Re: RIP

Syd Barrett

Yup.

[news.yahoo.com]

brian jones re legacy post mortem

Just saw that. He achieved greatness but was capable of even more if he hadn't burnt out so early.

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

(Well, someone had to say it.)

Oof, well that news just hit me in the gut.

Syd's responsible for not one, but 2 of my all-time desert-island disks.

Is there any other person whose presence (or non-presence, as it were) continued to be a factor in a band long, long after they left it? He vanished from Pink Floyd after two albums but for the next 20 years it always seemed like Gilmour and Waters were struggling with his legacy for control of the band's direction as much as they were each other.

Seeing Gilmour pay tribute to him in concert recently struck me like a father still grieving for his stillborn child 30 years later.... As crucial as Syd was to the original Floyd, he was virtually immaterial to the band that sold 10 gazillion dark sides, and the guilt (or whatever it was) his erstwhile colleagues felt for him always seemed excessive to me. If they really admired him so much, then why did they change the band he created into something he could not possibly have recognized?

> If they really admired him so much, then why did they change the band
> he created into something he could not possibly have recognized?

Because Syd wasn't in the band anymore. When he left, he took his "vision" with him. The remaining members still had the rights to the band name (I guess), but the vision was up for grabs. They could have strived to remain faithful to that vision, but such an effort would've had gradually diminishing returns. It would have eventually rendered Pink Floyd little more than a tribute band. (And today, we'd be asking on this board why they spent so many years grinding Syd's vision into the ground, rather than taking the Floyd forward and coming up with something new.)

When Waters assumed creative leadership of Pink Floyd, he brought a "vision" that, while strong and compelling (until it got overbearing), wasn't Syd's. Bringing Gilmour on board also changed the collective personality of the band, as any new band member will. This isn't to say that they didn't admire Syd, for the work he'd done with the band ... but in any artistic situation, copying someone else's vision, rather than following your own, produces art that's empty, at best.

Besides, if the reports on Syd's post-Floyd mental state are even halfway true, it's possible that they could've faithfully pursued the sound and style that he'd come up with ... and he *still* wouldn't have recognized it.

" he was virtually immaterial to the band that sold 10 gazillion dark sides, and the guilt (or whatever it was) his erstwhile colleagues felt for him always seemed excessive to me."

Well, consider this: "Dark Side" (with it's madness theme), "Wish You Were Here," "The Wall" (about a doomed, isolated rock star) were all somewhat inspired by Syd, his life as much as his music, and were three of Floyd's biggest albums. Maybe not so immaterial after all...

These things always happen in batches.
I hope Steve Hillage is OK.

Barnard Hughes and Red Buttons complete the celebrity death trio. So it was an odd couple of partners for Syd to depart with, but who'd expect any different?

Strangest celebrity death trio of all time:

Andy Gibb, John Holmes & Divine all expired within a couple days of each other.

Milan Williams, the Commodores keyboardist who wrote the classic "Machine Gun," died of cancer this past Monday as well.

Strangest celebrity death coincidence in recent years: that Johnny Cash and Johnny Paycheck both died in 2003. (Wonder if Johnny Credit was concerned ...)

*sigh* The passage of time. And to think that at the beginning of the year I was giving the man a tribute here on his 60th.

Long live the man and his music. The Floyd were at their best with him.



Post Edited (08-09-06 15:03)