A Brief But Detailed Recounting of Pink Floyd’s Tumultuous History

Matt Beat of The Beat Goes On provides an abbreviated but incredibly detailed history of legendary rock band Pink Floyd over the course of almost 30 minutes. Beat almost immediately addresses how the band got its name.

After going through various more name changes, by the end of 1965 the four of them- Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright- were now billing themselves Pink Floyd. The name came from the combined names of two American blues musicians Barrett loved, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.

Beat goes through the band’s modest beginnings and their entire lineup over the years, particularly focusing on the tragedy of Syd Barrett and the arrival of David Gilmour. Also featured are the band’s tumultuous ride to the top, their psychedelic roots, the conflict of personalities, and their inevitable breakup.

Beat also notes how Pink Floyd, in all its iterations, is one of the most influential bands to have ever existed.

They’ve sold more than 250 million records  worldwide. They are easily the most prominent   progressive rock band to ever exist, known for  their long and complex songs, extreme sonic  experimentation, visually stimulating live  performances, and deep lyrics. They played a tremendous role popularizing the concept album,  and just stretching the boundaries of what makes a song…ya know, a song. They began modestly…as a  blues band playing mostly R&B covers, but they   ended epically…as a band that was responsible  for much of the future of all music.