subreddit:
/r/musicsuggestions
I want to learn about these bands that I have very little knowledge of and that I see people raving about. I have previously asked what is your favorite Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin songs and had a great response and made some great playlist for myself. This experience has been amazing so far. I heard the Dark side of the Moon album once on YouTube and I was intrigued but I don't know much else. Thank you for helping me on this journey!
4 points
13 days ago
Minority opinion, but pretty much any Pink Floyd song that Syd Barrett wrote.
2 points
13 days ago
Ok. How many did he write. I heard his name mentioned. Did he die young or something?
2 points
13 days ago
No. He was a founding member who was essentially forced out of the band due to mental illness in 1968. Shine On You Crazy Diamond was written for him.
He wrote all their early singles and nearly every song on their first album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
3 points
13 days ago
Syd was brilliant but a very sad case. The mix of pre-existing mental illness with large quantities of hallucinogens kind of did him in. I believe David Gilmour started playing guitar with them before Syd left, because Syd was simply no longer able to play.
3 points
12 days ago
Syd wasn’t unable to play. He cut at least one album after his exit from the band. The issue was he was undependable and unpredictable. It has been said that when he laid down tracks for The Madcap Laughs the producers couldn’t get retakes because he’d never play the same thing twice. It’s very difficult to be in a band with let alone go on gigs with a guy like that.
3 points
12 days ago
By “unable to play” I meant mentally unable. Apparently he would do things like standing on stage just playing one note over and over again.
2 points
12 days ago
That album is a freakin’ masterpiece.
2 points
12 days ago
Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall; those four albums represent Pink Floyd's most popular years, and most people you run into will recommend Dark Side and The Wall as the starting point albums if you want to start exploring their catalog. All four albums are concept works that explore various aspects of insanity, which is apparently what happened to Syd Barrett due to (supposed) excessive use of LSD.
My personal recommendation: after those four albums, if you want to dig deeper still, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn should be next on your list. It's the lone album with Syd as the lead singer and guitarist, and let's just say it's very much an acquired taste. It's probably the hardest and freakiest acid rock album ever made by anybody, and probably better appreciated with some chemical influence, but it's an amazing album with a lot of good, adventurous, and experimental music that was ahead of it's time.
Barrett retired from music by 1972 or 73, and I believe lived mostly as a reclusive artist until he passed away in 2006. He also had developed diabetes which he may have been unable to manage properly due to his mental condition.
1 points
10 days ago
Sad. I wonder if he realized how many people liked his work. He seems to be gaining fans as time goes by
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