Why is Pink Floyd such an icon in rock history?

My friend heard on a talk show that Pink Floyd was revolutionary and legendary, and he asked me to explain why. Oddly, even though I have been a Floyd fan for 30 years, I wasn't able to.My friend, when he does listen to music, listens to Classical almost exclusively, and I just wasn't up to finding a point of reference. Maybe someone out there can help me.

Asked by costnerfan 63 months ago Similar questions: Pink Floyd icon rock history Entertainment > Music > Music Styles.

Similar questions: Pink Floyd icon rock history.

I would contribute it to their huge mega-success The Dark Side of the Moon... Here's an excerpt of a review that sums up how the Dark Side of the Moon took Pink Floyd to another level: "Contextually speaking this was the Floyd's saving grace. By 1972 they'd firmly claimed the avant garde (read: musically unadventurous but prone to hitting large gongs and setting fire to stuff onstage) art rock mainstream as their own playground. Yet these middle-class boys still craved, like, bread, man.

After a prolonged period of fumbling soundtracks for European arthouse movies they'd finally emerged from under the shadow of founder/visionary/lost-marble icon, Syd Barrett with a coherently beautiful album, Meddle. Roger Waters had some big ideas about madness, life, death and all that deep stuff. EMI had a rather splendid studio with some top-notch engineers.

Six months later...voila! What made this concoction so popular at the time was a series of coincidences. The western world was now fully stereoed-up; the band hooked up with an immaculate engineer by the name of Alan Parsons (yes, that one with the project) and last, but not least, the band bothered to write some really fine songs.

This was a long way from the half-baked nonsense that had plagued Ummagumma or Atom Heart Mother. Gilmour's guitar was now exquisitely tasteful (the heart still breaks over that little phrase about 36 seconds into ''Breathe'') and zen-like in what he could leave out (check the most underrated track ''Any Colour You Like''). The sound effects are as hackneyed as a 70s stereo demonstration record (that this album effectively replaced in most hi-fi stores at the time), yet the overall flow of the album still satisfies as it merges existential ballads (''Time'', ''Us And Them'') with cynical rockers (''Money'') and arena-impressing freak outs (''The Great Gig In The Sky'')."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/gncz/ Also - an excerpt from wikipedia basically tells us that the album was a mega-hit, breaking world records. The album's commercial success made Pink Floyd a household name and an icon in rock history: "The release of Pink Floyd's massively successful 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon, was a watershed moment in the band's popularity. Pink Floyd had stopped issuing singles after 1968's "Point Me at the Sky" and was never a hit-single-driven group, but The Dark Side of the Moon featured a U.S. Top 20 single ("Money").10 The album became the band's first #1 on U.S. charts13 and, as of 7.00, is one of the biggest-selling albums in U.S. history, with more than 15 million units sold3, and one of the best-selling albums worldwide, with more than 40 million copies sold13.

The critically-acclaimed album stayed on the Billboard Top 200 for an unprecedented 741 weeks (including 591 consecutive weeks from 1976 to 1988),27 establishing a world record. It also remained 301 weeks on UK charts, despite never rising higher than #2 there,13 and is highly praised by critics.28" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_floyd Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_floyd, http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/gncz/ superdave's Recommendations The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia Amazon List Price: $29.95 Used from: $17.49 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 7 reviews) Mind over Matter: The Images of Pink Floyd Amazon List Price: $39.95 Used from: $43.69 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 11 reviews) Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey Amazon List Price: $17.00 Used from: $4.28 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 45 reviews) Syd Barrett & the Dawn of Pink Floyd: Crazy Diamond Amazon List Price: $19.953 Used from: $3.69 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 9 reviews) Here are some great books on Pink Floyd to add to your collection :o) .

Many reasons. When you are talking about Pink Floyd's legacy as a band, you are almost always talking about mid-era Floyd, say "Dark Side of the Moon" through "The Wall. " Their work before this was either uneven and scattershot (though often brilliant), or performed by what was essentially a different kind of band ("Pipers at the Gates of Dawn").

The later work isn't worth talking about, legacy-wise. So lets talk about the band that created these four albums. "Dark Side" has, of course, it's material success.It held a spot on the Billboard 200 for 14 years, which no other artist or group has even approached.

The album itself is a singularity in modern popular music. A marvel of arrangment, instrumental performance and production, the album is spacey and trancelike, yet grounded in actual songs.It's a masterpiece of texture, but listenable. What we basically have is an album about mundane little moments made grand by a lush production.

It was a rare moment when popular music aimed to be high art, and in a way succeeded.It's influence on modern rock and electronic music is incalculable. Where would Radiohead or the Flaming Lips be without this album? Or the entire genres of trance and trip-hop?"Wish You Were Hear" is the weaker, but still powerful, follow-up.

It's sad, moving piece of work about loss and regret (with some sharp jabs at the music industry thrown in for good measure) played by top notch musicians. If you want to understand restraint and control in electric guitar playing, listen to David Gilmour's work here."Animals" is often seen as the odd man out, though it's my personal favorite. Consisting of three extended jams bookended by a two part song, the album is based on Orwell's "Animal Farm" but inspired by Roger Waters' fierce political views.

It's as powerful a piece of social commentary as was recorded in the 1970s (though its jabs at Margaret Thatcher will be lost on most these days). That its 11 to 17 minute long tracks are never less than propulsive is a testiment to Floyd's power as a band. Then we have "The Wall.

" As direct of a concept album as the band created, it brims with ideas, some good, some dull, but as a whole it's an incredible work. Its themes of emotional isolation and the effects of rigid conformity resonated strongly with its intended audience. It's the final coda of 1970s progressive rock.

So what do we have? A band of highly skilled musicians playing rock music at level of technique few even aspired to. Intelligent, deliberate music in a genre that rarely aims for more than visceral effect.

Music that pushed the technological bounds of what studio production could do. Social commentary done with thought and insight. To put it simply, the made complex, intelligent music in a way that appealed to a wide range of people.

" "I'm looking for a classic rock song. Has a synth instrumental part reminiscent ov Pink Floyd's "Any Colour You Like"." "The Spectra's (rock and roll music)" "can I purchase a download of pink floyd the wall complete movie? " "What is your favorite Pink Floyd song and why?

" "Where can I find downloadable music tracks to jam to (different styles and genres)" "Can anyone point me to any good live Pink Floyd video?" "What does the "@" icon mean on the nokia 5310 xpress music phone? " "I HATE THE NEW aSKVILLE. Give me your favorite Pink Floyd song!" "Who is the most famous human history ICON and why?

I'm looking for a classic rock song. Has a synth instrumental part reminiscent ov Pink Floyd's "Any Colour You Like".

Where can I find downloadable music tracks to jam to (different styles and genres).

I HATE THE NEW aSKVILLE. Give me your favorite Pink Floyd song!

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.