Rock On The Net: Pink Floyd

The roots of Pink Floyd began when Syd Barrett was rooming in London with Roger Waters in 1964, and Barrett and Waters formed a band with Nick Mason. The group had numerous name evolutions but was eventually changed to Pink Floyd in honor of blues performers Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.

Pink Floyd performed for the first time in London.

Rick Wright joined the group.

Pink Floyd signed with EMI Records. The group released various singles over the year and continued performing around the world and in the US. Also throughout the year, Barrett began exhibiting his eventual trademark bizarre behaviors.

August 4: Pink Floyd released their debut LP Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.

Barrett's inability to play led to David Gilmour replacing him. By April, Barrett had officially left the group.

Pink Floyd released Saucerful Of Secrets.

Pink Floyd released Ummagumma.

Pink Floyd released Atom Heart Mother.
Atom Heart Mother topped the UK LP charts.

Relics was released.

Pink Floyd released Meddle.

Pink Floyd released Obscured By Clouds.

March 24: Pink Floyd released Dark Side Of The Moon and hit the pop charts with "Money."

Dark Side Of The Moon topped the Billboard Albums chart for a week.

The 1969 LP More was released - as was A Nice Pair (which includes the LPs Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and Saucerful Of Secrets).

Pink Floyd released Wish You Were Here with the tribute to Barrett, "Shine On You Crazy Diamond."

December 3: The 40 foot inflatable pig being photographed for Pink Floyd's next LP Animals broke free from its moorings and floated above London eventually crashing into a barn and resulting in air traffic warnings.

Pink Floyd released Animals.

Pink Floyd released the double-LP The Wall.

# 29 Singles Artist of the Year

Pink Floyd hit the Top 40 with "Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2."
from the LP The Wall
ARC chart run: 23 - 14 - 11 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 2 - 4 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 20 - 39 - off
Year-End Chart Position: # 8
available for download at Amazon.mp3

Pink Floyd hit the Top 10 and #1 for 3 weeks with "Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2."
Pink Floyd topped the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart for 4 weeks with "Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2."

March 29: Dark Side Of The Moon broked the record for longest chart run on the Billboard 200 LP chart spending its 303rd week on the chart and breaking the record held by Tapestry by Carole King. The LP went on to spend over 400 more weeks off and the on the chart.

Pink Floyd hit the Top 40 with "Run Like Hell."
from the LP The Wall
ARC chart run: 35 - 32 - off
Year-End Chart Position: # 232
available for download at Amazon.mp3

Pink Floyd topped the Billboard Year-End Charts as the Top Pop Artist - Duo/Group (singles & albums), Top Billboard 200 Album Artist, Top Billboard 200 Album Artist - Duo/Group, and Top Billboard 200 Album (The Wall).

Pink Floyd were nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Single ("Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2").

Pink Floyd were nominated for 2 Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group (The Wall).

A Collection Of Great Dance Songs was released.

• August 6: Pink Floyd's film The Wall premiered in New York.

Pink Floyd released The Final Cut.

Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon broke a longevity record when it charted its 491st week on Billboard's LP chart.

Works was released.

Waters officially left Pink Floyd.

A press release issued stated that the group will be recording a new LP as Pink Floyd without Roger Waters.

# 207 Singles Artist of the Year

Water's issued his own statement through his lawyer proclaiming himself to be an integral portion of Pink Floyd, and any use of the group's name without his involvement would be inappropriate.

Pink Floyd (Gilmour, Mason and Wright) released A Momentary Lapse Of Reason.

Remaining Pink Floyd members and Waters agreed to end their legal dispute.

The video for "Learning To Fly" won a MTV Video Music Award for Best Concept Video and was nominated for Best Direction and Best Cinematography.

Pink Floyd released the live LP Delicate Sound Of Thunder.

Waters filed a claim against Pink Floyd for illegal use of an inflatable pig during a recent tour which was deemed a breach of copyright.

Pink Floyd were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Long Form (In Concert - Delicate Sound Of Thunder).

Pink Floyd performed at the Knebworth Festival.

Waters staged a live concert of 'The Wall' with numerous guest vocalists in Berlin.

Pink Floyd hit the Top 40 with "Learning To Fly."

The box set Shine On was released.

Pink Floyd released The Division Bell.
Pink Floyd topped the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart for 6 weeks with "Keep Talking."
The Division Bell topped the Billboard Pop Albums chart for 4 weeks.

Pink Floyd were nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group.

Pink Floyd won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance ("Marooned").

Pink Floyd released the live LP Pulse.
Pulse topped the Billboard Pop Albums chart for a week and the UK Albums chart for 2 weeks.

Pink Floyd were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Rock 'N Roll Hall Of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock And Roll includes "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)," "Money," and "See Emily Play."

A lot of press was given to the uncanny connection between The Wizard Of Oz and Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon. For those who didn't know, if you start Pink Floyd's CD after the 3rd trademark MGM Lion roar at the beginning of the movie, you'll be amazed at the synchronicity between the 2 classics.

Unreleased material from Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead) and Pink Floyd was made available with the release of a new soundtrack to a 1970 film, Zabriskie Point. The double-LP featured 4 songs each from Garcia and Pink Floyd.

Pink Floyd ranked # 19 on VH1: Greatest Artists of Rock & Roll (and # 4 on Rock On The Net's Poll).

A live LP recorded in the early 80s, Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live was released. The LP contains all tracks from The Wall and 2 tracks deleted from the original release: "What Shall We Do Now?" and "The Last Few Bricks."

Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live topped the Billboard Internet Album Sales chart for 1 week in May.

VH1: 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock includes Pink Floyd at # 15.

VH1: 100 Greatest Albums includes Dark Side Of The Moon at # 51.

A Collection Of Great Dance Songs was certified 2x platinum and A Momentary Lapse Of Reason was certified 4x platinum.

The single "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)" was certified gold.

Another hits compilation was released - Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd.

Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd topped the Billboard Internet Albums Sales chart for 2 weeks.
Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd was certified 2x platinum.

Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd was certified 3x platinum.

VH1: 100 Best Songs of the Past 25 Years includes "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)" at # 15.

Rolling Stone: The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: # 43: Dark Side Of The Moon, # 87: The Wall, # 209: Wish You Were Here, # 347: Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.

On July 2nd, a reunited Pink Floyd with Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright performed in London, England, as part of the worldwide Live 8 concerts. The mission of the concerts was to raise awareness of the on-going poverty in Africa and to pressure the G8 leaders to take action by doubling aid, canceling debt, and delivering trade justice for Africa.

July 7: Syd Barrett, co-founder of Pink Floyd, died at the age of 60 in London from complications of of diabetes. Barrett had been in self-imposed seclusion for decades said to battling struggles with mental deterioration from drug use.

On July 7th, Roger Waters performed at the Live Earth concert in the US. The 7-continent concert organized by Al Gore brought together over 100 artists to perform and raise the world's awareness about the climate crisis and how to make a difference to help the environment and the world.

Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd was certified 4x platinum.

The enitre discography of Pink Floyd was released in a 16-CD box set called Oh By The Way (box set).

September 15: Rick Wright died at the age of 65 after a battle with cancer.

The Dark Side Of The Moon - Immersion Box Set was released with the original LP digitally remastered, a live disc of the LP performed at Wembley in 1974, and 2 DVDs.
The Discovery Studio Album Box Set was released. The set includes 14 remastered LPs.

Wish You Were Here - The Immersion Box Set and Wish You Were Here - Experience Version were released.
The compilation A Foot In The Door - The Best Of Pink Floyd was released.

The Wall - The Immersion Box Set and The Wall - Experience Version were released.

• July 1: The Division Bell 20th Deluxe Box was released.

• November 10: Pink Floyd released The Endless River.
• November 22: Pink Floyd topped the UK LP charts with The Endless River.

• January 22: The Endless River was certified gold.

• November 11: The Early Years 1967-72 Cre/ation was released.

• June 2: Roger Waters released Is This The Life We Really Want?

• November 29: The set The Later Years 1987-2019 was released .

• October 2: Roger Waters released Us + Them.
  available for download at iTunes and Amazon.mp3
  available on vinyl

• April 30: Live At Knebworth 1990 was released.

• March 24: The Dark Side Of The Moon: Live At Wembley was released. The Dark Side Of The Moon (50th Anniversary) was also released.

• October 6: Roger Waters released The Dark Side Of The Moon Redux.

• September 6: David Gilmour released Luck And Strange.
• September 13: David Gilmour topped the UK LP chart with Luck And Strange.
• September 21: David Gilmour topped the Billboard Album Sales chart with Luck And Strange.

• Pink Floyd will release the live LP Pink Floyd At Pompeii - MCMLXXII on May 2nd.