Oanã Iulian, Sociologie, Seria 2, Grupa 1 ©

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd este o formație britanică de rock progresivI formată în anul 1964 în
Cambridge, Anglia, faimoasă pentru compozițiile sale revoluționare în stil rock clasic,
versuri filozofice, experimente sonore, originalitate, coperte inovative de albume muzicale și
spectacole live intens elaborate.

Componența inițială a formației era: Syd Barrett (vocal, chitară), Roger Waters (chitară
bas), Rick Wright (clape), Nick Mason (baterie). Având un comportament bizar și
necontrolat, la cererea expresă a celorlalți membri ai trupei, Barrett a părăsit trupa în 1968, la
puțin timp după apariția albumului de debut, locul său fiind luat de David Gilmour.

Pink Floyd a devenit una dintre formațiile rock cele mai influente și pline de succes, grupul
vânzând de-a lungul timpului un număr estimat la peste 75 de milioane de albume muzicale
doar în Statele Unite, (Sursa RIAA, conform datelor avute la 22 aprilie 2006), și peste 200 de
milioane de albume în restul lumii (Sursa About.com, conform datelor avute la 9 februarie
2006).

La început, Pink Floyd s-a bucurat de un succes modest, ca o trupă de rock psihedelic
condusă Syd Barrett. După înlocuirea sa cu chitaristul David Gilmour, registrul nivelului
muzical al formației a atins cote de rafinament și elaborare superioare. Albumele lor
tematice, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977) și
The Wall (1979), au atins nivelul succesului internațional, devenind nu numai albume de
mare succes muzical, critic și comercial, dar și momente de referință având mare impact
muzical și temporal în lumea muzicii rock'n'rollII.

La mijlocul anului 1964, în incinta colegiului universitar din Cambridge (Anglia), studenții
la arhitectură Roger Waters , Nick Mason împreună cu Richard Wright, pianist, student la
Conservator, alcătuiesc împreună o formație care se va numi pe rând Sigma 6, The
Meggadeaths, The Screaming Abdabs, The Abdabs și T-Set împreuna cu Juliette Gale la
voce și cu chitaristul de jazz Bob Klose.

I
Rockul progresiv (mai este numit și prog sau prog rock) este o ramură a muzicii rock care s-a dezvoltat la
sfârșitul anilor '60 și începutul anilor '70 ca reacție a "încercărilor britanicilor de a duce muzica rock la nivele
artistice ridicate".
II
Rock and roll (sau rock 'n' roll) este un stil muzical cu originar din Statele Unite ale Americii, care s-a
dezvoltat în special la sfârșitul anilor 1940 și începutul anilor 1950 dintr-o combinație de blues, jazz, country
și gospel
 Oanã Iulian, Sociologie, Seria 2, Grupa 1 ©

Syd Barrett

Syd Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006), born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English
singer-songwriter, guitarist and painter. He is most remembered as a founding member of
psychedelic/progressive rock band Pink Floyd, providing major musical and stylistic
direction in their early work, although he left the group in 1968 amidst speculations of
mental illness exacerbated by heavy drug use.

Barrett was active as a rock musician for about seven years, recording two albums with
Pink Floyd and two solo albums before going into self-imposed seclusion lasting more than
thirty years. His post rock-band life was as an artist and a keen gardener, ending with his
death in 2006. A number of biographies have been written about him since the 1980s and
Pink Floyd wrote and recorded a song about him after he left, "Shine On You Crazy
Diamond"III on the 1975 album Wish You Were Here.IV

Barrett was born in the English city of Cambridge to a middle-class family. His father,
Arthur Max Barrett, was a prominent pathologist, and both he and his wife, Winifred,
encouraged the young Roger (as he was known then) in his music. When Barrett was three
years old, his family moved to 183, Hills Road. After his brothers and sisters left home, his
mother rented out rooms to lodgers, including a future Prime Minister of Japan. Barrett
acquired the nickname "Syd" at the age of 14, a reference to an old local Cambridge jazz
Double Bassist, Sid Barrett. Syd Barrett changed the spelling in order to differentiate
himself from his namesake. His father died of cancer on 11 December 1961, less than a
month before Barrett's 16th birthday. He attended Cambridgeshire High School for Boys and
Cambridge College of Arts and Technology.

Keen to help her son recover from his grief, Barrett's mother encouraged his band, The
Mottoes, to perform in their front room. Roger Waters and Barrett were childhood friends,
and Waters often visited such gigs. He enrolled in Camberwell Art School in South London
in 1964, to study painting, before forming his first band in 1965.

III
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is a nine-part Pink Floyd composition written by Roger Waters, Richard
Wright, and David Gilmour.
IV
Wish You Were Here is the ninth studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd, released in
September 1975.
Oanã Iulian, Sociologie, Seria 2, Grupa 1 ©

David Jon Gilmour

David Jon Gilmour, CBE (born 6 March 1946) is an English rock musician, best known
as the lead guitarist, one of the lead singers, and one of the main songwriters in the
progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has
worked as a producer for a variety of artists, and has enjoyed a successful career as a solo
artist. Gilmour has been actively involved with many charities over the course of his
career. In 2003, he was appointed CBE for services to music and philanthropy and was
awarded with the Outstanding Contribution title at the 2008 Q Awards. Rolling Stone has
described him as "one of rock's most distinctive guitarists".

Gilmour was born in Cambridge, England. His father, Douglas Gilmour, was a senior
lecturer in zoology at the University of Cambridge and his mother, Sylvia (née Wilson),
was a teacher and film editor who raised her family at Grantchester Meadows, later
immortalised by a Roger Waters song on Pink Floyd's Ummagumma. He has a younger
brother who is also a musician.
Gilmour attended The Perse School on Hills Road, Cambridge, and met future Pink Floyd
guitarist and vocalist Syd Barrett, along with bassist and vocalist Roger Waters who
attended Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, also situated on Hills Road. He studied
modern languages to A-Level, and along with Barrett, spent his lunchtime learning to play
the guitar. They were not yet bandmates however, and Gilmour started playing in the band
Joker's Wild in 1962. Gilmour left Joker's Wild in 1966 and busked around Spain and
France with some friends. However, they were not very successful, living virtually a hand-
to-mouth existence. In July 1992, Gilmour stated in an interview with Nicky Horne on
BBC radio that he ended up being treated for malnutrition in a hospital.
 Oanã Iulian, Sociologie, Seria 2, Grupa 1 ©

Nicholas Berkeley Mason

Nicholas Berkeley "Nick" Mason (born 27 January 1944) is an English drummer, best
known for his work with Pink Floyd. He has been the only constant member of the band
since its formation in 1965. He also competes in auto racing events, such as the 24 Hours of
Le Mans.
The son of the documentary film maker Bill Mason, he was born in Birmingham but
brought up in Hampstead, London (many online biographies mistakenly cite the street
address Downshire Hill – sometimes as "the Downshire Hills" – as a district of Birmingham)
and attended Frensham Heights School, Surrey. He later studied at the Regent Street
Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster), where he teamed up with Roger Waters,
Bob Klose and Richard Wright in 1964 to form Pink Floyd's predecessor, Sigma 6.

Mason has been the drummer on every Pink Floyd album (but not on every song; some
session drummers have been used).

Despite legal conflicts over ownership of the name 'Pink Floyd', Roger Waters and Nick
Mason are now on good terms. Mason joined Waters on the last two nights of his 2002 world
tour to play drums on the Pink Floyd song "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun", and he
also played drums on some concerts of Waters' European tour in 2006, and during
performances in Los Angeles and New York City in the United States. On 12 May 2007,
Mason joined Waters again on stage at Earls Court to play The Dark Side of the Moon.

The only Pink Floyd songs that are solely credited to Mason are "The Grand Vizier's
Garden Party Parts 1-3" (from Ummagumma) and "Speak to Me" (from The Dark Side of the
Moon). The one-off song by the band entitled "Nick's Boogie" was named after him.

The only times Mason's voice has been included on Pink Floyd's albums are "Corporal
Clegg", the single spoken line in "One of These Days" and spoken parts of "Signs of Life"
and "Learning to Fly" (the latter taken from actual recording of Mason's first solo flight)
from A Momentary Lapse of Reason. He does, however, sing lead vocals on two unreleased
but heavily bootlegged tracks, "Scream Thy Last Scream" (1967) and "The Merry Xmas
Song" (1975–76). In live performances of the song "Sheep", he did the spoken section.
Oanã Iulian, Sociologie, Seria 2, Grupa 1 ©