RIP Syd Barrett
A spokesperson for the band Pink Floyd confirmed the death of Floyd co-founder
Syd Barrett. The spokes person would not say anything more until the band had a chance to make an official announcement but it is believed that Barrett died July 7th of a diabetes-related illness. He was 60 years old.
I was introduced to Pink Floyd when I was in high school in the mid 80s. Though their best years were clearly behind them they had not yet released ‘A Momentary Lapse of Reason’. I had started to listen to their albums starting with the most commercial ones. ‘The Wall’, ‘Dark Side Of The Moon ‘, ‘Wish You Were Here ‘, ‘Animals’. I was mazed at the music and powerful lyrics. But I hadn’t yet scratched the surface of Floyd. Through all that, especially ‘Wish You Were Here’ which was about Barrett, I had heard of Syd Barrett but only knew that he was a founder of the band who had fallen out of favor with the band due to mental illness. He was apparently very active in the band in his early years but was now living obscurely.
The next step I took was ‘Meddle’. Meddle was unlike anything I had ever heard before and cemented the attachment I had made with the band based on the other albums I had heard. (Yes, albums. CD players were atill very expensive so I bought the vinyls of all of thre above mentioned albums.)
From there I had listened to a series of other Floyd albums but it wasn’t until I finally hit on the bands first album, ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’, that I actually began to understand what it was about Barrett that had people obsesing about him. The improv style psychedelic sound and the songwriting instantly drew me in and had me thinking what direction Pink Floyd would have gone in had Barrett not succumbed to the pressures of rock stardom. I would go on to listen to Barrett’s solo albums, ‘Barrett’ and ‘The Madcap Laughs’.
Needless to say, Barrett has had a tremendous effect on the music I listened to in my formative years and continue to listen to today. Rest in peace, Syd.
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