Pink Floyd. Why?

[seeformiles]

At the time me and my buds were part of that early fanbase, we had a Grade 11 education, and stank of pot.

Well, the fanbase was the same from my standpoint in the early 80s - I don't remember their education being an issue among my proletarian compadres (if we were even aware of it at the time) - a fondness for acid and hash was the common factor as I recall!

 

[gabi]

i cant believe i agree with butchers about something.

pink floyd are the dullest, shittest 'big' band of that era. i can't understand why they were/are so popular. one or two decent tunes, but then so does coldplay.

 

[girasol]

it's music, some people like Pink Floyd, others don't, what else do you expect? If you don't like the sound of it, what does it matter what anyone else says?

I used to be crazy about them when I was a teenager (earlier albums, up to 'The Final Cut'), really struck a chord, but it's not something I still listen to.

 

[girasol]

which brings me to this classic mix I really like, Pink Floyd and Radiohead:

http://www.collins303.com/mixes/a-cloud-of-eiderdown

 

[killer b]

it's music, some people like Pink Floyd, others don't, what else do you expect? If you don't like the sound of it, what does it matter what anyone else says?

welcome the the music forum. this is what we do here.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Could you give an example of a 'pompous private school construction'? And who is doing this? Pompous grammar school constructions, surely.

 

[danny la rouge]

I tried, i spent 90 minutes trying. Why? What is is that makes something so banal so popular?

I think it's this:

Dark Side of the Moon was the pinnacle of production at the time. For example, if you listen to the guitar solos, you can hear Dave Gilmore's pick clicking on the strings. But that isn't right - if a guitar is amplified, the audience can hear the sound the string makes, but shouldn't be able to hear the click of the pick on the strings above that. So obviously the pick hand was close-miked when it was recorded, with the intention of hearing the clicks.

So the idea is to play it on the best spec hi fi you could afford in 1973, maybe through head-phones, and sit back with a spliff and luxuriate in the sound quality. "Wow, man, I can even hear Dave's guitar pick. Spacey". <drags another hit from the spliff> If that's your thing. It isn't mine.

But you're right, the actual music is banal. What did you hear? The "classic" albums are, in descending success, Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, Animals. It's right to try, but nobody would blame you for giving up.

 

[girasol]

welcome the the music forum. this is what we do here.

I think I'm jaded, have done the Pink Floyd thread a few times now...

The "classic" albums are, in descending success,Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, Animals. It's right to try, but nobody would blame you for giving up.

According to who, are you going by number of sales? Because apart from that criteria, the 'classicality' of Pink Floyd albums is very subjective.

 

[friedaweed]

which brings me to this classic mix I really like, Pink Floyd and Radiohead:

http://www.collins303.com/mixes/a-cloud-of-eiderdown

Some ace mixes on that site

Currently enjoying
http://www.collins303.com/radio303/radiobsc-christmas-radio-show-special-281210
whilst bottling me beer

 

[ska invita]

I tried, i spent 90 minutes trying. Why? What is is that makes something so banal so popular? Is it the smug satisfaction in knowing that the straights (multi-million sellers here) just don't get it? Do you actually really think the pompous private school constructions of society that they offer say anything about how we live our lifes and how we interact with others?

last time this came up i think it was proven that its particularly working class men who really like floyd (and prog in general) whilst middle class faux-rebels smeared their taste to replace it with the easily more marketable 3min punk single. The bourgeois music press then went about a long campaign of badmouthing this genuine expression of proletarian culture and so distorting the cultural landscape that to this day butchers cant see whats good about The Floyd! <the things you learn on urban

 

[cesare]

Part of the appeal were the visual effects at their live gigs. They seemed well ahead of their time from that point of view, back in the day. I've only ever seen them live once, though, on the Division Bell tour. Which was scaled down a bit but still cracking entertainment.

 

[ouchmonkey]

word!

but floyd were shit really weren't they?

I mean, for the most part.
I sort of like some of the early stuff before they really learned how to play

I think I'd like to back up butcher's OP that everything they represent socially and culturally is disgusting, which is, I think, why I hate them more than they probably deserve...

 

[littlebabyjesus]

What do they represent socially and culturally?

 

[killer b]

everything that's wrong with the world.

 

[cesare]

everything that's wrong with the world.

Maaaaan.

 

[seeformiles]

one or two decent tunes, but then so does coldplay.

There are no good Coldplay tunes.

 

[danny la rouge]

I sort of like some of the early stuff before they really learned how to play

I had the Relics album as a kid, because Julian Cope told me to. I'm sure I did like it at the time. Hadn't heard it for decades, and had been telling myself their Syd Barratt stuff was OK. But my sister's BF had it on CD, and I put it on when I was at their flat recently. I was frankly embarrassed to have been responsible for inflicting it on the company.

 

[friedaweed]

last time this came up i think it was proven that its particularly working class men who really like floyd (and prog in general) whilst middle class faux-rebels smeared their taste to replace it with the easily more marketable 3min punk single. The bourgeois music press then went about a long campaign of badmouthing this genuine expression of proletarian culture and so distorting the cultural landscape that to this day butchers cant see whats good about The Floyd! <the things you learn on urban

That reminded me of this
http://www.johnmccready.co.uk/scallies_rally_to_pink_floyd.htm

Everything is as it should be. Except that the students and social workers can’t relax. A massive contingent of young men from Liverpool slips through the crowd. The students keep their hands in their pockets. Are these progressive rock fans about to be ‘taxed’ by casuals from the wrong end of the M62?

The tension is broken by the thick Scouse accent which confronts one ageing hippy trying to keep track of the 25th guitar solo.
"Hey, mate. Have you got any skins on yer?"

I was at the "Dark side of the Mersey" gig

 

[seeformiles]

I had the Relics album as a kid, because Julian Cope told me to. I'm sure I did like it at the time. Hadn't heard it for decades, and had been telling myself their Syd Barratt stuff was OK. But my sister's BF had it on CD, and I put it on when I was at their flat recently. I was frankly embarrassed to have been responsible for inflicting it on the company.

Puts "Relics" on CD player and lights up....

 

[DrRingDing]

I like Echoes.

There, I said it.

 

[Knotted]

Piper is great, Ummagumma is alright, Saucerful is alright in places, Meddle is alrightish in places, Atom Heart is sort of OK in places. The rest I don't touch. I remember getting into early Pink Floyd as a teenager and then buying Dark Side. Possibly the biggest disapointment I've ever experienced. Awful bland record.

 

[ouchmonkey]

What do they represent socially and culturally?

I believe some of that's been touched on earlier in the thread but largely because their music seems pretentious, indulgent, overly pleased with itself and that this seems to represent a sense of self importance and entitlement that really grates with some of us.
There's also their place in 'the canon' of classic rock - the deadening idea that Dark Side... is SO damn important that if you find it dull and far too shiny it's somehow you that's at fault, the way they continue to turn up on the cover of glossy music magazines long after being defunct, the massive amount of cultural space they still seem able to occupy at the expense of other things

it goes on

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I like The Wall.

 

[DRINK?]

never got them..never invested too much time trying

 

[seeformiles]

I'm now wondering if Butchers vets the social background of all the artists in his record collection and scrutinises all lyrics for any possible class bias...

 

[gentlegreen]

Everything up to "Animals" for me.
I found the lyrics a bit too unpleasant - I like my bleak music rather more abstract.
I found "The Wall" annoying - like a lot of 80s stuff, and the stuff they've done since has passed me by.
But then I'm a class traitor.

 

[DotCommunist]

I like The Wall.

I never rated the wall as their best, but my brother used to play keyboards in a pink floyd tribute act. Thing is, he only likes motown and george benson, stevie wonder etc so he plays like a motown influenced verion of songs on the Wall. its quite good oddly.

 

[Gromit]

I like Echoes.

There, I said it.

...it it it it

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I never rated the wall as their best, but my brother used to play keyboards in a pink floyd tribute act. Thing is, he only likes motown and george benson, stevie wonder etc so he plays like a motown influenced verion of songs on the Wall. its quite good oddly.

I'm sitting here realising that I know virtually all the words to that album, although I probably haven't listened to it for 20 years. It's a part of my childhood, though.

 

[danny la rouge]

I'm now wondering if Butchers vets the social background of all the artists in his record collection and scrutinises all lyrics for any possible class bias...

That's not quite what he said, though; he was talking about the lyrics and the milieu he thinks they reflect.