 Whitesnake Slip of the Tongue
1990 Rebecca The Best of Dreams
1991 Alice Cooper Hey Stoopid
1994 Whitesnake Whitesnake’s Greatest Hits
1995 Ozzy Osbourne Ozzmosis (cowriter on one song)
1996 Wild Style Cryin’
1997 Munetaka Higuchi with Dream Castle Free World
1997 Joe Satriani / Eric Johnson / Steve Vai G3: Live in Concert
1997 David Lee Roth The Best
1998 Gregg Bissonette Gregg Bissonette
1998 Al Di Meola The Infinite Desire
1999 Joe Jackson Symphony No. 1
2000 Whitesnake The Back to Black Collection
2000 Gregg Bissonette Submarine
2000 Thana Harris Thanatopsis
2000 Andrew Dice Clay Face Down, Ass Up
2001 Robin DiMaggio Blue Planet
2001 Billy Sheehan Compression
2002 Tak Matsumoto Hana
2003 Surinder Sandhu Saurang Orchestra
2002 Girls Together Outrageously (G.T.O) Solo in their cover version of “I’ll Be Around”
2003 Eric Sardinas Black Pearls
2003 Steve Lukather & Friends SantaMental
2003 Hughes Turner Project HTP 2
2003 Shankar & Gingger One in a Million
2003 Yardbirds Birdland
2004 Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen G3: Live – Rockin’ In The Free World
2004 Motörhead Inferno
2004 Bob Carpenter The Sun, The Moon, The Stars
2004 Mike Keneally Vai: Piano Reductions, Vol. 1
2005 John 5 Songs for Sanity
2005 Dave Weiner Live at Astoria DVD
2005 Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci G3: Live in Tokyo
2006 The Devin Townsend Band Synchestra
2006 Marty Friedman Loudspeaker
2006 Meat Loaf Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose
2007 Aki Rahimovski U vremenu izgubljenih
2007 Dream Theater (spoken voice only) Systematic Chaos
2007 Eros Ramazzotti e²
Soundtracks
Year Soundtrack Type
1986 Crossroads Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1987 Dudes Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1991 Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1992 Encino Man Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1994 PCU Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1997 Formula 1 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2001 Ghosts of Mars Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
2004 Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 1 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2006 Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 2 Original Video Game Soundtrack
Compilations
Year Artists Compilation
1989 Various Guitar’s Practicing Musicians
1993 Various Zappa’s Universe
1995 Various In From The Storm
1996 Various Songs of West Side Story
1997 Various A Guitar Christmas
1997 Various Angelica
1999 Various Radio Disney Kid Jams
2001 Various Roland Guitar Masters
2002 Various Guitars For Freedom
2002 Various Warmth In The Wilderness Vol. II – A Tribute to Jason Becker
2004 Various Halo 2 Original Soundtrack
2006 Various Monsters of Rock
Awards and Nominations
Grammy Winner
1994 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Sofa” from Zappa’s Universe
2001 Best Pop Instrumental No Substitutions [Steve Vai Producer/Engineer]
Grammy Nomination
1990 Best Rock Instrumental Album Passion & Warfare
1995 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Tender Surrender” – from Alien Love Secrets
1997 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “For the Love of God” – from G3 Live in Concert
1999 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Windows to the Soul” – from The Ultra Zone
2001 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Whispering a Prayer” – from Alive in an Ultra World
2006 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Lotus Feet” — lost to Les Paul & Friends’s “69 Freedom Special”
2008 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “The Attitude Song” — lost to Bruce Springsteen’s “Once Upon a Time in the West”
Guitar Player Magazine
1995 Gallery of Greats
1995 Best Rock Guitarist (Tie with Jimmy Page)
1995 Best Overall Guitarist 3rd Place
1995 Best Experimental Guitarist (Tie with Buckethead)
1995 Best Metal Recording 3rd Place
1995 Best Overall Guitar Recording 2nd Place
1995 Best Metal Guitarist 3rd Place
1990 Best Rock Guitarist
1990 Best Overall Guitarist
1990 Best Guitar Album
1990 Best Metal Guitarist
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
1988 Best Rock Guitarist
1987 Best Rock Guitarist
1987 Best Overall Guitarist
1986 Best Rock Guitarist
Guitar World
1990 Most Valued Player (tie with Stevie Ray Vaughan)
1990 Best Album
1990 Best Rock Guitarist
1990 Best Guitar Solo (For the Love of God)
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
International Music Awared Nomination
1990 Best Guitarist
Select Magazine (UK)
1990 Best Album (Passion and Warfare)
1990 Best Musician
1990 Sexiest Male
Guitar for the Practicing Musician
1993 Editor’s Choice Award
1990 Reader’s Choice – Guitar Album of the Year
1990 Best Instrumental Guitarist of the Year
1988 Rock Guitarist of the Year
1987 Hall of Fame
1986 Guitar in the 90’s Award
Kerrang (UK)
1993 Best Hard Rock Performance
1990 Guitarist of the Year
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
Young Guitar (Japan)
1997 Best Rock Guitarist
1991 Best Rock Guitarist
Rock Brigade
1996 Best Guitarist
1997 Best Guitarist
RAW
990 Best Selling Album (No. 10)
1990 Best Selling LP Sleeve (No. 1)
1990 Best Selling Promo Video (No. 5, I Would Love To)
1990 Best Selling Promo Video (No. 7, The Audience is Listening)
1990 Best Sex Object (No. 6)
1990 Best RAW Cover (No. 3)
Player
1995 Best Hard Rock Guitarist – 2nd Place
Making Music
1990 Best Album
1990 Best Guitarist
1990 Best Musician
Metal Hammer
1990 Best Guitarist (Reader’s Poll)
California Music Awards
2001 Outstanding Guitarist (nominee)
2008 – Starry Night Gala To Honor Sir George Martin
The Grammy Foundation announced…
The GRAMMY Foundation will honor Sir George Martin, a GRAMMY Trustees Award recipient, six-time GRAMMY Award winner and one of music’s most successful and influential producers, at its annual signature gala Starry Night on July 12 at the University of Southern California. Martin will be the recipient of the Foundation’s Leadership Award, which salutes noteworthy humanitarians whose charitable work and contributions align with the mission of the Foundation. This prestigious award is being presented to Martin in recognition of a lifetime of commitment and dedication to social, cultural, economic and educational issues spanning the globe. The annual concert and dinner benefit raises funds for the GRAMMY Foundation, which helps preserve our nation’s musical heritage and provides programs that foster future generations of music professionals.
2008 – American Idol: ‘I thought, ‘OK, wait a second, I’m not going home, and they’re having a good laugh,’ ‘ the soulful singer says of Ryan Seacrest’s tease.
2008 – Waters Announces Final Dark Side Tour…
Roger Waters will perform his last two performances of Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The moon’ in the UK later this Spring.
As with similar performances which have taken place across the world, Waters will play the album in its entirety, as well as playing a mixture of Pink Floyd tracks and his own solo material.
The final two performances will take place at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on May 15th and the O2 Arena in London on May 18th.
Note: “Dark side of the moon” holds the record for the longest running album to be in Billboards top 100 charts!
Pink Floyd are an English rock band that initially earned recognition for their psychedelic rock music, and, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music. They are known for philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative cover art, and elaborate live shows. One of rock music’s most successful acts, the group have sold over 200 million albums worldwide including 74.5 million albums in the United States alone.
Pink Floyd had moderate mainstream success and were one of the most popular bands in the London underground music scene in the late 1960s as a psychedelic band led by Syd Barrett; however, Barrett’s erratic behaviour eventually forced his colleagues to replace him with guitarist and singer David Gilmour. After Barrett’s departure, singer and bass player Roger Waters gradually became the dominant and driving force in the mid-1970s, until his eventual departure from the group in 1985. The band recorded several albums, achieving worldwide success with The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), and The Wall (1979). In 1985, Waters declared Pink Floyd defunct, but although the remaining members, led by Gilmour, were sued by Waters for rights to the name, they continued recording and touring as Pink Floyd and enjoyed commercial success with A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994), eventually reaching a settlement with Waters over the use of the name.
Waters performed with the band for the first time in 24 years on July 2, 2005 at the London Live 8 concert.
Pink Floyd have influenced rock music artists of the 1970s such as Genesis and Yes; and various contemporary artists such as Dream Theater, Tool, Radiohead, Porcupine Tree, The Orb, Anathema and Nine Inch Nails. Their music plays a featured role in the Tom Stoppard Broadway play Rock ‘N’ Roll.
Band history
Syd Barrett–led era: 1964–1968
Pink Floyd evolved from an earlier rock band, formed in 1964, which was at various times called Sigma 6, the Meggadeaths, The Tea Set, The Abdabs and The Screaming Abdabs. When the band split up, some members — guitarists Rado “Bob” Klose and Roger Waters, drummer Nick Mason, and wind instrument player Rick Wright — formed a new band called “Tea Set”. After a brief stint with a lead vocalist named Chris Dennis, guitarist and vocalist Syd Barrett joined the band, with Waters moving to bass.
When Tea Set found themselves on the same bill as another band with the same name, Barrett came up with the alternative name The Pink Floyd Sound, after two blues musicians, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. For a time after this they oscillated between The Tea Set and The Pink Floyd Sound, with the latter name eventually winning out. The Sound was dropped fairly quickly, but the definite article was still used regularly until 1970. The group’s UK releases during the Syd Barrett era credited them as The Pink Floyd as did their first two U.S. singles. 1969’s More and Ummagumma albums credit the band as Pink Floyd, produced by The Pink Floyd, while 1970’s Atom Heart Mother credits the band as The Pink Floyd, produced by Pink Floyd! David Gilmour is known to have referred to the group as The Pink Floyd as late as 1984.
The heavily jazz-oriented Klose left after recording only a demo, leaving an otherwise stable lineup with Barrett on guitar and lead vocals, Waters on bass guitar and backing vocals, Mason on drums and percussion, and Wright switching to keyboards and backing vocals. Barrett soon started writing his own songs, influenced by American and British psychedelic rock with his own brand of whimsical humour. Pink Floyd became a favourite in the underground movement, playing at such prominent venues as the UFO club, the Marquee Club and the Roundhouse.
At the end of 1966 the band were invited to contribute music for Peter Whitehead’s film Tonite Let’s All Make Love in London; they were filmed recording two tracks (“Interstellar Overdrive” and “Nick’s Boogie”) in January 1967. Although hardly any of this music made it onto the film, the session was eventually released as London 1966/1967 in 2005.
As their popularity increased, the band members formed Blackhill Enterprises in October 1966, a six-way business partnership with their managers, Peter Jenner and Andrew King, issuing the singles “Arnold Layne” in March 1967 and “See Emily Play” in June 1967. “Arnold Layne” reached number 20 in the UK Singles Chart, and “See Emily Play” reached number 6, granting the band its first national TV appearance on Top of the Pops in July 1967. (They had earlier appeared, performing “Interstellar Overdrive” at the UFO Club, in a short documentary, “It’s So Far Out It’s Straight Down”. This was broadcast in March 1967 but seen only in the UK’s Granada TV region.).
See Emily Play peaked at #6 on the UK single chartReleased in August 1967, the band’s debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, is today considered to be a prime example of British psychedelic music, and was generally well-received by critics at the time. It is now viewed as one of the best debut albums by many critics. The album’s tracks, predominantly written by Barrett, showcase poetic lyrics and an eclectic mixture of music, from the avant-garde free-form piece “Interstellar Overdrive” to whimsical songs such as “The Scarecrow”, inspired by the Fenlands, a rural region north of Cambridge (Barrett, Gilmour and Waters’s home town). Lyrics were entirely surreal and often referred to folklore, such as “The Gnome”. The music reflected newer technologies in electronics through its prominent use of stereo panning, tape editing, echo effects and electric keyboards. The album was a hit in the UK where it peaked at #6, but did not do well in North America, reaching #131 in the U.S., and that only after it was reissued in the wake of the band’s state side commercial breakthrough in the 1970s. During this period, the band toured with Jimi Hendrix, which helped to increase its popularity.
Barrett’s decline
As the band became more popular, the stresses of life on the road and a significant intake of psychedelic drugs took their toll on Barrett, whose mental health had been deteriorating for several months. Barrett’s strange behaviour has often been attributed to his drug use. In January 1968, guitarist David Gilmour joined the band to carry out Barrett’s playing and singing duties, though evidently Jeff Beck was considered.
With Barrett’s behaviour becoming less and less predictable, and his almost constant use of LSD, he became very unstable, occasionally staring into space while the rest of the band performed. During some performances, he would just strum one chord for the duration of a concert, or randomly begin detuning his guitar. The band’s live shows became increasingly ramshackle until, eventually, the other band members simply stopped taking him to the concerts. The last concert featuring Barrett was on January 20, 1968 on Hastings Pier. It was originally hoped that Barrett would write for the band with Gilmour performing live, but Barrett’s increasingly difficult compositions, such as “Have You Got It, Yet?”, which changed melodies and chord progression with every take, eventually made the rest of the band give up on this arrangement. Once Barrett’s departure was formalised in April 1968, producers Jenner and King decided to remain with him, and the six-way Blackhill partnership was dissolved. The band adopted Steve O’Rourke as manager, and he remained with Pink Floyd until his death in 2003.
After recording two solo albums (The Madcap Laughs and Barrett) in 1970 (co-produced by and sometimes featuring Gilmour, Waters and Wright) to moderate success, Barrett went into seclusion. Again going by his given name, Roger, he lived a quiet life in his native Cambridge until his death on July 7, 2006.
Finding their feet: 1968–1970
This period was one of musical experimentation for the band. Gilmour, Waters and Wright each contributed material that had its own voice and sound, giving this material less consistency than the Barrett-dominated early years or the more polished, collaborative sound of later years. As Barrett had been the lead singer during his era, Gilmour, Waters and Wright now split both songwriting and lead vocal duties. Waters mostly wrote low-key, jazzy melodies with dominant bass lines and complex, symbolic lyrics, Gilmour focused on guitar-driven blues jams, and Wright preferred melodic psychedelic keyboard-heavy numbers. Unlike Waters, Gilmour and Wright preferred tracks that had simple lyrics or that were purely instrumental. Some of the band’s most experimental music is from this period, such as “A Saucerful of Secrets”, consisting largely of noises, feedback, percussions, oscillators and tape loops, and “Careful with That Axe, Eugene” (which went by a number of other names as well), a very Waters-driven song with a bass and keyboard-heavy jam culminating in crashing drums and Waters’ primal screams.
Whilst Barrett had written the bulk of the first album, only one composition by him, “Jugband Blues”, appeared on the second Floyd album. Barrett also played on the songs “Remember A Day” (recorded during the sessions for Piper) and “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun”. A Saucerful of Secrets was released in June 1968, reaching #9 in the UK and becoming the only Pink Floyd album not to chart in the U.S. Somewhat uneven due to Barrett’s departure, the album still contained much of his psychedelic sound combined with the more experimental music that would be fully showcased on Ummagumma. Its centrepiece, the 12-minute title track, hinted at the epic, lengthy songs to come, but the album was poorly received by critics at the time, although critics today tend to be kinder to the album in the context of their body of work. Future Pink Floyd albums would expand upon the idea of long, sprawling compositions, offering more focused songwriting with each subsequent release.
Pink Floyd were then recruited by director Barbet Schroeder to produce a soundtrack for his film, More, which was premièred in May 1969. The music was released as a Floyd album in its own right, Music From the Film More, in July 1969; the album achieved another #9 finish in the UK, and peaked at #153 in the U.S. Critics tend to find the collection of the film’s music patchy and uneven. The band would use this and future soundtrack recording sessions to produce work that may not have fit into the idea of what would appear on a proper Pink Floyd LP; many of the tracks on More (as fans usually call it) were acoustic folk songs. Two of these songs, “Green Is the Colour” and “Cymbaline”, became fixtures in the band’s live sets for a time and were a part of their live The Man/The Journey suite, as can be heard in the many available bootleg recordings from this period. “Cymbaline” was also the first Pink Floyd song to deal with Roger Waters’ cynical attitude toward the music industry explicitly. The rest of the album consisted of avant-garde incidental pieces from the score (some of which were also part of The Man/The Journey) with a few heavier rock songs thrown in, such as “The Nile Song”.
The next record, the double album Ummagumma, was a mix of live recordings and unchecked studio experimentation by the band members, with each member recording half a side of a vinyl record as a solo project (Mason’s first wife makes an uncredited contribution as a flautist). Though the album was realised as solo outings and a live set, it was originally intended as a purely avant-garde mixture of sounds from “found” instruments. The subsequent difficulties in recording and lack of group organization led to the shelving of the project. The title is Cambridge slang for sexual intercourse and reflects the attitude of the band at the time, as frustrations in the studio followed them throughout these sessions. The band was wildly experimental on the studio disc, which featured Waters’ pure folk “Grantchester Meadows”, an atonal & jarring piano piece (“Sysyphus”), meandering progressive rock textures (“The Narrow Way”) and large percussion solos (“The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party”). “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict” is a five-minute song composed entirely of Roger Water’s voice played at varied speeds, resulting in a noise resembling rodents and birds. Large portions of the studio disc were previously played in their live The Man/The Journey concept piece. The live disc featured acclaimed performances of some of their most popular psychedelic-era compositions and caused critics to receive the album more positively than the previous two albums. The album was Pink Floyd’s most popular release yet, hitting UK #5 and making the U.S. charts at #74.
1970’s Atom Heart Mother, the band’s first recording with an orchestra, was a collaboration with avant-garde composer Ron Geesin. One side of the album consisted of the title piece, a 23-minute long “rock-orchestral” suite. The second side featured one song from each of the band’s then-current vocalists (Roger Waters’ folk-rock “If”, David Gilmour’s bluesy “Fat Old Sun” and Rick Wright’s nostalgic “Summer ‘68″). Another lengthy piece, “Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast”, was a sound collage of a man cooking and eating breakfast and his thoughts on the matter, linked with instrumentals. The use of noises, incidental sound effects and voice samples would thereafter be an important part of the band’s sound. While Atom Heart Mother was considered a huge step back for the band at the time and is still considered one of its most inaccessible albums, it had the best chart performance for the band up to that time, reaching #1 in the UK and #55 in the U.S. It has since been described by Gilmour as “a load of rubbish” and Waters has said he wouldn’t mind if it were “thrown in the dustbin and never listened to by anyone ever again.” The album was another transitional piece for the group, hinting at future musical territory such as “Echoes” in its ambitious title track. The popularity of the album allowed Pink Floyd to embark on its first full U.S. tour.
Before releasing its next original album, the band released a compilation album, Relics, which contained several early singles and B-sides, along with one original song (Waters’ jazzy “Biding My Time”, part of The Man/The Journey recorded during the Ummagumma sessions). They also contributed to the soundtrack of Zabriskie Point, though many of their contributions were eventually discarded by director Michelangelo Antonioni.
Breakthrough era: 1971–1975
During this time, Pink Floyd shed their association with the “psychedelic” scene and became a distinctive band who are difficult to classify. The divergent styles of their primary songwriters, Gilmour, Waters and Wright, merged into a unique sound. This era contains what many consider to be two of the band’s masterpiece albums, The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. The sound became polished and collaborative, with the philosophic lyrics and distinctive bass lines of Waters combining with the unique blues guitar style of Gilmour and Wright’s haunting keyboard melodies and harmonic textures. Gilmour was the dominant vocalist throughout this period, and female choirs and Dick Parry’s saxophone contributions became a notable part of the band’s style. The sometimes atonal and harsh sound exhibited in the band’s earlier years gave way to a very smooth, mellow and soothing sound, and the band’s epic, lengthy compositions reached their zenith with “Echoes”. This period was not only the beginning but the end of the truly collaborative era of the band; after 1973 Waters’ influence became more dominant musically as well as lyrically. Wright’s last credited composition and last lead vocal on a studio album until 1994’s The Division Bell were in this period (“Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and “Time” respectively), and Gilmour’s writing credits sharply declined in frequency until Waters left the band in 1985, though he continued to perform lead vocals and write songs throughout the whole time. The last ties with Barrett were severed in musical fashion with Wish You Were Here, whose epic track “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” was written both as a tribute and eulogy to Barrett.
The band’s sound was considerably more focused on Meddle (1971), with the 23-minute epic “Echoes” taking up the second side of the LP.
Meddle album cover”Echoes” is a smooth progressive rock song with extended guitar and keyboard solos and a long segue in the middle consisting largely of synthesised music produced on guitars, organs, and synths, along with backward wah pedal guitar sounding like samples of sea gulls or albatross, described by Waters as a “sonic poem”. Meddle was considered by Nick Mason to be “the first real Pink Floyd album. It introduced the idea of a theme that can be returned to.” The album had the sound and style of the succeeding breakthrough-era Pink Floyd albums but stripped away the orchestra that was prominent in Atom Heart Mother. Meddle also included the atmospheric “One of These Days”, a concert favourite featuring Nick Mason’s menacing one-line vocal (“One of these days, I’m going to cut you into little pieces”), distorted and bluesy lap steel guitar, and a melody that at one point fades into a throbbing synthetic pulse quoting the theme tune of the cult classic science fiction television show Doctor Who. The mellow feeling of the next three albums is very present on “Fearless”, and this track displays a folk influence, as does the prominent lap steel guitar on “A Pillow of Winds”. The latter track is one of the Floyd’s very few acoustic love songs. Waters’ role as lead songwriter began to take form, with his jazzy “San Tropez” brought to the band practically completed. Meddle was greeted both by critics and fans enthusiastically, and Pink Floyd were rewarded with a #3 album chart peak in the UK; it only reached #70 in U.S. charts. According to Nick Mason, this was partly because Capitol Records had not provided the album with enough publicity support in the U.S. Today, Meddle remains one of their most well-regarded efforts.
Obscured by Clouds was released in 1972 as the soundtrack to the film La Vallee, another art house film by Barbet Schroeder. This was the band’s first U.S. Top 50 album (where it hit #46), hitting at #6 in the UK. While Mason described the album years later as “sensational,” it is less well-regarded by critics. The lyrics of “Free Four”, the first Pink Floyd song to achieve significant airplay in the U.S., introduced Waters’ ruminations on his father’s death in World War II which would figure in subsequent albums. Two other songs on the album, “Wot’s… Uh the Deal” and “Childhood’s End”, also hint at themes used in later albums, the former focusing on loneliness and desperation which would come to full fruit in the Roger Waters-led era, and the latter hinting much at the next album, fixated on life, death and the passage of time. “Childhood’s End”, inspired by the Arthur C. Clarke book of the same name, was also Gilmour’s last lyrical contribution for 15 years. The album was, to an extent, stylistically different from the preceding Meddle, with the songs generally being shorter, often taking a somewhat pastoral approach compared to the atmospheric use of sound effects and keyboard on sections of Meddle, and sometimes even running into folk-rock, blues-rock and piano-driven soft rock (“Burning Bridges”, “The Gold It’s in the…” and “Stay” being the best examples for each).
The release of Pink Floyd’s massively successful 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon, was a watershed moment in the band’s popularity. Pink Floyd had stopped issuing singles after 1968’s “Point Me at the Sky” and was never a hit-single-driven group, but The Dark Side of the Moon featured a U.S. Top 20 single (“Money”). .
Money – Pink Floyd’s breakthrough US singleThe album became the band’s first #1 on U.S. charts and, as of December 2006, is one of the biggest-selling albums in U.S. history, with more than 15 million units sold, and one of the best-selling albums worldwide, with more than 40 million copies sold. The critically-acclaimed album stayed on the Billboard Top 200 for an unprecedented 741 weeks (including 591 consecutive weeks from 1976 to 1988), establishing a world record. It also remained 301 weeks on UK charts, despite never rising higher than #2 there, and is highly praised by critics.
Saxophone forms an important part of the album’s sound, exposing the band’s jazz influences (especially that of Rick Wright), and female backing vocals play a key role in helping to diversify the album’s texture. For example, songs such as “Money” and “Time” are placed on either side of mellow lap steel guitar sounds (reminiscent of Meddle) in “Breathe (Reprise)” and female vocal-laden song “The Great Gig in the Sky” (with Clare Torry on lead vocal), while minimalist instrumental “On the Run” is performed almost entirely on a single synthesiser. Incidental sound effects and snippets of interviews feature alongside the music, many of them taped in the studio. Waters’ interviews started out with questions like “What is your favourite colour?” in an attempt to get the person comfortable. He would then ask, “When was the last time you were violent? Were you in the right?” The latter answer was played on the album. Other interviews would ask, “Are you afraid of dying?” The album’s lyrics and sound attempt to describe the different pressures that everyday life places upon human beings. This concept (conceived by Waters in a band meeting around Mason’s kitchen table) proved a powerful catalyst for the band and together they drew up a list of themes, several of which would be revisited by Waters on later albums, such as “Us and Them”’s musings on violence and the futility of war, and the themes of insanity and neurosis discussed in “Brain Damage”. The album’s complicated and precise sound engineering by Alan Parsons set new standards for sound fidelity; this trait became a recognisable aspect of the band’s sound and played a part in the lasting chart success of the album, as audiophiles constantly replaced their worn-out copies.
Seeking to capitalise on its new-found fame, the band also released a compilation album, A Nice Pair, which was a gatefold repackaging of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful of Secrets. It was also during this period that director Adrian Maben released the first Pink Floyd concert film, Live at Pompeii. The original theatrical cut featured footage of the band performing in 1971 at an amphitheatre in Pompeii with no audience present except the film crew and stage staff. Maben also recorded interviews and behind-the-scenes glimpses of the band during recording sessions for The Dark Side of the Moon at Abbey Road Studios; although the timeline of events indicate the recording sessions may have been staged after the recording, they provide a glimpse into the processes involved in producing the album. This footage was incorporated in later video releases of Live at Pompeii.
After the success of Dark Side, the band were unsure of their future direction and worried about how they would be able to top that record’s huge popularity. In a return to their experimental beginnings, they began work on a project entitled Household Objects, which would consist of songs played literally on household appliances. Instruments consisted of old hand mixers, rubber bands stretched between two tables, wine glasses, etc. However, the planned album was soon shelved after the band decided that it was just easier and better to play the songs on actual musical instruments. No finished recordings of these sessions exist, however some of the recorded effects were put to use on their next album.
“Wish you were Here” album coverWish You Were Here, released in 1975, carries an abstract theme of absence: absence of any humanity within the music industry and, most poignantly, the absence of Syd Barrett. Well-known for its popular title track, the album includes the largely instrumental, nine-part song suite “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, a tribute to Barrett in which the lyrics deal explicitly with the aftermath of his breakdown. Many of the musical influences in the band’s past were brought together — atmospheric keyboards, blues guitar pieces, extended saxophone solos (by Dick Parry), jazz-fusion workouts and aggressive slide guitar — in the suite’s different linked parts, culminating in a funeral dirge played with synthesised horn and ending with a musical quote from their early single “See Emily Play” as a final nod to Barrett’s early leadership of the band. The remaining tracks on the album, “Welcome to the Machine” and “Have a Cigar”, harshly criticise the music industry; the latter is sung by British folk singer Roy Harper. It was the first Pink Floyd album to reach #1 on both the UK and the U.S. charts, and critics praise it just as enthusiastically as The Dark Side of the Moon.
In a famous anecdote, a heavyset man, his head and eyebrows completely shaved, wandered into the studio while the band was mixing “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”. The band could not recognise him for some time, when suddenly one of them realised it was Syd Barrett. On being asked how he had put on so much weight, he retorted “I’ve got a big fridge in the kitchen and I’ve been eating a lot of pork chops”.
In an interview for the 2001 BBC Omnibus documentary Syd Barrett: Crazy Diamond (later released on DVD as The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story), the story is told in full. Rick Wright spoke about the session, saying: “One thing that really stands out in my mind, that I’ll never forget; I was going in to the “Shine On” sessions. I went in the studio and I saw this guy sitting at the back of the studio, he was only as far away as you are from me. And I didn’t recognise him. I said, ‘Who’s that guy behind you?’ ‘That’s Syd.’ And I just cracked up, I couldn’t believe it… he had shaven all his hair off… I mean, his eyebrows, everything… he was jumping up and down brushing his teeth, it was awful. And, uh, I was in, I mean Roger was in tears, I think I was; we were both in tears. It was very shocking… seven years of no contact and then to walk in while we’re actually doing that particular track. I don’t know – coincidence, karma, fate, who knows? But it was very, very, very powerful”. In the same documentary, Nick Mason stated: “When I think about it, I can still see his eyes, but… it was everything else that was different”. In that same interview, Roger Waters has said: “I had no idea who he was for a very long time”. David Gilmour stated: “None of us recognised him. Shaved…shaved bald head and very plump”. In the 2006 ‘definitive edition’ DVD release of The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story in the UK/Europe, the director John Edginton’s interviews with Barrett’s former Floyd colleagues are included unedited, with far more detail of their feelings and actions during Syd Barrett’s tragic breakdown and withdrawal from the band.
Roger Waters–led era: 1976–1985
During this era, Waters asserted more and more control over Pink Floyd’s output. During the recording, Waters fired Richard Wright after The Wall was finished, arguing that Wright was not contributing much, in part due to a cocaine addiction. Waters claimed that David Gilmour and Nick Mason supported Waters’ decision to fire Wright, but in 2000, Gilmour stated that he and Mason were against Wright’s dismissal. Author Nick Mason claims that Wright was fired because Columbia Records had offered Waters a substantial bonus to finish the album in time for a 1979 release. Since Wright refused to return early from his summer holiday, Waters wanted to dismiss Wright. Wright was fired from the band but stayed on to finish the album and perform the live concerts as a paid musician.
Much of the music from this period is considered secondary to the lyrics, which explore Waters’ feelings about his father’s death in World War II and his increasingly cynical attitude towards political figures such as Margaret Thatcher and Mary Whitehouse. Although still finely nuanced, the music grew more guitar-based at the expense of keyboards and saxophone, both of which became (at best) part of the music’s background texture along with the usual sound effects. A full orchestra (even larger than the brass ensemble from Atom Heart Mother) plays a significant role on The Wall and especially The Final Cut.
By January 1977, and the release of Animals (UK #2, U.S. #3), the band’s music came under increasing criticism from some quarters in the new punk rock sphere as being too flabby and pretentious, having lost its way from the simplicity of early rock and roll.
Animals album coverAnimals was, however, considerably more guitar-driven than the previous albums, due to either the influence of the burgeoning punk-rock movement or the fact that the album was recorded at Pink Floyd’s new (and somewhat incomplete) Britannia Row Studios. The album was also the first to not have a single songwriting credit for Rick Wright. Animals again contained lengthy songs tied to a theme, this time taken in part from George Orwell’s Animal Farm, which used “Pigs”, “Dogs” and “Sheep” as metaphors for members of contemporary society. Despite the prominence of guitar, keyboards and synthesisers still play an important role on Animals, but the saxophone and female vocal work that defined much of the previous two albums’ sound is absent. The result is a more hard-rock effort overall, bookended by two parts of a quiet acoustic piece. Many critics did not respond well to the album, finding it “tedious” and “bleak,” although some celebrated it for almost those very reasons. For the cover artwork, a giant inflatable pig was commissioned to float between the chimney towers of London’s Battersea Power Station. However, the wind made the pig balloon difficult to control, and in the end it was necessary to matte a photo of the pig balloon onto the album cover. The pig was created by Dutch industrial designer and artist Theo Botschuijver. The pig nevertheless became one of the enduring symbols of Pink Floyd, and inflatable pigs were a staple of Pink Floyd live performances from then on.
The Wall album cover1979’s epic rock opera The Wall, conceived by Waters, dealt with the themes of loneliness and failed communication, which were expressed by the metaphor of a wall built between a rock artist and his audience. The deciding moment in which to conceive The Wall was during a concert in Montreal, Canada in which Roger Waters spat on an audience member as he attempted to climb up on stage. — it was this point where Waters felt the alienation between audience and band.
This album gave Pink Floyd renewed acclaim and their only chart-topping single with “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)”. The Wall also included the future concert staples “Comfortably Numb” and “Run Like Hell”, with the former in particular becoming a cornerstone of album-oriented rock and classic-rock radio playlists as well as one of the group’s best-known songs.
The teacher puppet used in the concertThe album was co-produced by Bob Ezrin, a friend of Waters who shared songwriting credits on “The Trial” and from whom Waters later distanced himself after Ezrin “shot his mouth off to the press.” Even more than during the Animals sessions, Waters was asserting his artistic influence and leadership over the band, using the band’s perilous financial situation to his advantage, which prompted increased conflicts with the other members. The music had become distinctly more hard-rock, although the large orchestrations on some tracks recalled an earlier period, and there are a few quieter songs interspersed throughout (such as “Goodbye Blue Sky”, “Nobody Home”, and “Vera”). Wright’s influence was minimised, and he was fired from the band during recording, only returning on a fixed wage for the live shows in support of the album. Ironically, this fixed salary made Wright the only “member” of Pink Floyd to make any money from the Wall concerts, with the three remaining members stuck covering the extensive cost overruns of their most spectacular concerts yet. The Wall was performed live in only a few cities, contributing to the “tour”’s unprofitability. (It would be performed one more time, after the Berlin Wall came down in Germany, by Roger Waters and others).
Despite never hitting #1 in the UK (it reached #3), The Wall spent 15 weeks atop the U.S. charts in 1980. Critics praised it, and it has been certified 23x platinum by the RIAA, for sales of 11.5 million copies of the double album in the U.S. alone. The huge commercial success of The Wall made Pink Floyd the only artists since the Beatles to have the best-selling albums of two years (1973 and 1980) in less than a decade.
A film entitled Pink Floyd: The Wall was released in 1982, incorporating almost all of the music from the album. The film, written by Waters and directed by Alan Parker, starred Boomtown Rats founder Bob Geldof, who re-recorded many of the vocals, and featured animation by noted British artist and cartoonist Gerald Scarfe. Film critic Leonard Maltin referred to the movie as “the world’s longest rock video, and certainly the most depressing”, but it grossed over US$14 million at the North American box office. A song which first appeared in the movie, “When the Tigers Broke Free”, was released as a single on a limited basis. This song was finally made widely available on the compilation album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd and the re-release of The Final Cut. Also in the film is the song “What Shall We Do Now?”, which was cut out of the original album due to the time constraints of vinyl records. The only songs from the album not used were “Hey You” and “The Show Must Go On.”
When the Tigers broke Free struggled to #39 in the British singles chartTheir 1983 studio album, The Final Cut, was dedicated by Waters to his father, Eric Fletcher Waters. Even darker in tone than The Wall, this album re-examined many previous themes, while also addressing then-current events, including Waters’ anger at Britain’s participation in the Falklands War, the blame for which he laid squarely at the feet of political leaders (“The Fletcher Memorial Home”). It concludes with a cynical and frightening glimpse at the possibility of nuclear war (“Two Suns in the Sunset”). Michael Kamen and Andy Bown contributed keyboard work in lieu of Richard Wright, whose departure had not been formally announced before the album’s release.
Though technically a Pink Floyd album, the LP’s front cover displayed no words, only the back cover reading: “The Final Cut — A requiem for the post-war dream by Roger Waters, performed by Pink Floyd: Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason”. Roger Waters received the sole songwriting credit for the entire record, which became a prototype in sound and form for later Waters solo projects. Waters has since said that he offered to release the record as a solo album, but the rest of the band rejected this idea. However, in his book Inside Out, drummer Nick Mason says that no such discussions ever took place. Gilmour reportedly asked Waters to hold back the release of the album so that he could write enough material to contribute, but this request was refused. The music’s tone is largely similar to The Wall’s but somewhat quieter and softer, resembling songs like “Nobody Home” more than “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2).” It is also more repetitive, with certain leitmotifs cropping up continually. Only moderately successful with fans by Floyd’s standards (UK #1, U.S. #6), but reasonably well-received by critics, the album yielded one minor radio hit (albeit in bowdlerised form), “Not Now John”, the only hard-rock song on the album (and the only one partially sung by Gilmour). The arguments between Waters and Gilmour at this stage were rumoured to be so bad that they were supposedly never seen in the recording studio simultaneously. Gilmour has said he wanted to continue making good quality rock music, and felt Waters was constructing music sequences together merely as a vehicle for his socially critical lyrics. Waters claims that his bandmates never fully understood the importance of the social commentary he was making. By the end of recording, Gilmour’s co-producer credit was dropped from the album sleeve (though he received attendant royalties). There was no tour for the album, although parts of it have since been performed live by Waters on his subsequent solo tours.
After The Final Cut Capitol Records released the compilation Works, which made the 1970 Waters track “Embryo” available for the first time on a Pink Floyd album, although the track had been released on the 1970 VA compilation Picnic – A Breath of Fresh Air on the Harvest Records label. The band members then went their separate ways and spent time working on individual projects. Gilmour was the first to release his solo album About Face in March 1984. Wright joined forces with Dave Harris of Fashion to form a new band, Zee, which released the experimental album Identity a month after Gilmour’s project. In May 1984, Waters released The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, a concept album once proposed as a Pink Floyd project. Waters had written this at the same time as The Wall and during proposal of both, the band selected The Wall. A year after his bandmates’ projects, Mason released the album Profiles, a collaboration with Rick Fenn of 10cc which featured guest appearances by Gilmour and UFO keyboardist Danny Peyronel.
David Gilmour–led era: 1987–1995
Waters announced in December 1985 that he was departing Pink Floyd, describing the band as “a spent force creatively”, but in 1986 Gilmour and Mason began recording a new Pink Floyd album. At the same time, Roger Waters was working on his second solo album, entitled Radio K.A.O.S. (1987). A bitter legal dispute ensued with Waters claiming that the name “Pink Floyd” should have been put to rest, but Gilmour and Mason upheld their conviction that they had the legal right to continue as “Pink Floyd.” The suit was eventually settled out of court.
After considering and rejecting many other titles, the new album was released as A Momentary Lapse of Reason (UK #3, U.S. #3). Without Waters, who had been the band’s dominant songwriter for a decade, the band sought the help of outside writers. As Pink Floyd had never done this before (except for the orchestral contributions of Geesin and Ezrin), this move received much criticism. Ezrin, who had renewed his friendship with Gilmour in 1983 (as Ezrin co-produced Gilmour’s About Face album), served as co-producer as well as being one of these writers along with Jon Carin who wrote the music for “Learning To Fly” and played much of the Keyboards on the album. Wright also returned, at first as a salaried employee during the final recording sessions, and then officially rejoining the band after the subsequent tour.
Gilmour later admitted that Mason and Wright had hardly played on the album. Because of Mason and Wright’s limited contributions, some critics say that A Momentary Lapse of Reason should really be regarded as a Gilmour solo effort, in much the same way that The Final Cut might be regarded as a Waters album.
A year later, the band released a double live album and a concert video taken from its 1988 Long Island shows, entitled Delicate Sound of Thunder, and later recorded some instrumentals for a classic-car racing film La Carrera Panamericana, set in Mexico and featuring Gilmour and Mason as participating drivers. During the race Gilmour and manager Steve O’Rourke (acting as his map-reader) crashed. O’Rourke suffered a broken leg, but Gilmour walked away with just some bruises.
David Gilmour in a break during the “Carrera Panamericana”, in San Luis Potosi, MexicoThe instrumentals are notable for including the first Floyd material co-written by Wright since 1975, as well as the only Floyd material co-written by Mason since Dark Side of the Moon.
1992 saw the box set release of Shine On. The 9-disc set included re-releases of the studio albums A Saucerful of Secrets, Meddle, The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall, and A Momentary Lapse of Reason. A bonus disc entitled The Early Singles was also included. The set’s packaging featured a case allowing the albums to stand vertically together, with the side-by-side spines displaying an image of the Dark Side of the Moon cover. The circular text of each CD includes the almost illegible words “The Big Bong Theory”. The year also saw the release of Roger Waters’ solo album Amused to Death.
The band’s next recording was the 1994 release, The Division Bell, which was much more of a group effort than Momentary Lapse had been, with Wright now reinstated as a full band member. The album was received more favourably by critics and fans alike than Lapse had been, but was still heavily criticised as tired and formulaic. It was the second Pink Floyd album to reach #1 on both the UK and U.S. charts.
The Division Bell was another concept album, in some ways representing Gilmour’s take on the same themes Waters had tackled with The Wall. The title was suggested to Gilmour by his friend Douglas Adams. Many of the lyrics were co-written by Polly Samson, Gilmour’s girlfriend at the time, whom he married shortly after the album’s release. Besides Samson, the album featured most of the musicians who had joined the A Momentary Lapse of Reason tour, as well as saxophonist Dick Parry, a contributor to the mid-70s Floyd albums. Anthony Moore, who had co-written the lyrics for several songs on the previous album, wrote lyrics for Wright’s tune “Wearing the Inside Out”, also Wright’s first lead vocal on a Pink Floyd record since Dark Side of the Moon. This writing collaboration continued on Wright’s 1996 solo album, Broken China.
The band released a live album entitled P*U*L*S*E in 1995. It hit #1 in U.S. and featured songs recorded during the “Division Bell” tour from concerts in Londons Earl Court. The Division Bell concerts featured a mix of classic and modern Pink Floyd. The Pulse album has an entire performance of The Dark Side of the Moon. The Earls Court concert would mark the first time the band performed The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety in over two decades. VHS and Laserdisc versions of the concert at London’s Earl’s Court 20 October 1994, was also released. A DVD edition was released on 10 July 2006 and quickly topped the charts. The 1994 CD case had an LED, timer IC, and battery which caused a red flash to blink once per second, like a heartbeat, as it sat in the owner’s CD collection.
Furthermore, in 1995, the band received their first and only Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for “Marooned”.
Solo work and more: 1995–present
On January 17, 1996, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan. Roger Waters did not attend, still being antagonistic towards his former bandmates. At their acceptance speech, Gilmour said, “I’ll have to grab a couple more of these for our two band members that started playing different tunes; Roger and Syd…”. Although Mason was present to accept the award, he did not join Gilmour and Wright (and Billy Corgan) for their acoustic performance of ‘Wish You Were Here’.
A live recording of The Wall was released in 2000, compiled from the 1980–1981 London concerts, entitled Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81. It reached #19 on the American album chart. In 2001, a remastered two-disc set of the band’s best-known tracks entitled Echoes was released. Gilmour, Mason, Waters and Wright all collaborated on the editing, sequencing, and song selection of the included tracks. Minor controversy was caused due to the songs seguing into one another non-chronologically, presenting the material out of the context of the original albums. Some of the tracks, such as “Echoes”, “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, “Sheep”, “Marooned”, and “High Hopes” have had substantial sections removed from them. The album reached #2 on the UK and U.S. charts.
In 2003, an SACD reissue of The Dark Side of the Moon was released with new artwork on the front cover. The album was also re-released as an 180 gram, virgin vinyl pressing in 2003, which included all the original album art from the original release of the album, albeit with a new poster. The reissue of Wish You Were Here is in the works, with no release date announced. Nick Mason’s book, Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd was published in 2004 in Europe and 2005 in the U.S. Mason made public promotional appearances in a few European and American cities, giving interviews and meeting fans at book signings. Some fans claimed that he said he wished he were on a tour with the band rather than on a book tour.
Long-time Pink Floyd manager Steve O’Rourke died on October 30, 2003. Gilmour, Mason and Wright reunited at his funeral and performed “Fat Old Sun” and “The Great Gig in the Sky” at the Chichester Cathedral in tribute.
Two years later, on July 2, 2005, the band reunited once again for a one-off performance at the London Live 8 concert. This time, however, they were joined by Waters – the first time all four band members were on stage together in 24 years. The band performed a four-song set consisting of “Speak to Me/Breathe/Breathe (Reprise)”, “Money”, “Wish You Were Here”, and “Comfortably Numb”, with both Gilmour and Waters sharing lead vocals. At the end of their performance Gilmour said “thank you very much, good night” and started to walk off the stage. Waters called him back, however, and the band shared a group hug that became one of the most famous images of Live 8.
In the week after Live 8, there was a revival of interest in Pink Floyd. According to record store chain HMV, sales of Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd went up, in the following week, by 1343%, while Amazon.com reported increases in sales of The Wall at 3600%, Wish You Were Here at 2000%, The Dark Side of the Moon at 1400% and Animals at 1000%. David Gilmour subsequently declared that he would donate his share of profits from this sales boom to charity, and urged all the other artists and record companies profiting from Live 8 to do the same. On November 16, 2005 Pink Floyd were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame by Pete Townshend. Gilmour and Mason attended in person, explaining that Wright was in hospital following eye surgery, and Waters appeared on a video screen, from Rome.
David Gilmour released his third solo record, On an Island, on March 6, 2006, and began a tour of small concert venues in Europe, Canada and the U.S. with a band including Richard Wright and was joined several times for the encore by Nick Mason. During the tour, he performed Pink Floyd’s first single, “Arnold Layne”. Waters was also invited to join them in London, but final rehearsals for his 2006 Europe/U.S. tour required him to decline. Waters was joined on stage by Mason on the 29th of June 2006 for the second half of a show in Cork, Ireland where he performed the whole of The Dark Side of the Moon.
Waters and Wright are both reported to be working on solo albums, and there has been talk of Waters doing a Broadway musical version of The Wall, with extra music to be written by Waters. Waters also embarked on his worldwide The Dark Side of the Moon Live Tour; the setlist consisted of The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety along with a selection of other Pink Floyd favourites and a small number of songs from Waters’ solo career. Waters also contributed the song “Hello (I Love You),” cowritten by Howard Shore, to the 2007 film The Last Mimzy.
Future directions
Many fans expressed hope that the band’s Live 8 appearance would lead to a reunion tour, and a record-breaking US$250 million deal for a world tour was offered, but the band made it clear that they have no such plans. In the weeks after the show, however, the rifts between the members seem to have mostly healed. Gilmour confirmed that he and Waters are on “pretty amicable terms”, but Waters has offered conflicting comments on the issue, with statements as varied as “I can roll over for one show, but I couldn’t roll over for a whole fucking tour” and “I hope we do it again,” although most recently, his statements indicate his desire to play together again, not for a whole tour, but for an event similar to Live 8.
On January 31, 2006, David Gilmour issued a joint statement on behalf of the group stating that they have no plans to reunite, refuting rumours from several media outlets. Gilmour later stated in an interview with La Repubblica that he is finished with Pink Floyd and wishes to focus on solo projects and his family. He mentions that he agreed to play Live 8 with Waters to support the cause, to make peace with Waters, and knowing he would regret not taking part. However, he states that Pink Floyd would be willing to perform for a concert “that would support Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts”. Then speaking with Billboard, Gilmour changed his “finished with Pink Floyd” sentiment to “who knows”. A surprise performance by the post-Waters Pink Floyd line-up of David Gilmour, Rick Wright and Nick Mason occurred on the last performance of David Gilmour’s three night run at The Royal Albert Hall on May 31, 2006 as the three played “Wish You Were Here” and “Comfortably Numb”.
2007 saw the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s signing to EMI and the 40th anniversary of the release of their first three singles “Arnold Layne”, “See Emily Play” and “Apples and Oranges” and their debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. This was marked by the release of a limited edition set containing mono and stereo mixes of the albums, plus tracks from the singles and other rare recordings.
On May 10, 2007, Roger Waters performed at the Syd Barrett tribute concert at the Barbican Centre in London. This was then followed by a surprise performance by the post-Waters Pink Floyd line-up of David Gilmour, Rick Wright and Nick Mason of “Arnold Layne” to a rapturous applause and standing ovation. However, hopes of a second reunion concert with the band’s classic lineup were dashed when Waters did not perform with the group. Roger Waters took to the stage to screams of “Pink Floyd!” to which he responded, “Later.” Gilmour, Mason, and Wright took to the stage to screams of “Roger Waters!” to which Gilmour politely responded, “Yeah, he was here too, now the rest of us.”
More recently, Waters has become more and more open to a Pink Floyd reunion. In a 2007 interview, he said “I would have no problem if the rest of them wanted to get together. It wouldn’t even have to be to save the world. It could be just because it would be fun. And people would love it.”
On September 24th, 2007, Gilmour stated that a future reunion of Pink Floyd in any form, be it with or without Roger Waters, looked grim, stating that “I can’t see why I would want to be going back to that old thing. It’s very retrogressive. I want to look forward, and looking back isn’t my joy.”
On December 10th (UK) & 11th (US) 2007, Pink Floyd released a new CD box set, Oh, By the Way, containing all fourteen studio albums with their newest respective CD remasters, original vinyl artwork plus new artwork from Storm Thorgerson.
Both Mason and Waters have said that they would be happy to do a Pink Floyd tour
Live performances
Main article: Pink Floyd live performances
Pink Floyd are renowned for their lavish stage shows, combining over-the-top visual experiences with music to create a show in which the performers themselves are almost secondary.
Stage lighting on The Division Bell Tour (1994). The latest version of “Mr Screen” featured robotic lights around its circumference.They have always resisted the temptation of a large screen portraying band members because they “don’t really do very much”, preferring instead to show music videos to run alongside the songs.
Discography
Music
Year Album US UK RIAA Certification BPI Certification
1967 The Piper at the Gates of Dawn 131 6 Gold -
1968 A Saucerful of Secrets – 9 Gold -
1969 Music from the Film More 153 9 – -
1969 Ummagumma (also live) 74 5 Platinum -
1970 Atom Heart Mother 55 1 Gold -
1971 Meddle 70 3 2x Platinum -
1972 Obscured by Clouds 46 6 Gold Silver
1973 The Dark Side of the Moon 1 2 15x Platinum 9x Platinum
1975 Wish You Were Here 1 (2 weeks) 1 6x Platinum Gold
1977 Animals 3 2 4x Platinum Gold
1979 The Wall 1 (15 weeks) 3 23x Platinum Platinum
1983 The Final Cut 6 1 2x Platinum Gold
1987 A Momentary Lapse of Reason 3 3 4x Platinum Gold
1994 The Division Bell 1 (4 weeks) 1 4x Platinum 2x Platinum
DVD and Video
Live at Pompeii (1972)
The Wall (1982)
The Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988)
La Carrera Panamericana (1992)
P•U•L•S•E (film) (1994)
Band members
Official Pink Floyd members 1965 Syd Barrett – rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Bob Klose – lead guitar
Roger Waters – bass, vocals
Rick Wright – keyboards, vocals
Nick Mason – drums, percussion
1965–1968 Syd Barrett – guitar, lead vocals
Roger Waters – bass, vocals
Rick Wright – keyboards, vocals
Nick Mason – drums, percussion
1968 David Gilmour – lead guitar, lead vocals
Syd Barrett – rhythm guitar, vocals
Roger Waters – bass, lead vocals
Rick Wright – keyboards, lead vocals
Nick Mason – drums, percussion
1968–1981 David Gilmour – guitar, lead vocals
Roger Waters – bass, lead vocals
Rick Wright – keyboards, vocals
Nick Mason – drums, percussion
1981–1985 David Gilmour – guitar, vocals
Roger Waters – bass, lead vocals, additional guitar, keyboards
Nick Mason – drums, percussion
1985–1987 David Gilmour – guitar, vocals, bass, keyboards
Nick Mason – drums, percussion
1987–present David Gilmour – guitar, lead vocals, bass
Rick Wright – keyboards, vocals
Nick Mason – drums, percussion
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