Biographic - Sunday March 23, 2008 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Pink Floyd. Hitting the british pop charts in 1967 with the groundbreaking singles "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play" and the critically acclaimed debut album "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn." Pink Floyed spearheaded the psychedelic music movement in the U.K within a few short months, the increasingly erratic behavior of main songwriter and frontman Syd Barrett saw guitarist Dave Gilmour recruited to the ranks as cover... and by March 1968, Barett was out. Following a brief attempt at a solo career. "The Madcap" Syd became a recluse from the music business. Syd was the subject of the affectionate 1975 Pink Floyd tribute song "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" on the album "Wish You Were Here" and his death in 2006, at the age of 60, sparked lengthy tributes to one of the rock's most notorious casualties. Reduced to a quartet of Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Rick Wright, the band evolved into one of the most of the most successful and innovative outfits in Rock History. 1973s legendary album "Dark Side of The Moon" remained on the Billboard charts for an astonishing 741 weeks, and has so far sold more than 30 million copies. By the time of 1979s "The Wall," Wright had been jettisoned and Roger Waters had become the group's main composer and dominant force. When he quit the band in 1986. It was widely assumed that Pink Floyd was finished. But Gilmour and Mason had other ideas, and after a protracted legal battle, earned the right to keep the name going. Bringing Wright into the fold once more. With Gilmour at the helm, the band made two further albums and continued to tour with the most lavish stage shows imaginable. Waters has pursued his solo career and although the quartet was reunited for Live8 in 2005. There seems little prospect of further Pink Floyd projects, let alone a full-blown reunion.

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