Guitarist Syd Barrett helped found the psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd. After a mental break forced his departure, he spent 30 years as a painter and recluse.
Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd expertly fused the light and dark sides of psychedelia; for every pop song about a gnome or scarecrow on their debut, there was one free-form freak-out. "See Emily Play"'s eerie organ and detached backing vocals are expertly counteracted with a poppy chorus and...
Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd expertly fused the light and dark sides of psychedelia; for every pop song about a gnome or scarecrow on their debut, there was one free-form freak-out. "See Emily Play"'s eerie organ and detached backing vocals are expertly counteracted with a poppy chorus and...
This song is not, as the myth holds, simply a tribute to Pink Floyd’s departed frontman Syd Barrett. Instead, it's a requiem for a group slowly drifting apart. Those larger ideas dovetailed perfectly, however, with a lost figure from their past – and a melancholy moment of greatness ...
This song is not, as the myth holds, simply a tribute to Pink Floyd’s departed frontman Syd Barrett. Instead, it's a requiem for a group slowly drifting apart. Those larger ideas dovetailed perfectly, however, with a lost figure from their past – and a melancholy moment of greatness ...
"The lunatic is on the grass," Roger Waters sings, lamenting former bandmate Syd Barrett's mental spiral. He does quote the album title, though, in a climactic turn."Bullet With Butterfly Wings," The Smashing Pumpkins (1995) "The world is a vampire," Billy Corgan sings at the ...
Founding frontman Syd Barrett reportedly wrote this song about a crossdresser he knew in Cambridge. It’s not a happy song, though—as Arnold’s penchant for stealing women’s panties gets him jail time: “Now he’s caught – a nasty sort of person/They gave him time/Doors bang, chain...
Syd Barrett was only a member of Pink Floyd for three years, but his presence and vision while in the band arguably affected them for the rest of their existence. After Barrett'sdeparturein 1968, Pink Floyd penned the epic, nine-part composition "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" for Barrett —...
“Shine On You Crazy Diamond” is a legendary nine-part rock saga written as a tribute to Syd Barrett. Barrett was a founding member of Pink Floyd and was its lead guitarist, singer, and songwriter for the first few years until he was asked to leave in 1968. But Barrett cast a longer...
Even if Pink Floyd hadn't made 1973's 'The Dark Side of the Moon,' a classic rock cornerstone, they'd rank as one of rock's most influential bands. In 1967, the original quartet -- led by Syd Barrett, whose mental and drug problems would sideline him for the rest of his life -...