Pink Floyd - i dont get it

[LizardKing]

Am i the only one? Born early 80's so may have missed the boat a bit on them but im quite partial to other artists of the era/style but this is lost on me. Not bad per say but not something i'd go out of my way to listen to. Yet when you read anything about them you'd think they were the alternative Beatles of there time.

Comfortably numb is very good though, certainly stand out.

Any gems that i may have missed?

 

[Dis86]

Money.
Shine on...
Wish you were here.

And my personal favourite Time.

 

[jsmoke]

I've hardly listening to them, couldn't even name a song. Really slipped by me, some cult thing. My era was 90s music.
Oh wait, dark side of the moon.

 

[Gray2233]

I'm a big Floyd fan, I like most of Roger Waters solo work too.

They tend to be a bit marmite in my social circles though.

 

[Dis86]

I'm a big Floyd fan, I like most of Roger Waters solo work too.

They tend to be a bit marmite in my social circles though.

I actually don't like them in a musical sense but from an artistic point of view. If that makes any sense at all.
I find their songs incredibly emotive

 

[Rroff]

I find several of their songs decent but I don't really get the fuss. I think they are one of those bands that really shine live though - most of the people I know in person who rave about them have been to their concerts/shows.

 

[LizardKing]

doh yeah forgot about Money (though i align that closer to "another brick in the wall" as its not there normal sound persay)
and wish you were here is good,

good calls Time is also good.

 

[Gray2233]

I actually don't like them in a musical sense but from an artistic point of view. If that makes any sense at all.
I find their songs incredibly emotive

Absolutely.

I don't really find Waters to be all that musical really, it's very much about telling a story and creating an event. The Ballad of Bill Hubbard on his Amused to Death album really stuck with me, I don't think there's many other artists that can build the same sense of drama.

I think the Floyd albums where Waters had less creative influence or wasn't part of are probably a bit more musically minded but ultimately more forgettable.

 

[Zefan]

Pink Floyd are magical. I was born in the late 80s and I get them, that's not relevant IMO. My Dad played them a lot when I was growing up, it definitely flavoured my music taste.

If you think Comfortably Numb is the zenith of PF then you 100% don't get them, it's like saying Smells Like Teen Spirit is Nirvana's best song.

:edit: The Wall should not be your first PF experience, I think Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were here and The Division Bell are the most accessible.

It also helps to listen to this kind of music very much alone, at a time where you're open to letting your mind wonder. I think this is why I fell for them so much, because by the time I was able to fully enjoy and understand them as a teenager I already had a nostalgic quality associated with them they meant I could buy fully in to it and let it take me on a journey.

Do you like your music to "sound nice" or to make you think, or to make you feel? PF can do all of these things like nothing else IMO, but not always all at once.

 

[Oh Ed not again.]

Any gems that i may have missed?

Brain Damage, into Eclipse at the end of DSOTM. Shine on you crazy diamond (Parts I-V), VI-IX is good don't get me wrong but I prefer the first.

 

[PC777]

As well as many like Time, Money, Wish You Were Here, etc, this has always been one of my favourite songs of theirs. Non Liverpool fans can skip the end.

Pink Floyd not overrated IMO for all the different types of stuff they did, reorganising after Syd departed, they were also quite innovative for some early electronic music techniques. Big influence on many including Alan Parsons Project who had a good track on GTA 5 soundtrack, Alan Parsons also the producer for Dark Side of the Moon, worth checking out for similar style.

 

[PC777]

Forgot about this one too, can tell it's an 90's song way past their best, but still great IMO.

Big part of Pink Floyd is Dave Gilmour having a soulful voice and being an amazing song writer and guitar player. Still great in this song almost 30 years after Fearless.

 

[Nitefly]

I don’t find myself listening to PF much these days, as I really have listened to them for to death.

But three things are undisputed to me:

Dark Side of the Moon is a phenomenal album. There is something about the pensive lyrics, the melodies, the soaring guitar, the female backing vocals, the sound effects / dialogue samples... and even ‘tunes’. It just all comes together in one big weird yet highly accessible and digestible classic. The bit where you know register it’s awesomeness is when that guitar solo lands in Time... then when vocals in The Great Gig in the Sky hit. Magnificent outro on that latter song.

The Wall is the best album of all time. It is phenomenally rich and deep, lyrically, musically, the production. The way the TV samples perfectly land with the music in the second half is insane. Sprawling to the point of being relatively inaccessible, but absolutely ‘artful’. A masterpiece.

The now discontinued “Is There Anybody Out There?” live version of The Wall is by far the superior version and beats the studio recording. Slightly turgid studio recordings of ‘One of my Turns’ and ‘Don’t leave me Now’ become essentials. Plus the ‘Final Bricks’ instrumental is amazing. Just wonderful. Need to track down a copy!!

 

[Nitefly]

YouTube playlist here (for the excellent live version of The Wall, as mentioned above).

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL__hFoOM0DbVLN2zuv1k5O_szjCGhOUot

 

[LizardKing]

My Dad played them a lot when I was growing up, it definitely flavoured my music taste.
.

I think theirs a lot of weight to that statement, i never had it growing up, so it was skipped over in my more influential years and i'd missed the impact from it being a "new" sound. now im finding myself going back to that era a whole lot more lately and listening to the likes of Bowie & Fleetwood Mac. so i dont find it unreasonable that i should also like PF by extension to a degree, its just yet to hit that chord.
Nirvana is another i never quite got at the time!..

I'll be giving some of the suggestions above some more time though

 

[Nitefly]

@Zefan did you ever listen to that live version? You’re in for a treat if you haven’t

“The Final Bricks” comes right before “Goodbye Cruel World” and is like a lost chapter.

Likewise with “Empty Spaces” - which was in the movie but not on the album either.

 

[Malevolence]

Seeing Pink Floyd live is something that everyone should experience at least once in their life. Was Knebworth '90 for me, one hell of a line up.

Shame a concert like that will never happen again.

 

[Blackvault]

It might be worth watching Ployphonic's series on Dark Side of the Moon, he gives a brilliant essay about each song on the album.

 

[Ayahuasca]

I’m only in my late 20’s and I’d never listened to one of their albums until a few years ago, when I got into hifi. They aren’t a band I will listen to daily or even weekly but I can still appreciate just how good they were. It’s cliche but they were way ahead of their time.

 

[kinetic747]

Huge fan of almost all of their music. Dark Side and The Wall obviously but also some of the older stuff. Echoes live at Pompeii for instance and there are some great tracks on Animals such as Dogs.