What's The Big Deal With Pink Floyd?

[timbre4]

Q Eight - I can put things back the way they were; this is the portion that pertained specifically to the release one would expect in a poll thread:

"After being into Quad for the bulk portion of 20 years, and after many, many attempts; I finally scored a half-assed copy of this Q8."
"The mix on the Q8 is typical for the era. Drums up front. Stuff in the corners. Most of the time there's not a lot going on so you get some silent (hissy) channels for much of the songs. A solid "meh" from me. / Good Surround. / Decent Fidelity. / Uninspiring Content."

Okay, good so far. The rest was your opinion about the general validity of the band itself, which was sure to invite many reactions further polluting the poll thread.
If "Someone please tell me how these guys were popular?" wasn't an invitation to create such a diversion I honestly don't know what is.

You are absolutely free to express your opinion on the QQ and that will never change. Just be careful what you ask for!

 

[quadtrade]

Pink Floyd was a band in the 70's, that could affect the way people view the world. Very few of those type bands existed. That is why they are so influential to this day.

 

[timbre4]

I have restored the review comments specific to the Q8 WYWH album release to the quad poll. If there is anything further I can do (not sure about un-do) let me know.

 

[ssully]

More importantly, why wasn't 'The' capitalized?

 

[ssully]

If anyone on this site is an institution on Pink Floyd, it's Fourplay!!!!!!

Interesting your take on "Pink Freud"(1987 PF), though....

'Pink Freud'? Sounds like a more interesting band than post-1983 Pink Floyd.

 

[ssully]

Except for the fact that Roger Waters is an egregiously moody foppish dilettante, PF's a really cool band!

"Foppish'? Rog hasn't worn a puffy shirt since the late 1960s, AFAIK. He's been a black T-shirt kinda guy for decades now.

Anyway, The Wall is hugely overrated. But there's lots of other really good PF.

 

[ssully]

Yeah, I've been here since 2003, you joined less than 2 years ago? So, who exactly is the 'newb' around here stirring the pot?

I don't understand why this post was moved. I posted because I've chased this Q8 title for the bulk of my Quad collecting days. Now that I've got it, I found the mix to be standard board of fare for 1975 Columbia tapes, the sonics to be a little on the hissy side and the music to be boring and uninspiring. I found it to be a much less-engaging listen than even the real, discrete version of Dark Side. Isn't that the point of the rating system? Sonics, Mix and Content? Am I not allowed to speak my mind and question why this was ever popular? Do we now have to start censoring so as not to offend and/or upset those among us with no testicular fortitude?

What could have turned into an interesting discussion (hey, lookit that - I'm NOT closed-minded!) but now some have decided to move my post and bash me behind my back. Not that I care. I've been called worse by a lot better. But after being here for a long, long time.... I'd have expected better from this forum.

You've been on this quad board for 15 years (so I presume your 'collecting days' go at least that far back) and you only just managed to hear the quad mix of DSotM (or is it WYWH?), one of the more common and iconic quad mixes since, like, forever? With DSotM (or WYWH?) itself being one of the most famous and popular rock albums of all rock time? And now, April 2018, this is your springboard for asking 'what is the DEAL with these 'Pink Floyd' chaps'?

Yeah, it's curious.

(Btw, you do know that your PF 'Q8s' are easily surpassed in sonic quality by digital versions sourced direct from 4-track master tapes, now available either commercially or through 'collector sources'? Right?)

 

[ssully]

Pink Floyd was a band in the 70's, that could affect the way people view the world. Very few of those type bands existed. That is why they are so influential to this day.

Actually the late 60s and early 70s was exactly when *more than a few* of those type bands existed. And actually were able to make records.

 

[timbre4]

More importantly, why wasn't 'The' capitalized?

This has been corrected. If I'd been thinking at the time, I could've titled this 'Wot's... Uh The Deal?'

 

[kap'n krunch]

Well, after the MILESTONE that is AP's DSOTM Quad mix, WYWH is definitely different, so, expectations will never be met after DSOTM...as it is, WYWH is my (and several member's) favorite PF record....
As it is I think it's a damn good mix...I mean, after knowing the stereo mix inside and out , I did a conversion of the SQ LP and was promptly blown away!!!

 

[Fourplay]

I guess we took his question, "Someone please tell me how these guys were popular?" more literally than he might have intended.

Yes, I took it literally, kind of like a challenge. The challenge was to see if I could express to you why Pink Floyd is important to me, and perhaps to culture at large. I tried to be friendly and balanced in my approach - hey, no one should bash anyone around here. I think the Q8 comments about the title were appropriate for the poll thread, but also valid as the start of a different discussion.

So rather than bashing Q8 (or anybody), my challenge to Floyd fans who come across this thread would be to try to describe why you think Pink Floyd are popular - what was it that drew you to this band? I think it's a fun discussion; and leave the bashing sticks in the wood pile.

 

[atrocity]

So rather than bashing Q8 (or anybody), my challenge to Floyd fans who come across this thread would be to try to describe why you think Pink Floyd are popular - what was it that drew you to this band?

They used to play this song on the radio that had this really cool line "Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way." Then there was this other song called "Money" that was catchy and around at the same time as well as a really pretty song called "Us and Them." At some point a little over a year after they were released, I finally figured out that they were all by the same band and all from the same album. I liked them enough to get my 15 year old ass on a bus in the hot summer and go out to the record store (curiously, not Tower...maybe the bus didn't go there conveniently or something).

Anyway, I was looking at the posters and the stickers and the liner notes on the bus and was pretty impressed by the packaging. When I got home I played it through and was completely blown away by how well it all flowed together, both figuratively and literally. Either that same night or very soon after I had a couple friends over and I turned off the lights so we could just listen to it in the dark. There was just something about it that made treating it that seriously seem completely natural and normal. My friends wound up impressed as well.

A bit over a year later "Wish You Were Here" came out and at first all I could hear were the bits that I thought sounded like the prior album. Curiously, I can't even remember what those were now. But I wound up loving the album anyway and started checking out their back catalog and a few bootlegs. Though I did things a little weird and actually had the KQED no-orchestra version of "Atom Heart Mother" long before I ever heard the studio version. Which, as luck would have it, I heard very late one night on the radio only to later learn that it was because my best friend had requested it!

Words, words, words...I guess at the end of the day what drew me to the band was simply loving the music, some of it immediately, some of it only after a few listens or even a few years. The fact that I loved so much of their stuff right away made me occasionally go back to albums I didn't initially care for. I'm not sure I've ever done that for any other band, but something about loving so much of their work made me stubbornly try to understand the stuff that didn't impress me right away. And it worked: The albums that once mystified me are now indispensable to me.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Why are Pink Floyd a big deal? Given their obvious commercial success (zillions of records, mountains of merchandise, sold out stadiums), to me, the question is why wouldn't they be a bid deal?
To some, Nick Mason's drumming can come off as a bit pedestrian. He is definitely no Keith Moon, Neil Peart or Stewart Copeland. I wouldn't say any of them are terrific singers. In fact, one day, playing WYWH for my dad (who loves country, blues, soul and singer-songwriter type of stuff), his one comment was "they couldn't afford singers, huh?" Waters isn't a super-technical bassist either. Gilmour's guitar playing is certainly unique, distinctive and frequently worthy of undivided attention.. Richard Wright? I think he shines on the keys occasionally, but often just adds some chordal wash via keyboard patches.
But, when you put it all together, it creates something that works for a whole lot of people! I can see how their output is possibly a bit too chill, for some. But, they do rock out now and then.
As for WYWH musically, it never really did much for me, aside from Welcome to the Machine and the title track, until I heard the quad mix on blu-ray. That mix opens up so much space for intricacies I had never noticed that the whole album, mellow keyboard patch movements and all, became vastly more interesting.
Dark Side of the Moon was just one of those albums, as I entered my teenage years, that you just HAD to hear. Either a friend would compel you, you'd be sucked in by the art at the record store, on somebody's T-shirt or whatnot, or you'd be tempted by a radio cut (nearly the whole album gets played on radio).
Division Bell was my first new Floyd album. I was disappointed that it was missing that shrieking, biting Waters' vocal and seemed more adult contemporary than my favorite albums, but it had some really good cuts. What do You Want from Me?, High Hopes, Keep Talking. The concert was a life-time event. Spectacular. Camped out at the record store overnight to get tickets and almost got mugged trying to leave the scene, as they quickly sold out. My friends and I were in the very last row, atop the Oakland Colosseum.
The Wall and The Final Cut. First of all, I'm a bit of a WWI and WWII buff. Various family members fought in the wars and, growing up, they just seemed like immensely important events in world history, to me.
I mean, losing to the Nazis is the stuff of horror fiction. Even letting them continue with their genocidal quest within their own borders would be unthinkable. Also, as a combat vet, there are feelings that The Wall, The Final Cut and Amused to Death can stir up in me that few other albums can. For better or worse. Seeing Waters' The Wall Live blu-ray and realizing the impact that his slain grandfather and father have had on him creates a connection for me that I'm not likely to have with many other artists.
There is so much more that can be said, but I think others have covered it or will. This is just my $0.02...

 

[mlrocker]

Sometimes you'll find the herd runs in a different direction and you're out on the fringe. Example, for the life of me I have no interest in owning anything by Frank Zappa, the Grateful Dead, or Bruce Springsteen.

 

[~dave~~wave~]

...who exactly is the 'newb' around here stirring the pot?
...bash me...

I apologize for being a pot-stirring newb and bashing you.
Sorry, didn't mean to offend.
I thought emojis might convey I was attempting a little humor, I failed in that.

...lazy musicians. ...lazy, drugged-out hippie...

Without any apology whatsoever, I dispute and repudiate these bigoted stereotypes.
I honestly thought it might be an April Fools prank.
Or possibly a generational misunderstanding, since I'm 30 years older than you.

The "drug" I favored as a college freshman enjoying Meddle was the softest, non-toxic, non-addictive variety.
I'll undertake not to make any cracks about lazy, drugged-out hipster millennials who live in their parents' basement.

Thanks, though, for getting me to listen to some PF in simulated surround on a snowy Easter morning and discovering some new gems.
I also was stimulated to order the V&A exhibit coffee table book at a good discount.
Their MortAl RemAins arrived today...
...getting distracted by the shiny, trippy lenticular cover with the DSOTM prism...

...must lazily crawl off and passively listen to surround BluRays and flip pages in a drug-addled fog of hippie laziness...

Life is good, you'll have no more trouble from me...
Peace, Out.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

....too funny

 

[DuncanS]

Blimey how much was the postage to the USA? I went the V&A Exhibition in October having ordered it when booking tickets and expecting to pick it up there, but they sent it, it was on the doorstep when I got back. So as I went to the V&A on my birthday I bought

.................plus a box of postcards, a 12" EP, and a few other things. Maybe I shouldn't have drunk 'some beer' on the lunchtime!

Their MortAl RemAins arrived today...
...getting distracted by the shiny, trippy lenticular cover with the DSOTM prism...

 

[~dave~~wave~]

Blimey how much was the postage to the USA?

Free shipping with Amazon Prime.

 

[~dave~~wave~]

^^^^^^^^

Once one gets past the trippie hippie cover, to the essays in this book, there's a fascinating breakdown by celebrity BBC Musicologist Howard Goodall on the musical theory of why long form Pink Floyd songs appeal to so many listeners, referencing the use of suspensions, à la Bach.

It brought to mind an explanation I heard from a music major friend in 1972 along the same lines.
(Which I could only understand on the most simple level at the time.)

Wow, though, that cover.

 

[holland123]

Hey Q - Eight I don't believe for a single minute that anyone was trying to bash you, I think Dave - Wave was just being silly and I Know that Tim meant absolutely no harm in moving the thread and in fact probably just thought as you said that it can stimulate an interesting conversation. You are one of the old timers around here dude and we all love you !

I in fact hated Pink Floyd until that album, their prior experimental genre was for me very boring. That album however was one of those pivotal albums which came at a time when popular music turned a corner much like with the release of Sgt. Peppers, it was a masterful blend of pop, rock, and jazz which crossed over into so many areas that it became a touchpoint for several generations of music listeners.