What’s all the fuss about Floyd?
Awesome Artist of the Week logo by Sarca @ caughtmegaming
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“My loneliness is killing me (and I)
I must confess”
– Britney Spears, Hit Me Baby One More Time
Like Britney, I have a confession to make.
Also not unlike Ms. Spears, I’ve felt quite lonely keeping this to myself, lo these many years.
Saying that it’s killing me…would be hyperbole. But I think you’ll know what I mean.
Once I finally work up the courage to say it.
Here goes.
Please forgive me…I don’t love Pink Floyd.
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Infinitely inferior Fuss about Floyd logo by yours truly
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To be clear, I don’t hate Pink Floyd, not at all.
I’d even say I like them.
But ‘liking’ them feels insufficient.
When I reviewed Dark Side of the Moon favourably but not fawningly, it somehow felt like I was being blasphemous.
It’s an isolating feeling when (seemingly) the world understands/appreciates/reveres something much more than you.
For years, I’ve just struggled to understand how (seemingly) everyone loves them and I haven’t been able to move beyond liking &/or admiring them from a distance.
So this week, I’m setting out to find what I’ve somehow missed.
And I’ll do so in a series-within-a-series (whoa): What’s all the fuss about Floyd?
Will I love them by the end of the week?
It would make for a heartwarming tale &/or convenient story arc!
But I suppose only time will tell.
So stay tuned for reviews of Wish You Were Here, The Wall, and The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, as I try to figure out just what all the fuss is about.
Enjoy!
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Verbalize the Positive
A genuine thank you to all my fellow bloggers for bringing discourse & the celebration of opinion diversity back to the world wide web.
I always feel comfortable being allowed to enjoy/not enjoy different music without fear of name-calling, this quest is more out of curiosity for me, a fun search for what I might have missed that others seem to have discovered long ago.
1001albumsin10years 
Britney Spears articulates the human condition quite nicely. (Or was it per Timbaland?) Maybe we should all do posts with philosophy a la Britney!
Pink Floyd… can’t help you there. Although I recognize phenomenal talent, they’re not among my loves. I’ve felt that I’m quite solidly in the minority with that perspective….
Haha, thanks Danica – I recall that album (on the 1001 list) had a track called “email my heart,” perhaps that could be part of the theme!
Haha — “email my heart”! I could go somewhere with that. 🙂
There’s an album of hers I thought was pretty good… can’t think of the title but recall that it was produced and possibly written by Timbaland….
Max Martin produced the first few albums (for a certain Keanu fan, his production company is called The Matrix!), along with all the major acts of the time like NSync, BSB etc. Lyrically, his stuff leaves something to be desired, but does he know how to write and produce a catchy song. Still writing for Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and even Adele, Max Martin is the most successful songwriter after Lennon-McCartney!
Haha, I certainly approve of that production company name! His resume really is something else, if it’s been a hit in the last 2 decades, he’s likely been involved somehow!
He’s got an entire camp, so much so that if it’s not him, then it’s his disciple producing the next hit. He works with rivals too (Britney/Avril, Perry/Swift) , so basically he’s been running the pop music industry in the past two decades.
So perhaps a bit like the author James Patterson? So prolific, partially because there’s a team of writers involved?
I wasn’t aware of that! But, Max Martin doesn’t put his name to something he isn’t personally involved in. Maybe, he’ll attribute it to The Matrix, but usually his proteges strike out on their own. Seems like a decent guy overall!
Hey, I’m not going to sit here and try to convince you just how worth it all is to be a Floyd fan, I’m just not that kinda guy.
But watch Live at Pompeii. Not the directors cut, the original with the Abbey Road footage. Don’t become a fan after this and I just can’t help you.
You are welcome.
Thank you in advance!
I appreciate the suggestion Daddydinorawk, added to my homework list with The Fall’s catalogue 🙂
There are a ton of overblown bands out there. I’ve never felt love for Zeppelin, AC/DC or Metallica. I don’t dislike these bands, but I don’t see what all the fuss is about (or I’ve just heard enough of their music to last several lifetimes).
Pink Floyd is another overblown band, but I did love them for quite a while. There’s an undercurrent to their music and lyrics that I’ve always identified with. Maybe you’ll find it as you look past the hits.
If I thought Floyd was in the ‘thou must love’ category, Zeppelin would be leading that list – maybe it’s something about bands that can be shortened to a single name!
And I hear you with those bands where you hit the point of over-saturation & don’t feel compelled to explore any further.
Thanks Zack!
I understand what all the fuss is about. I see some of the greats as more of a product of their time than as something that will always be as relevant. Like you, I like but not love them. I think when it comes to liking vs loving vs dismissing the greats, we tend to let the reputation tell us what we should feel. It can get difficult to look at something for what it is, and then be okay with however we feel about it. For example, I really liked Nirvana when I was 15-16. I understood how they meant something for a generation and changed things. A few years later though, I thought it was all a bit too much. Like there was other, much more interesting and influential music around, and they were living in the public consciousness more as a cultural thing than as a musical thing. I’ve never felt like going back to them either.
I’m glad you mentioned Nirvana Amrita – I was into them, then off of them for a while for many of the reasons you described.
But I rediscovered them a few years ago – the unplugged concert was a good reminder that beyond all the hype/reputation/etc., there were actually some really strong songs to be heard.
As always, your thoughtful comments are much appreciated!
Just liking them is fine… So is hating them. No band is for everybody. I can’t stomach The Beatles for instance. No big deal! I’m quite happy just liking Pink Floyd.
After preliminary listens of Floyd so far, it feels like I’ll have a range of emotions on Floyd, from like to bemusement to intrigue and everything in between!
There’s quite a lot of different Floyds though I suppose. The Barrett stuff is a totally different kettle of fish to The Wall and all that.
And that range of emotions sounds like the start of an exciting musical relationship to me!
I wish you luck, not just with Floyd (who I do really like, except for The Wall and The Final Cut) but with tackling a sacred cow or three. Any mission that has the word sacred anywhere within 1000 km radius is a dangerous one.
Who knows how you’ll fare? Well I hope. My tuppence worth – whether it’s Floyd, The Beatles, or anyone else – is to spend some time examining the context. The popularity of some music only makes sense when you know from whence it sprang.
I’ll close by illustrating the dangers and poking the wasps nest.
If you drive a car and value what automobiles do, you have to respect and acknowledge Henry Ford. Same with the Beatles.
Well said about the importance of context Bruce – as you mentioned with the Beatles, even though the older stuff isn’t as stand-alone interesting when taken out of context, the later stuff doesn’t exist without it!
Bzzzz… I hereby acknowledge and respect The Beatles. But I still can’t stomach them!
Their early albums are often a bit messy, and they were way less interesting once the group synergies dissolved and it became driven by Waters and then Gilmour. But they have a very interesting discography, with lots of hidden treasures.
It took me a long time to appreciate Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and even now it can be a tough listen in places. I don’t really enjoy The Wall that much; even if there are some very good songs, its very narrative driven with little musical content in places. But I find Wish You Were Here very enjoyable.
Thanks for commenting Aphoristical – so far, Wish You Were Here’s been the most enjoyable of the bunch for me too!
HAHAHA I love your “inferior logo”, even though it not. It’s minimalist. That’s a valid form of expression!
For me, I found the quickest pathway to pure Floydian love was the double greatest hits CD (name escaping me now) from about 2003-ish. Fantastic set, all the way through, and easy to binge on and repeat. Their studio albums take more time, more effort, and I haven’t gone all the way to get there with some of them. The Wall was pretty immediate, however.
Cheers Mike!
Interesting to hear the greatest hits provided a nice starting point – I wouldn’t have thought they’d work in that format. Nice to hear otherwise!
The CD was called Echoes. It’s a monster, and it flows well because the band compiled it.
I need to get Comfortably Numb!
I have become!
I’m on a similar mission here, Geoff. I like Pink Floyd, but I don’t love them unreservedly. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t into them at the time, maybe it’s just I don’t dig some of the weird stuff they tried (and kudos to them for being experimental, fair play), or maybe it’s just because it is never 4:20 in my house if you know what I mean. I dunno. I’ll look forward to reading about how you get on with them! And don’t worry, you are not alone.
I was thinking the lack of that time of day celebrations was part of my issue too!
Thanks Aaron, nice to be in good company on such a mission
Cool beans, Geoff, I hope you find lots to like in their discography! I have a few more of their records here, and I’m going to go through them here and there. I don’t want to do too much all at once!
It’s interesting which artists benefit from full immersion – I found all Eno/all the time helped me get into Brian Eno, but all Waits/all the time wasn’t the right listening context for me. So maybe moderation with Floyd is the way to go!
Pink Floyd are a journey. Not all of it is great or even good but the trip is worth it for those sounds that nobody else was able to make or has made.
Thanks for your comments Neil – that sounds like a fair description. And I think that’s admirable too when a band isn’t just repeating the same sounds, it seems like they kept reinventing and I definitely applaud that, even if the results were uneven.
The first band I ever liked, when I was 6, because of the animal noises on Animals!
though the Pet Sounds on Pet Sounds somehow didn’t register? 😉
No!!!
I like ’em. Or like some albums. Yeah, that’s probably more accurate. I like some albums. Dislike some. Have spent many years wanting to like them more than I do. I dare say I like the albums non Floyd fans like, but do find some of it a bit meandering. Sounds pretty exceptional at times. Musically flawless. But just doesn’t always hit that note for me.
So aye, I like them. I appreciate them. But I’ll likely never be mad about them. Let’s leave it at that.
LOL I felt that way about Tragically Hip for a long time. And, here’s an even bigger confession, I felt that way about the Beattles for the longest time… I acknowledged their contribution to music but didn’t have much interest in them myself. I’m much more open towards them now. Yeah, and there’s Elvis too, couldn’t get into the music but I did get what he, his deep voice and his wacky hip movements were embodying at that time in the 50s.
Though the hip didn’t have to be filmed from the waist up like that Elvis fellow!
I started to come around to Elvis after listening to his 3 albums on the 1001, but still not planning the trek to Graceland just yet
If you recall my live Floyd review it was one of those shows I seen that I didn’t own the whole catalogue too.
Great show and funny to see the cops looking baked as well! haha
Everyone was feeling comfortably numb then!
hahaha….that is correct!
Don’t worry if you don’t love Floyd. I think you started with the most over hyped album in “Dark Side Of The Moon”. Wait till you get to “Wish You Were Here” and “The Wall”. Your outlook may change.
And my outlook has started to finally change, as you predicted Geoff!
Pink Floyd happens to be my favorite band and I do find lots of people who really don’t understand why. Even if after your journey you decide that “The Floyd” is has not grown much more on you I can understand that too. Have you ever listened to any of the albums through some high quality headphones?
I did not listen through headphones this time – that may change/enhance the experience for sure
Stephen try “Welcome to the Machine” first.The machines at the beginning run through each speaker. I love listening to the CD through my home entertainment system and sit in my chair as they go from speaker to speaker. Then do “On the Run” from DSOTM. The person running through the airport slowly builds up in one speaker then moves over to the next. Due this with either a album or CD not from YouTube or something downloaded from the internet (quality is the craps).
That sounds promising – I’ll have to experiment!
I like ’em. Or like some albums. Yeah, that’s probably more accurate. I like some albums. Dislike some. Have spent many years wanting to like them more than I do. I dare say I like the albums non Floyd fans like, but do find some of it a bit meandering. Sounds pretty exceptional at times. Musically flawless. But just doesn’t always hit that note for me.
So aye, I like them. I appreciate them. But I’ll likely never be mad about them. Let’s leave it at that
It sounds like we may end up at that same level of Floyd enjoyment J – like, appreciate, unlikely to be much more than that!
I am not going to rant about good they are. I totally respect your opinion. I believe that in art, there are always going to be some who will understand and some who won’t. Having said that, it is totally fine if you don’t like them yet. Although, if you love songs for the lyrics and complexity of music, you are missing out on a lot my friend. Pink Floyd are known for their lyrics and more importantly, their conceptual albums. As Neil has rightly pointed out, it is a journey. You might not find everything to relate to. But trust me, the things you find which you can relate to, you might appreciate them a lot. The Fuss about Pink Floyd is the same I had about the Beatles. But the day I came across “Across the Universe” things changed. That is the same with Pink Floyd for many people. Their story, the background, the whole Syd Barrett story and to top it all, the words of Waters and the musical creativity of Gilmour added another dimension and took them to a whole new level. They have influenced soo many bands out there. But as I said, some get it, some don’t. Maybe if you study about their background and then if you listen to the songs, you will definitely start understanding and joining the dots. Till date, I still read about Pink Floyd and every time I come across something new, it adds more value to every song. Hope this was not a rant. :p
Thank you for the non-rant! 😀
I think both you & Neil are right that Floyd is a journey – and admittedly, I’m intentionally underesearched when I’m listening to these (I don’t want to unintentionally regurgitate better reviews by better reviewers).
Floyd does seem like one of those groups where more understanding of the context would enhance the experience.
And I’m interested to check out the Syd Barrett solo album on the 1001 list, as Piper was probably the most intriguing of the Floyd albums I checked out.
Thanks for commenting & stopping by!