Pink Floyd

[duchess_of_fork]

I used to like them when I did drugs. Go figure..
I still remember smoking tons of marijuana in the morning, laying on my bedroom floor, listening to Dark Side of the Moon...on vinyl. The sun was shining through my big windows and, at the time, it felt like bliss.
But now that I've been clean for over a year and think that people doing drugs are "blithering idiots"...I really just can't listen to Pink Floyd.
They lack honesty...which is why I like the Smiths. Bands like Pink Floyd gather in a room, do a whole lot of drugs, put together a bunch of nonsense that sounds "groovy" and voila.
kind of like yoko ono's avant garde art. here's a piece of f***ing tape on a sheet of paper. "it represents the state of the world and the way everything is megred together to create substance and harmony." eat it, martha focker!

 

[the more you explore me!]

ha ha ha ha ha

coming from a morrissey fan, you find floyd dull and depressing.

em never said they were depressing, just not my cup of tea in a musical way. but i have the first lp and the syd stuff, from that i can't see the link between the bands, unless it the englishness which was in the music/style/look? when barratt was singer/guitarist.... wouldn't you say!

 

[Born under a bad sign]

i would say pink floyd were popular because they were fantastic

just because you dont get it doesnt matter

the dark side of the moon was one of the greatest albums ever

heres a clue

pink floyd were special and made it

kristeen young is a loud screecher

that wont

 

[Poco Innocente]

It never fails to surprise me how many people think their views are so important that they overlook the initial question/point/topic.

 

[Worm]

Um, I guess I didn't think I needed to spell it out.

Pink Floyd's music is a turgid, rotting mess. Since I had previously thought it self-evident that Smiths records are sleek, stylish, and tightly crafted I figured it would go without saying that one is the polar opposite of the other.

 

[SRA]

You can find some similarities on the lyrical level, I suppose. They're both rather melancholy, and politically (at least during the Floyd's Waters-dominated era, i.e. 1973-1983) they tend to identify with the working class and the oppressed (and The Final Cut is as fiercely anti-Thatcherite as anything Morrissey ever written).

Musically they're different, yes... the Smiths have shorter songs, much simpler arrangements and instrumentations, much more in-your-face, almost no solos, more conventional song structures. Some Moz solo stuff sounds a little Floydish, though... I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday, for example, or Life Is A Pigsty.

I'd say that's a perfect summing up, to be honest. Excellently put.

I agree completely re: differences and similarities. The Teachers Are Afraid of The Pupils is a little Pink Floyd like, although actuslly a weak song IMO.

In any event, I agree that Pink Floyd are/were a terrific band.

Wish You Were Here is one of the most incredible songs ive heard, one of the few rivalling Smiths/Moz classics in my mind. The atmosphere of the song and the way it is crafted, musically but particularly lyrically, is mind blowing. For me, at least!.

 

[Grim O'Grady]

What do you think to the assertion that Pink Floyd is the polar opposite to The Smiths, in music terms? Floyd has such a grandiose sound. I’m not suggesting The Smiths don’t, but it’s a grandiose pop sound as opposed to the large rolling sounds of Floyd.

I haven’t really listened to Floyd much to be honest and I’m not debating if they are good or bad. The reason I’m interested is because my friend is a massive Floyd fan and I am a massive Smiths fan.

What be your thoughts?









ps I am not interested in if you like or dislike Floyd

my thoughts...
1) go discuss it with your pink floyd mate, though how you can have a discussion about a band you don't listen to astounds me.
2) that's why it should be in the 'off topic' section, anyone can make anything 'Smiths' related using your technique eh?
3) had you requested peoples interest/disinterest in PF, then I would have suggested the 'other music' section.

I wasn't 'dissing' you btw.

love

Grim

 

[Poco Innocente]

my thoughts...
1) go discuss it with your pink floyd mate, though how you can have a discussion about a band you don't listen to astounds me.
2) that's why it should be in the 'off topic' section, anyone can make anything 'Smiths' related using your technique eh?
3) had you requested peoples interest/disinterest in PF, then I would have suggested the 'other music' section.

I wasn't 'dissing' you btw.

love

Grim

I have chosen to discuss it here as my initial thoughts about it were related to The Smiths, as is the question...hence it is clearly not off-topic. And I wasn't suggesting you had 'dissed' me, I just disagreed with your suggestion that it was off-topic.

How I do love these inane forum misunderstandings.

 

[WhyteGrrrl]

WhyteGrrrl,

I seem to remember Alain being into Pink Floyd-- or at least a fan of prog rock. Definitely shows up on Southpaw (especially the opening and closing tracks).

Alain is into a lot of different types of music...prog rock being only one of them.

 

[Theo]

Yeah, Pink Floyd is pretty different from Morrissey/Smiths. Obviously one can point out the many differences and make a case that they are "opposites." *shrug* I don't listen to them together much, but I like both. I like an extremely wide range of music, but it doesn't feel all that wide to like both Pink Floyd and The Smiths.

And beyond just liking a lot of Pink Floyd's songs, I admire music artists with originality. Pink Floyd created their own sound, and pretty much created a sub-genre of rock (space rock). Their song lyrics are often intelligent and interesting, and they paid attention to details, such as their fantastic cover art. Their concert experience is very different from Morrissey's, but it's quite a cool spectacle.

When punk bands started attacking Pink Floyd, it was just to make a statement that served their purposes at the time. Pink Floyd came before them and created something, lots of other acts were under their influence, and it was time for something different, a new direction, a new generation. And things needed to go back to basics.

But when all is said and done, the great ones should not be attacked just because their style became so big, so influencial, so representative of the previous generation, and so full of other acts that made the genre, at the time, grow tiresome. Those days are long in the past. When all was said and done, it turned out Johnny Rotten secretly liked Pink Floyd despite his famous t-shirt. And it turned out Morrissey gave his respects to Syd Barrett by dedicating a song to him when he passed away.

Because it's only a small percentage of music artists who do create a distinctive sound. Pink Floyd is easy to use as a band that's quite different from others because they are...quite different. And so is Morrissey, in his way.

 

[imogen11]

To answer your initial question: Yes, Pink Floyd and The Smiths are polar opposites.

I like Pink Floyd, adore the Smiths.

Worm, if you feel Pink Floyd are only capable of 'shallow concept' rock you need to sit down and listen - really listen - to The Wall. One of the most beautiful, heart-breaking, brilliant, haunting 'concept' albums ever. A masterpiece.

Hell, watch the movie too, whilst you're at it.

...however, if at all fragile, may I suggest to all that you give it a good listen when feeling right with the world again - and they call The Smiths depressing! It's definately an album that I have to be in the mood to listen to (ie, not at all depressed - it'd just tip me over the edge) - it's just so extraordinarily sad..but equally beautiful.

 

[Dave]

I love Pink Floyd and think a lot ot things being said here are pretty funny but predictable I guess. I don't think they're exactly opposites of The Smiths. I think something like Donna Summer would be the opposite of The Smiths.

 

[Worm]

Worm, if you feel Pink Floyd are only capable of 'shallow concept' rock you need to sit down and listen - really listen - to The Wall.

By "really listen" I take it you mean play the CD after taking copious amounts of hallucinogenic drugs, right?

Just teasing.

Actually I've heard DSOTM and other Pink Floyd albums a few times (sober...mostly). Not in many years, but like all of us who have had the joy/pain of sharing rooms as a child with older, music-obsessed siblings, I've been exposed to plenty of music outside my current tastes. (For example, at one time I could have given you the entire extended family tree of Black Sabbath from '69 to the late 80s.) I'm informed well enough about the bands I despise.

I recall being awed by Pink Floyd at first, because they do sound fairly unique. But when I call them shallow I mean that I was already moving past that sort of vague, English, anti-authoritarian, post-war/shellshocked, "mind-expanding" hard rock hokum when I first started listening to some of the punk and new wave bands whose music, to my ears, rang with so much more clarity and honesty. As it had been for the people who lived through '77, a lot of the new music was still potent a decade later when I heard it, and like a strong gust of wind it blew all the fakes away.

And of course once the shallowness of punk became apparent, there miraculously appeared The Smiths and others of their ilk. Liking Pink Floyd after discovering The Smiths would have been like saying the sun revolved around the Earth a century after Copernicus. That's how different they are. I just took a peek at the lyrics to DSOTM and the best-written song of the bunch wouldn't stand up to anything on a Jam album, let alone anything written by Morrissey. "Just Who Is The Five O'Clock Hero?" or "Town Called Malice" touch on the same themes as "Time", for instance, but I'd much prefer either one of Weller's songs, at least lyrically, and it's not even close.

A great deal of punk's rage against the older bands was pretty empty, as we all realize, but one term they got right was "dinosaur"-- almost all those bands are dinosaurs to me (and not velociraptors either). Slow, awkward, cowlike, muddle-brained, leathery, and every bit as doomed in an evolutionary sense. Giant pigs indeed.

P.S. The other night I spent a few minutes reading up on Pink Floyd just out of curiosity, to find out a little more about the various front-men. Syd Barrett made me laugh out loud-- somewhere he is quoted as saying, upon being told that he might be schizophrenic, "Are you sure this is Syd's problem?" Maybe if Syd had lived I'd be a fan.

 

[imogen11]

By "really listen" I take it you mean play the CD after taking copious amounts of hallucinogenic drugs, right?

Just teasing.

Actually I've heard DSOTM and other Pink Floyd albums a few times (sober...mostly). Not in many years, but like all of us who have had the joy/pain of sharing rooms as a child with older, music-obsessed siblings, I've been exposed to plenty of music outside my current tastes. (For example, at one time I could have given you the entire extended family tree of Black Sabbath from '69 to the late 80s.) I'm informed well enough about the bands I despise.

I recall being awed by Pink Floyd at first, because they do sound fairly unique. But when I call them shallow I mean that I was already moving past that sort of vague, English, anti-authoritarian, post-war/shellshocked, "mind-expanding" hard rock hokum when I first started listening to some of the punk and new wave bands whose music, to my ears, rang with so much more clarity and honesty. As it had been for the people who lived through '77, a lot of the new music was still potent a decade later when I heard it, and like a strong gust of wind it blew all the fakes away.

And of course once the shallowness of punk became apparent, there miraculously appeared The Smiths and others of their ilk. Liking Pink Floyd after discovering The Smiths would have been like saying the sun revolved around the Earth a century after Copernicus. That's how different they are. I just took a peek at the lyrics to DSOTM and the best-written song of the bunch wouldn't stand up to anything on a Jam album, let alone anything written by Morrissey. "Just Who Is The Five O'Clock Hero?" or "Town Called Malice" touch on the same themes as "Time", for instance, but I'd much prefer either one of Weller's songs, at least lyrically, and it's not even close.

A great deal of punk's rage against the older bands was pretty empty, as we all realize, but one term they got right was "dinosaur"-- almost all those bands are dinosaurs to me (and not velociraptors either). Slow, awkward, cowlike, muddle-brained, leathery, and every bit as doomed in an evolutionary sense. Giant pigs indeed.

P.S. The other night I spent a few minutes reading up on Pink Floyd just out of curiosity, to find out a little more about the various front-men. Syd Barrett made me laugh out loud-- somewhere he is quoted as saying, upon being told that he might be schizophrenic, "Are you sure this is Syd's problem?" Maybe if Syd had lived I'd be a fan.

Fair enough, Worm Interesting to read your thoughts, as always.

 

[CeciDeMorrissey]

I think the question, although totally valid, is not applicable, because I just believe these music styles can't be compared since they are ABSOLUTELY different. I don't even think they are opposite.

And in terms of lyrics crafting and music, one thing is true: Both bands stand out from the rest, by far, because they did nothing commercial, they really wrote wonderful texts with content and their music is absolutely recongnizable as their own... You can't say "oh what is this?" if you listen to them... Their sound is unique in their separate styles... And I don't think there was another band of earth capable of a live sound like the one they had... For me, they were better and infinitely more powerful live than in studio.

On the other hand, I've got to discover PF with the maturity of years and I really think they are one of the greatest bands in music history. It also happens that TDOTM is engineered and produced by another idol of mine: Mr. Alan Parsons (another out-of-this-world oustanding musician and live performer)... And it comes to be, at least for me, their capital essential
album...

This is funny... Roger Waters comes to Chile next year, March the 14th, to play The Dark Side Of The Moon complete. That's gonna be sort of heaven. I can't wait.

 

[The Crime Of The Century!]

How I wish, how I wish you were here...

Is it impossible to like both bands? I think not! I actually liked the music of Pink Floyd before I liked the Smiths. I think many people have a problem with them because they think big, which always seems to be a bone of contention with people, like it's the Crime of the Century or something. Ahem.

I cannot emphasise enough the profound effect it had on me when I listened to 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' for the first time, parts 1-385. It was spiritual. And no, I wasn't on drugs, because I've never taken any. I'm as clean as a virgin's honey pie, thank you very much.

But seriously, have a listen to the lyrics of 'Wish You Were Here', and tell me you think they lack lyrical substance. 'We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year' is, to my mind, an excellent lyric. It's not in the Morrissey league, but then few lyrics are. It's still an excellent lyric though. It conveys a certain wistful regret, which becomes more obvious when you know the poignant story behind the song.

And really, who would be mad and dishonest enough to say that Pink Floyd are musically inept? I am impressed by the grandeur, just like I'm impressed by the low-key, stripped-down style of punk. True music fans shouldn't have one-track minds! Punk attempted to spit in the face of experimental bands like Pink Floyd without questioning why they wanted to. The original icon of Pink Floyd, Syd Barret, turned his back on music, and the world, to become music's most famous recluse, which in my opinion, is one of the most 'punk' things a person can do. Is Sid Vicious in the spirit of punk? No, he was a musically inept, talentless moron who became an 'icon' through ridiculous behaviour and shallow attention-seeking. Yes, Syd Barret also took drugs, but there was a talent behind it to back it up.

'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' was the cutting edge of psychedelic music, with or without drugs. It sounds radical and eclectic without mind-altering substances and pushed the envelope far more than anything by the Beatles in their most experimental period. 'Arnold Layne' and 'See Emily Play' are not just mere songs, they are snippets of a definitive, important period in history. Those who regard the 'punk' era as being more important than the sixties are kidding themselves on. Punk was a natural off-shoot of the sixties.

Anyhow, I certainly wouldn't describe anything they did as 'turgid', as someone here did. Personally, I wouldn't even describe 'DSOTM' as their best album - as a debut, 'Piper...' has to be one of the most important debuts in musical history. The oceans of money which came Pink Floyd's way later on in their career in no way cause harm to the wonder which was early Pink Floyd, and the legend which is Syd Barret, God bless him. Even the punks loved Syd Barret.

 

[Pervomartovtsi]

Re: How I wish, how I wish you were here...

I like Pink Floyd...I love the Smiths...I like very much the live shows of PF the flying pig, the back images, and stuff...is like why I like Rammstein, the freakin live show is the matter

 

[Paulc]

I absolutely adore Pink Floyd - early stuff, late stuff, Barret, Waters, Gilmore - it doesnt matter the music is faultless.

I think Floyd fills a completely different musical need for me than The Smiths or Morrissey. This is really simplistic but with Moz i think what he says and how says it are the key ingredients of every song but with Floyd its more the sound of the whole piece which matters. Its like Floyd are replacing a classical orchestra.

Currently Sheep is being played over and over again on my Ipod - 9minutes of pure magic!

 

[Bluebirds]

Well I had to endure Pink Floyd live at Earls' Court today. What a pile of shite. No offence they're talented musicians but not my cup of tea. 5 minute virtuouso sols to Daily Mail reading types called Nigel and Prunella.

Watched the Elvis 68 COmeback special after to watch a true charismatic legend who didn't rely on SFX to get his point across.

Elvis in black leather or Lexus driving blokes with waistcoats and pony tails. Not being funny but have you seensolos, went to some posh schools and wears chino slacks. And only cut his the trousers "da Floyd" wear? Never trust a man who plays over-wrought guitar ponytail off after his wife cajoled him once she'd learnt English

And as for Pink Floyd being mentioned at all on this site...um well!!!

 

[Bluebirds]

I jus relaised I've written some inconsequential shit but it still makes more sense than most of Pink Floyds shit.... Shine On You Crazy Diamond my fecking arse.

We saw Syd in the studio and decided it would be better if he painted his fridge green while royally f***ing him out of any royalties because of his LSD imbalance.

I'm off to bed. I'm becoming incraesingly tetchy