Rock N Roll
- Thread starter Fun For All
- Start date
Here are some thoughts.
Musically, I have long had a feeling that Syd may very well have given Pink Floyd all he had. I mean that in a literal sense; I think the songs he provided PF with drained him musically. While Syd certainly had an interest in music, his true passion was painting, and he very much wanted to become famous as a great visual artist -- his sister, in interviews, has stated this repeatedly. Painting, not music, was where he always wanted to put his energies.
What has to be remembered is that Pink Floyd was not the hugely successful band they would become during Syd's tenure with the group. They were certainly well known as a trippy underground band in London in 1967, but outside of London PF was, for all intents and purposes, an unknown band.
In late '67 PF went to the US to do shows in San Francisco, LA and New York. This was overwhelming for Syd, because it was shortly after they landed in San Fran to do their first shows that Syd's behaviour started becoming erratic. Not tuning his guitar, not singing (Waters and Wright had to take over singing duties when Syd would just stand there, mouth closed, staring into space during shows).
The experience was such a disaster they cancelled most of their California shows and completely skipped out on their New York shows -- they ended up flying directly back to the UK a week early, not stopping in New York. Syd's mental health was in a very bad way; his departure from PF was only a couple of months later.
My conclusion is that while it is true that there would be no Pink Floyd without Syd Barrett, it is equally true that there'd have been no Pink Floyd if they would have kept him in the band. I think Syd contributed as much to Pink Floyd as he possibly could have. He did release two solo records in 1970, and while they had some interesting tracks, they were nowhere near the calibre of songs that he had written for PF.
But here's the most important thing to remember: Syd did continue to influence Pink Floyd, long after his departure. PF's greatest trifecta of albums -- Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall -- were all written, to various degrees, with him in mind.
Syd's fragile mental state was hurting PF when he was in the band, but his fragile mental state helped give PF the inspiration they needed to write their greatest albums.
Very well said, JG D. However, I do believe that Syd didn't really depart from PF- he was left behind by the band when he couldn't function any longer. There's a part in Nick's book that describes the moment where they were supposed to pick him up for a gig, but his erratic behavior already had the band questioning his ability. Was it Roger that said "Fuck him" and off they went without him?
Regardless, my favourite Syd Barrett post PF song:
Correct! They initially wanted to keep him around as sort of a "Brian Wilson" type member -- writing songs, but not performing with the band. They were a 5-piece band with Gilmour starting in (I believe) January 1968, but that arrangement only lasted about a month or so.
Octopus is also my favourite post-Floyd Barrett song!
