Pink Floyd - A Response

A friend recently said on Facebook...  " How much I love Pink Floyd cannot be quantified. One of the greatest groups in the history of music".

Well, I couldn't disagree more although I did have a period where I liked early Pink Floyd's British psychedelia in the late 60's and especially their first two albums were very good and then they did some interesting noodling for a few records before the serious sellout of Dark Side. Wish You Were Here was a valiant attempt to gain some non-commercial credibility but it was all down hill after that IMHO. 

Now while writing this I've been listening to the Echoes compilation double CD and I found myself really disliking anything from The Wall with maybe Hey You being somewhat tolerable. I found that their cliched commercialism made them just another brick in the wall they were supposedly protesting against to the point of labeling them just another fascists band. Yuck.

So what is it about Dark Side of the Moon that I find distasteful? The blatant commercialism just happened to coincide with the changes happening in corporate radio that would culminate in the over saturation of the classic rock radio format. It took several years for this to happen and Dark Side became the poster boy of overplayed radio to the point that any time I heard something from that album come on the radio I immediately turned the station or shut it off. Those mid to late 70's albums were the epitome of what would be called dinosaur rock and directly lead to the coming punk and new wave era of the late 70's and early 80's.  I would think that it was Pink Floyd's The Wall and the incessant overplaying of that album on the radio that contributed to driving me to making my own mixes to avoid all that dreck on the radio while on trips.

I've never given any of the Pink Floyd catalog after The Wall. Four more studio albums I think. Never paid any attention to Animals either. It all ended for me then.

I should also add that I did see Pink Floyd perform an awesome show at the Electric Factory in Philly  in 1968 and another short set with a lot of noodling in 1969 and a large festival show at the convention center.

Pink Floyd in my collection:

• The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, 1967
• Saucerful of Secrets, 1968
• Ummagumma, 1969
• Meddle, 1971
• Dark Side of the Moon, 1973
• Wish You Were Here, 1975

And these live and compilations:

• Relics, 1971
• Pulse, 1995
• Echoes, 2001
• The Early Years 1967-1972 Cre/tion 6 CD Box Set