Infinite MonkeysIt's a sad day in rock and roll. Syd Barrett, the founder of Pink Floyd, has passed away.
Syd was lost to the public world long ago to mental illness, exacerbated by drug use. But he was the ghost in the machine for Pink Floyd for decades, providing the inspiration for the band's best work, which explored alienation and loss.
Goodbye, you crazy diamond.
That's a major bummer. Barrett was a visionary, a brilliant songwriter, and a kid who should have stayed far, far away from the brown acid.
Then again, had Syd not wigged out, Floyd would most certainly have been a very different band; a better one, some would say, though I would beg to differ. Roger Waters in particular might not have turned out to be such a sourpuss. And we would, of course, have been deprived of Wish You Were Here, and many other of the all-time great songs to brood by.
Barrett's descent into madness -- or at least, drug-induced severe flakiness -- is well-documented in his music. Personally, I've always found that the nuttier he got, the more interesting the music became. That's not really a sustainable career trajectory, so I suppose he can be forgiven for finally holing up in his Mum's basement. Still, I will forever be bitter that he never got around to recording decent studio versions of Vegetable Man and Scream Thy Last Scream.
Fortunately, through the magic of technology, the man's eccentric genius is readily available on a steel breeze near you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxQhCNW8pLk
Posted by: Poochucker at July 11, 2006 12:35 PM