Today, March 1st, is the 45th anniversary of the U.S. release of Pink Floyd’s colossal album, “Dark Side of the Moon.”
Their breakthrough album, Dark Side merged their psychedelic, spacey music, with deep, dark lyrics about the pressures of life and hit on record-breaking commercial success. It’s one of the top-selling albums of all time, selling over 45 million copies, and it appeared on the Billboard album chart for a record 741 straight weeks! 937 altogether!
Many Pink Floyd fans love “The Wall,” their 1979 album, more. I, personally, was coming of age in high school in 1977 when “Animals” came out, and that will always be my favorite, bringing back memories of partying in neighbor Mike Polanski’s basement while listening to it.
But on March 1 of 1973, no one can argue a magnificent album dropped into our ears and heads – a true concept album written, mainly, by Roger Waters. The album’s songs had been devised and performed in concerts in the year prior to Pink Floyd recording it in late ’72 and early ’73 at The Beatles’ Abbey Road Studios in London. Alan Parsons – of The Alan Parsons Project fame – produced it and was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on the mind-bending album.
Dark Side used sound effects and pre-recorded interviews and sound bites from people they knew. Paul and Linda McCartney were recorded, but their responses were attempts at humor and not used. Pink Floyd used advanced, state-of-the-art recording techniques, including multi-track recording and tape loops. Analogue synthesizers with a new feature – sequencers – were used on some tracks.
The themes of the album dealt dealt with life’s pressures (they traveled and flew incessantly back then and feared dying on the road) like loneliness, alienation, conflict, greed, insanity and death – “Things that make people mad,” Waters said. Not exactly cheery topics. The band was clearly affected by the mental instability and demise of their former frontman Syd Barrett.
Somehow, it grabbed our attention and never let go. Happy Birthday to you, Dark Side, I’ll enjoy playing you in your entirety this evening at 6 on Peoria’s classic rock, lunatic station, 95.5, GLO.
Doc Watson
“…matter of fact, it’s all dark.”
