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Title: 'We were awful': Pink Floyd's Waters on band's early days
Source:
Yahoo
URL Source: https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/we ... ands-early-days-150059179.html
Published: May 28, 2015
Author: Edward Baran
Post Date: 2015-05-29 11:10:04 by Orwellian Nightmare
Keywords: None
Views: 5566
Comments: 34
By Edward Baran LONDON (Reuters) - Pink Floyd founding members Roger Waters and Nick Mason joked while unveiling a memorial plaque on Thursday that they were so bad at first that they wouldn't have passed an audition on a talent show. The pair, together with the late Richard Wright, formed the group while studying architecture at the former Regent Street Polytechnic in central London between 1962 and 1965. The psychedelic and progressive rock band went on to become one of the most commercially successful groups in popular music. Returning to the site of the polytechnic to unveil the plaque, they talked about their time as students and about the early days of Pink Floyd. Asked how good the group was when it started out, drummer Mason said: "Put it like this: if we'd gone up for ‘Britain's Got Talent’, I don't think we would have made it past the audition stage. We weren't terribly good." "We were effing awful," added Waters, Pink Floyd's bassist and the band's main lyricist during their peak years. Pink Floyd, which racked up record sales exceeding 250 million, had an initial line-up that included guitarist and songwriter Syd Barrett, another student, who left in 1968. Lead guitarist David Gilmour became the fifth member in late 1967.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 20.
#1. To: Orwellian Nightmare (#0)
He is the guy that slowly went crazy if I recall. They wrote several hit songs about him (the lunatic is in my head)....
'Wish you were here ' was about Syd Barrett too.
No. It was about his dad.
Wish You Were Here" is the title track on Pink Floyd's 1975 album Wish You Were Here. Its lyrics encompass Roger Waters' feelings of alienation from other people. Like most of the album, it refers to former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett and his breakdown. David Gilmour and Waters collaborated to write the music. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wish_You_Were_Here_(Pink_Floyd_song)
It's just a theory of mine, to be honest. "The founder of Pink Floyd was just a baby when his father, Lt Eric Waters, died during the bitter, close-quarters fighting that took place after British and American troops landed at Anzio in Jan 1944 in order to outflank the Germans and liberate Rome. His unit, Z Company of the 8th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, was all but wiped out in an aggressive German counter-attack on Feb 18, 1944. His remains were never found. The death of his father has haunted the British rock star all his life and inspired many of Pink Floyd's best known songs, including some off the album The Wall." They never knew if he died or was a prisoner of war. He just left for war and didn't come back. "Did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?" This refers to him and his mom: "We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year, Running over the same old ground. What have we found? The same old fears." Wish you were here ...
His unit, Z Company of the 8th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, was all but wiped out in an aggressive German counter-attack on Feb 18, 1944. His remains were never found. The death of his father has haunted the British rock star all his life and inspired many of Pink Floyd's best known songs, including some off the album The Wall." They never knew if he died or was a prisoner of war. He just left for war and didn't come back. "Did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?" This refers to him and his mom: "We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year, Running over the same old ground. What have we found? The same old fears." Wish you were here ... Incoherent crap? Lol, when people say they don't write music like that anymore, these lyrics coupled with that music drive that nail home with a sledgehammer. If I had to pick a favorite band, it would be PF or Steely Dan.
Perhaps 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' is more Biffy's speed. Or 'Itsy-Bitsy Spider'. Quite a bit of the Beatles' last LSD-induced material -- THAT was "incoherent." PF was "incoherent" only to the mentally lazy or those who just are incapable of "getting" it. Sure, most of Floyd's work could be ethereal and "out there" -- as well as melancholy, cynical, and dark -- but wasn't that what they were shooting for? The lyrics of 'Dark Side Of The Moon' still resonate as an all-time musical work and arguably challenges intellect and emotion more than any other album theme ever. The only other artistic challenger in my opinion are the Moody Blues. gets down to personal taste. Lol, when people say they don't write music like that anymore, these lyrics coupled with that music drive that nail home with a sledgehammer. Well put. The lyrics and music on say, 'Dark Side' were uniquely married to each other and relate-able...as well as timeless (no pun intended :-) Man...that ticking intro on 'Time'...and suddenly all the alarms clocks and gongs, fade...then dramatic re-intro. Genius. Again, I thought PF and Moodies achieves the same. Strangely, both 'Dark Side' as well as MB's 'Seventh Sojourn' came out at about the same time. Though for longevity and positivity, no one has ever done it better than the Moodies IMHO. If I had to pick a favorite band, it would be PF or Steely Dan. Steely Dan's first album ('Can't Buy A Thrill') was underrated and excellent. 'Dark Side' was a virtuoso and genre unto itself. Nothing like it before or since.
You had to think to figure out what the artist meant by his words, which meant you had to know something about his history.
#24. To: CZ82, Dead Culture Watch, tomder55 (#20)
Well, I guess that's kinda true on 'Wishing You...' Although even if we didn't know the artists' history, on some intellectual/emotional level I think many of us tended to create "bridges" for gaps in meaning (if the lyrics weren't on the album back-cover or sleeve. OR, we just tuned out the lyrics altogther and concentrated more on the music. Dark Side was self explanatory (while musically it resonated (as well as lyrically), PF's next album required more "work" to me. Sometimes, the albums of the early 70s were actually "too much work" and pretentious when all you wanted to do was eat ear-"candy." SOMETIMES I just wanted to hear me some Lobo or Grass Roots :-) Nowadays we should have such problems and choice. Have you all noticed how the music overlords have conspired to concentrate on producing warbly female singing styles, stars and genres? It's part of the political conspiracy to marginalize ALL things white, male, and....GOOD.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latesthad an initial line-up that included guitarist and songwriter Syd Barrett, another student, who left in 1968.
#2. To: Pericles (#1)
#10. To: tomder55 (#2)
#11. To: Biff Tannen (#10)
#14. To: tomder55 (#11)
#16. To: Biff Tannen, cranko (#14)
#18. To: Dead Culture Watch, Biff Tannen (#16)
Incoherent crap?
#20. To: Liberator (#18)
PF was "incoherent" only to the mentally lazy or those who just are incapable of "getting" it.
Replies to Comment # 20. You had to think to figure out what the artist meant by his words, which meant you had to know something about his history.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 20.
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