Ep. 78: Pink Floyd - Band Members
Intro
Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf, to our Tree of Knowledge.
Today's episode is on the band Pink Floyd who got their name from two American blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Their rise to fame came in the psychedelic music scene of the 1960s with Syd Barrett the bands primary songwriter.
Unfortunately, Syd left the band in 1968 due to ill health, after which Roger Waters took over as primary songwriter and David Gilmour as guitarist and vocalist.
The band has sold millions of records worldwide, had their album “The Wall” adapted into a feature film and they have given us the song “Comfortably Numb” which I rank as one of the greatest songs of all time.
Today’s mnemonic is on the band’s five members.
So, with no further ado, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.
Wikipedia Summary
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics and elaborate live shows. They became a leading band of the progressive rock genre, cited by some as the greatest progressive rock band of all time.
Pink Floyd were founded in 1965 by Syd Barrett (guitar, lead vocals), Nick Mason (drums), Roger Waters (bass guitar, vocals), and Richard Wright (keyboards, vocals). Under Barrett's leadership, they released two charting singles and the successful debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967). The guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour joined in January 1968; Barrett left in April 1968 due to deteriorating mental health. Waters became the primary lyricist and thematic leader, devising the concepts behind Pink Floyd's most successful albums, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979). The musical film based on The Wall, Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982), won two BAFTA Awards. Pink Floyd also composed several film scores.
Following personal tensions, Wright left Pink Floyd in 1981, followed by Waters in 1985. Gilmour and Mason continued as Pink Floyd, rejoined later by Wright. They produced the albums A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994), backed by major tours, before entering a long hiatus. In 2005, all but Barrett reunited for a performance at the global awareness event Live 8. Barrett died in 2006, and Wright in 2008. The last Pink Floyd studio album, The Endless River (2014), was based on unreleased material from the Division Bell recording sessions. In 2022, Gilmour and Mason reformed Pink Floyd to release the song "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" in protest of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
By 2013, Pink Floyd had sold more than 250 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame,[1] and these albums and Wish You Were Here are among the best-selling albums of all time. Four Pink Floyd albums topped the US Billboard 200, and five topped the UK Albums Chart. Pink Floyd's hit singles include "See Emily Play" (1967), "Money" (1973), "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" (1979), "Not Now John" (1983), "On the Turning Away" (1987) and "High Hopes" (1994). They were inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. In 2008, Pink Floyd were awarded the Polar Music Prize in Sweden for their contribution to modern music.
Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Floyd]
Mnemonic
Pink Floyd - Band Members – DRS RuN
(Picture Roger Waters with a severe stomach ache before a show in Philadelphia and the Drs run to give him a sedative to alleviate his pain that ends up making his hands numb and his vision blurred for the rest of the concert, which is actually true and the scenario that the song “Comfortably Numb” is based)
1. David Gilmour
2. Roger Waters
3. Syd Barrett
4. Richard Wright
5. Nick Mason
Five Fun Facts
1. The band Pink Floyd underwent a myriad of name changes before they finally settled on the name Pink Floyd. Some of these names included Sigma 6, Leonard’s Lodgers, Meggadeaths, the Abdabs and the screaming Abdabs, the Spectrum Five and the Tea Set. They were going to settle on Tea Set however there was another band with that same name.
The name Pink Floyd came courtesy of Syd Barret who formed the name from the Christian names of two American blues musicians in his collection, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.
2. The Pink Floyd album “The Dark Side of the Moon” is the fourth best selling album of all time selling over 45 million copies worldwide.
3. Fact three addresses the urban legend about whether “The Dark Side of the Moon” and “The Wizard of Oz” are synchronised in any way. Pink Floyd denies this but others say it was intentional. Now I actually took the time and synced them up and listened to them both. While there were many points you could probably agree with the urban legend, from my point of view, probably not enough to be convincing. Let me know what you think.
4. In the mid 1980’s after leaving the band, Roger Waters took the other members of Pink Floyd to court in the hope of barring them from continuing to use the Pink Floyd name. Unfortunately, for Waters he lost and has since regretted the litigation.
5. Pink Floyd’s first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, was famously recorded at Abbey Road in 1967. Why famously? Well because it was directly adjacent to The Beatles, who were recording Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band at the exact same time.
6. Bonus Fact: Pink Floyd were the first rock band to pioneer live surround sound, in the form of the Azimuth Co-Ordinator quadrophonic sound system.
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Three Question Quiz
Q.1. How many weeks was “Dark Side of the Moon” on the Billboard 200 charts? Options are 150 weeks, 400 weeks or 950 weeks
Q.2. What are the three animals featured on Pink Floyd’s “Animals” album? Options are dogs, pigs and sheep or Dogs, cats and sheep
Q.3. What decade did the song “Another Brick in the Wall” come out?
Bonus Q. What is Roger Waters real Christian name? Options are George, Jim or John
Bonus Q. Which well-known artist starred in the lead role for Pink Floyd’s filmed version of “The Wall”? Hint: His bands name has a rodent in the name.
Mnemonic Recap
Pink Floyd - Band Members – DRS RuN
(Picture Roger Waters with a severe stomach ache before a show in Philadelphia and the Drs run to give him a sedative to alleviate his pain that ends up making his hands numb and his vision blurred for the rest of the concert, which is actually true and the scenario that the song “Comfortably Numb” is based)
1. David Gilmour
2. Roger Waters
3. Syd Barrett
4. Richard Wright
5. Nick Mason
Three Question Quiz Answers
Q.1. How many weeks was “Dark Side of the Moon” on the Billboard 200 charts? Options are 150 weeks, 400 weeks or 950 weeks
A. 950 weeks
Q.2. What are the three animals featured on Pink Floyd’s “Animals” album? Options are dogs, pigs and sheep or Dogs, cats and sheep
A. Dogs, pigs and sheep
Q.3. What decade did the song “Another Brick in the Wall” come out?
A. 1970’s (1979)
Bonus Q. What is Roger Waters real Christian name? Options are George, Jim or John
A. George Roger Waters
Just speaking of Roger Waters; apparently, he was very close to Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant. So close in fact that Roger Waters would look after the Led Zeppelin superstars garden, whilst he was on tour. Essentially what I mean, Roger Waters Robert’s Plants!
Bonus Q. Which well-known artist starred in the lead role for Pink Floyd’s filmed version of “The Wall”? Hint: His bands name has a rodent in the name.
A. Bob Geldof from “The Boomtown Rats”
Word of the Week
bowdlerize
[ bowd-luh-rahyz ]
verb
to amend a written work by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.
Example
There was no need for Pink Floyd to bowdlerize any of their songs. On the other hand, this would not go astray for the band Psychostick who have over 500 expletives in their song N.S.F.W.
Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]
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https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-mnemonic-tree-podcast/id1591795132
https://open.spotify.com/show/3T0LdIJ9PBQMXM3cdKd42Q?si=fqmaN2TNS8qqc7jOEVa-Cw
References
https://soundod.com/15-pink-floyd-facts/
https://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/Music/Pink-Floyd-Trivia-112123.html
https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/quizshow.php?title=pp-are-you-fan-of-pink-floyd&q=28
https://www.nme.com/photos/50-geeky-facts-about-pink-floyd-1416852
https://www.buzzfeed.com/spotify/15-brain-melting-pink-floyd-facts-and-figures