Psychologist dissects Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon'

I like how, for 'The Great Gig In The Sky', what he's hoping for after he dies, they got a woman to handle the lyrics.  She sounded like it was a great time having that one, compared to the poor guy, we don't know what he had to be doing instead.

The guy at the start of Time probably still didn't wake up.

He doesn't think you'll care about his album, you'd rather keep the money.

Eclipse, everything under the sun is in tune, but it's eclipsed by the moon.  Of which there is no dark side, actually, it's all dark.

He probably thinks it sucks right now, either way you choose about the album.

Talented musicians, though.

In agree with everything bonmanp said about Roger Waters. To borrow a line from another commenter on a different site, Waters is is just another pr__k in the wall. I enjoy all of PF's later albums but my favorite is still Wish You were Here, whether over-hyped or not.

Interesting discussion, but for most folks who use mood altering chemicals, alcohol or other, and this becomes compulsive, they have the disease of addiction.  Many great musicians die of their disease.  I was given the gift of sobriety over 35 years ago. Thank you for the topic.

For a different listening approach of this album I suggest the SQ quadraphonic version.

Oh by the way, which one is Pink?

@pindac 

interesting phrasing. I don't know if you're referring to getting high or masturbating. I guess it depends which moral framework you're coming from.

An interesting point made was about the intentional playing with time at the intro to "Time".  How coming out of the clocks and alarms is that synthesized tick-tock where we assume the downbeat is on the higher pitched tick. Until that first chord crashes down on the lower "tock" and we have to recalibrate our sense of time. Much like the band did after losing Barrett. 

@msmoto80 Out of all I have read on this forum, the wording for the reference made to participate in self abuse, as an attempt to create a synthetic state of reality, has been the most discomforting to see put into text.

The whole concept of it seems quite traumatic. 

DSOTM has had the a$$ played out of it, even WYWH is jaded. I prefer Ummagumma these days.

As a retired analytically trained psychiatrist, addictionist,  the analysis of someone’s work is often more about projection of one’s own conflicts into the music, not really dealing with the artist unless of course one has done a thorough examination in the proper setting.  
Having said that, my favorite “analysis” is Hotel California by the Eagles.  But, if you have never shot up an opiate, you really are not in a position to guess.  There is a lot of great music, and some of the greatest was created while using mood altering drugs.

@tunefuldude Watch the Posted Youtube Clip of the 'Barn Jams' Session, is plenty enough to get the vibe of the Post,  stating: 

" The Pink Floyd Band in all its forms and as Solo Artists make very listenable music, the collaborations that have been created with other performers/musicians are to the highest standards. All the above are totally to my tastes."

There are endless Sessions to be found where Vocals are not used by Musicians involved with Pink Floyd.

If you found the content of my Post, Amusing , Confusing, it is fine by myself, I have a hook for such a thing.

Interesting how you have a chronological record of the first time you walked in a particular room with a particular group of individuals.

It's all Harmless and Healthy, " Live and Let Live " is a good guidance.

@pindac 

did you write that while you were smoking weed, or is that how chatGPT responded to a Q you asked it?

It's such a wild analysis, it almost sounds like AI, Lol.

I love how varied the responses are around here to various topics. It adds character. 

The AA group I got sober at 33 years ago supposedly attracts guys from jail to Yale and everything in between. And that's probably the #1 thing that makes it such a fun and interesting group to hang out with. 

I think the same thing could be said for our group. 

Party on!  

@carlsbad, actual LOL at "Lost me at NPR."🤣

I never read or listen to reviews or critiques of the music I like. What is the point in that if I already like the music?

Sure, Pink Floyd and Rush suck.

So do Bach and Mozart, they are so overplayed it's ridiculous...

...and spending $5000 on speaker cables makes music "better".

I'll be going back to my home planet now.  

The Pink Floyd Band in all its forms and as Solo Artists make very listenable music, the collaborations that have been created with other performers/musicians are to the highest standards. All the above are totally to my tastes.

The Band Specialises when performing live as being and Entertainment Spectacle and are most likely in the Top Five Bands for this.

During recorded music replays, the words used for many songs can be overlooked as the composed music has quite a strong presence.

Once a Political viewpoint is picked up on from understanding the words in use, it doesn't have to be dwelled on. Does one think the entirety of all offering a creativity for the work undertaken to complete the Song and Music shared the Political View? I would say the surrounding team, were glad of their opportunity in front of them only. The end listener can easily adopt the same position, and make the most of the listening opportunity, without loading the experience with negatives about the words selected to be used by one person or a few people.  

15 minutes of some of the sweetest stylings of Gilmore.  

Happy Friday you strange weird freaking people.

@barts 

Yeah.  I have the MoFi pressing for G**s sake.  Paid $50 years ago and now costing 10x that.

I listen to it nowanagain.  Overblown.  Do I enjoy it??  Not like a whole load of much better stuff.

They ain't the Beatles.  Nowhere near.

@jafant - You're welcome.  Dave said the master tapes for the original were burned up in the Universal fire.  He said he still liked the songs and still played them, so why not rerecord it.  I'm glad he did.

then next thing you know

50 years have come and go

while we are still fuking w/our stereo

@clearthinker 

OK you may be correct that they are "the most over-rated".  Let me ask two things: Have you ever enjoyed listening to it?  And how do you suppose DSOTM spent over 1000 weeks on the Billboard chart top selling 100 albums?

Just curious.

Regards,

barts

Always wondered if the appeal of DSOTM came from the band touring and tweaking the album before it was released.

I saw this' Eclipse a piece for assorted lunatics' concert which was the working title at the time and still have the program that was handed out, Philadelphia Spectrum 4/29/72 nearly a year before the March 1973 album release.

The sound system at the show was mind blowing, 4 channel PA on the hockey rink level and 3 PA clusters on both the 2nd and 3rd levels of the venue.

I believe they were working out and experimenting with song things based on audience reaction. Judging by sales, this approach to touring/tweaking before release was a smashing success.

@bigtwin 

Care.  I didn't say the Floyd are the worst band in the world.  I said they are the most over-rated.

Agreed.  RUSH are far far poorer then the Floyd.  And quite rightly far less highly rated.  We are talking about the quality gulf between public rating and the awful unvarnished actuality.

Didn't know about this until this morning.  Love the reviewers comments towards the end.

@clearthinker  You have to be kidding.  They're not even in the same league as RUSH, when it comes to worst band in the world.  🤣

tomcy6

Thank You for the Dave Mason "Alone Together Again"

Happy Listening!

Pink Floyd.

The most over-rated band.  EVER.  BAR NONE.

Listen to Dan Rather's interview with Roger Waters on AXS tv. Not as cranky and insensitive as you may think. In fact deeply intellectual and committed to his beliefs. You may not agree with them all but you will understand how he got there.

I found it to be one of Dan's better interviews with rock stars on "The Big Interview".

Happy Birthday @ 50!  Psychologist huh?  I just Enjoyed the album. Even after it played on a turntable on repeat throughout the night in college.  It alternated with Santana Abraxas. 

@bigtwin  +1

@mahler123 +1 

never been my favorite album... unfortunately overproduced.  I like it, but am less enthralled than many.  

I prefer Animals, and the earlier Floyd as well.

The Wall is drudgery, with some redeeming tracks.  I also have not ever been enamored of Wish You Were Here.

Interesting views here.

Some seem to be in the "leave it alone, we already know everything" camp, and other's in the "I learned something new" camp. 

As with most forms art, once the work is released into the wild it takes on a life of it's own. Each individual, each generation interprets it's meaning based on their own biases and life experiences. 

What we "think" we understand about Dark Side today says more about US THAN THEM ; )  

It's always fascinating to delve deeper into the meaning and themes behind great music, especially when it's a classic album like Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon'. I think it's great that psychologists are analyzing the album and trying to understand the human psyche through the music. It just goes to show how powerful music can be in connecting with our emotions and experiences.

Roger Waters is another one of those people who achieve fame and fortune and all it does is make them angry and bitter. But if you think he’s angry and bitter now, if he puts out a Roger Waters version of Dark Side, the critical and commercial beating it will take will really give him something to be angry and bitter about.

In a related vein, If anyone is interested in another artist rerecording their 50 year old masterpiece, check out Dave Mason's, "Alone Together Again."  I was skeptical at first, but he did a really good job of it, IMHO.  If you like Dave, check it out.

Yes, all rock music should be coherent and intellectually stimulating. Like Frank Zappa.

I saw this and it cracked me up!  After fifty years, they are still trying to find new meanings to music where the artists have already told us what they were thinking when they wrote it.

There're countless forums on the Beatles, Stones, Pink Floyd etc. trying to find the inner message or meanings to fifty year old tunes. “Paul is dead”

@bigtwin,  you could have watched Fox and saved a ton of money instead of Waters spewing his love for Russia and Palestine. 

Roger's an old crank, but I love his music and agree with him on many issues, if not all. 

“Well, Nick never pretended. But Gilmour and Rick [Wright, the keyboardist]? They can’t write songs, they’ve nothing to say. They are not artists!” said Waters. “They have no ideas, not a single one between them. They never have had, and that drives them crazy.”

The man has no respect for his co-workers or their contributions. It's a wonder that PF lasted as long as it did.

@dadork 

He's a bitter man. He could never reconcile his father's sacrifice to his country with his own need to know him. That's understandable but his adoption of the ideology that killed his father is baffling.

Nailed it. 

Waters makes it difficult, but not impossible, for me to separate the artist from the art. If I couldn’t do that, there are many, many artists I would have to delete from my collection. Rogers is a piece of anti-Semitic garbage. Yes, he is entertaining, but he should stick to music. I don’t want my politicians cutting records, and I don’t want musicians lecturing us on good and evil as they perceive it.

I stopped trying to read into these fine artful musicians thoughts & imaginations after Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts .  I just sit back sometimes in the dark & enjoy . 

Credit also to PF for releasing an accessible album at that moment, prog rock's high period, being at the same time innovative, ambitious and a serious statement.

Still though i feel that they were the most overrated rock  band in history with less than great instrument playing.

Lost me at NPR.

It’s pretty cool that DSOTM continues to sell and at least 3 generations of a given family might share a common appreciation for it.  

That's more like it.

And i bet many of us do not have only one copy of it.

dadork well said I agree completely 

@dadork 

Yep, the bitterness goes really deep in the Final Cut. I really like this album but it's a commitment to listen to. Very well recorded - in Paranoid Eyes you can hear that the 'Colonel' walking to the pub has a limp and is walking on wet cobblestone.

Sorry, I digress...and the bong is calling... 

Great album, great band, but it was always my understanding that Wish You Were Here was the unsung tribute to Sid Barrett. When I was young and the album was new we thought it (DSOTM) was the belated soundtrack to The Wizard of Oz, with a little recreational assistance of course. My favorite is A Momentary Lapse of Reason. just sayin’