Pink Floyd formed in London in 1965 around Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason, with David Gilmour joining as Barrett departed. The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) sold over 45 million copies and spent 741 weeks on the Billboard 200 — start there, then Wish You Were Here and The Wall. Browse Pink Floyd vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Pink Floyd formed in London in 1965 around Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason, all students at the Regent Street Polytechnic. The band's name combined the first names of bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. David Gilmour (born March 6, 1946) joined the band as a fifth member in December 1967 to support the increasingly mental health issues of Barrett (Barrett developed schizophrenia or similar mental health condition, exacerbated by LSD use). Barrett left the band in January 1968 (the 'flowers in his hair' departure has been cultural lore). Pink Floyd is widely cited as one of the most important rock bands in popular music history - foundational to progressive rock as a recognized genre alongside Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon - recorded at Abbey Road Studios - became one of the most commercially successful albums in popular music history, with over 45 million copies sold worldwide. It spent 741 weeks (over 14 years) on the Billboard 200 chart. Subsequent albums Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), and The Wall (1979) continued their commercial dominance. Roger Waters and David Gilmour had creative tensions across the late 1970s and early 1980s; Waters departed the band in 1985, with litigation through 1987 over the right to continue using the Pink Floyd name. Waters lost the legal dispute and Gilmour and Mason continued the band as Pink Floyd with the criticized A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and the better-received The Division Bell (1994). Richard Wright died of cancer on September 15, 2008 at age 65. Syd Barrett died on July 7, 2006 at age 60. The final studio album was The Endless River (2014), drawing on archival Wright recordings. The band has been inactive since 2014, though Waters / Gilmour public feuds have continued. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Their foundational influence on progressive rock, psychedelic rock, and broader popular music history is widely cited as one of the most important contributions to the form.
Pink Floyd's sound is foundational to progressive rock as a recognized genre - combining progressive rock, psychedelic rock, art rock, space rock, and stadium rock with David Gilmour's distinctive lead guitar work, Roger Waters's conceptual approach to album-length work, Richard Wright's signature keyboard work, and use of innovative production technologies (early use of sampling, sound effects integration, and surround sound and quadraphonic mixing). Their foundational influence on progressive rock is widely documented.
Original EMI/Harvest pressings of the 1970s Pink Floyd catalog are foundational items in rock collecting, with collector premiums on rare pressings (particularly UK first pressings of The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here).
Listeners new to Pink Floyd typically start with The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) or Wish You Were Here (1975).
