Pink Floyd 's Impact On British Culture

From that moment on rock was there to stay. With an almost empty genre of music, the creative opportunity was infinite, which large scores of bands that took advantage of. Alongside The Beatles, other popular rock bands of the time were The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, all of whom were British. While British-rock bands dominated the scene of rock-and-roll, American bands began making many variations of the genre, which became known as the aforementioned subgenres. Arguably the most popular in the states was psychedelic-rock, headed by many artists such as The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, and The Doors. Other mainstream sub genre artists included folk-rock Bob Dylan, blues-rock Santana, and surf-rock The Beach

Into the 2nd half of the decade came the arrival of The Rolling Stones and The Who. These continued along the Blues Rock path pioneered by Cream and Zeppelin, and both had great success. It was these acts that led to the nickname, ‘the swinging 60’s’. 1966 saw the beginning of psychedelic music. It was The Beatles who first began to experiment like this. Adding new

The racial diversity of mainstream music in the 1960s was widely spread, which is why this was such a significant decade for music. There was a so called “British invasion” that took place roughly between 1964 and 1966. British bands like the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Animals, the Beatles, and many more came to America bringing their version of rock music with a British twist (British Invasion). The

The album The Dark Side of the Moon, by Pink Floyd was an album that pushed the boundaries on multi-tracking and tape looping, as well as mixing in1973. The engineer, Alan Parsons, use many unusual techniques to help create the sound that we know and love. Which landed the album on the charts for 750 weeks. Dark side of the moon was first lead engineering job Alan had with Pink Floyd and only took a year to record.

In the sixties, the psychedelic music scene was at its prime and the world was full of hippie musicians that loved to drop acid and create some of the most interesting and innovative music known to man. During this time, drugs were a very popular part of the hippie culture and the prevalence of LSD helped to create the distinct genre of psychedelic music known as psychedelic or acid rock. Many bands and artists such as Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Beatles, and The Byrds were heavily influenced by LSD, which led to the creation of some very popular music. This decade was full of adventure, music, sex, and drugs, and it was all made possible due to this powerfully trippy drug.

Rock ‘n’ roll music has widely influenced music and society and continues to do so today. Rock ‘n’ roll emerged in the 1950’s a time where whites and blacks were heavily segregated. Rock and roll music not only changed the nation’s current musical norms, but indicated the joy of the emerging youth culture of the generation. It influenced artists whether black or white to come into the mainstream music. Famous artists still remembered today also influenced rock and roll. Those pioneers helped change the musical norms and the overall history of music. White rock ‘n’ rollers helped build a ladder for black artists to come into the scene. It was certain that rock ‘n’ roll made it possible for greater acceptance, appreciation and a wider

The success of British acts time lead American garage rock bands to change their sound and style to match. The most famous example of this was the Monkees; an American made carbon-copy of the Beatles that were formed simply to capitalize off the British Invasion

Music in the 1960’s took a major turn. Psychedelic drugs began to influence bands and songwriters, resulting in a wide variety of new genres. Some of the popular bands included Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and the Beatles. In 1969, the small town of Woodstock in upstate New York hosted a three day event known throughout the world as The Woodstock Festival: An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace and Music. Thirty two artists performed in front of an audience of 500,000 people. This event was highly influential and considered by many as one of the greatest moments in music history. Throughout three days, the bands listed above, and more played and young hippies gathered, listening to the music, experiencing sexual and drug influenced days.

Psychedelics, and drugs in general became such an important part of life during the 60’s that it’s influence was inescapable. Nowhere can this fact be seen more clearly than in the music of the time. The most obvious influence drugs had on music can bee seen in the lyrics. Drug references abound, be it Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” of marijuana smoke, or the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, obviously referring to LSD. Even the names of the bands were drug inspired, as Garofalo points out in reference to the Doors: “The group took it’s name from Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, a book about the liberating aspects of drug use.” Even the music itself was influenced by drugs. Take for example much of the music by the Doors. Their song “the End” is a psychedelic journey in to the world of LSD. The slow beat and “trippy” music in the song was probably created with the use of drugs and hence is better appreciated when heard while on drugs. This is also true of the music of the Grateful Dead, although this can be much more clearly seen in their live performances as opposed to their studio work. Much of their music is geared specifically toward those in the audience who are on drugs. Hearing one of their 30 minute jams is a much different experience on drugs, and that is the experience that they intended the audience to have. While drugs were very much connected to the music of the sixties,

Each new music genre introduces the counterculture or opposition of previous generation’s values. Led Zeppelin sparked the beginning of the heavy metal culture-- the counterculture to psychedelic rock. The anti-war movement was also prevalent in this counterculture. Led Zeppelin and the Vietnam War influenced the new, darker, generation of rock: heavy metal.

In the 1960’s British artists took their modified edition of rock and roll, crossed the Atlantic Ocean and shared it with America. This concept would end up being acknowledged as the British Invasion. The British Invasion is the movement where bands from the United Kingdom became popular in the United States. It involved the virtual control of AM radio and the record industry in the United States by British artists, particularly the groups who had confirmed to be experts at recycling the American rhythm and blues and rockabilly songs of the 1950’s (Burns 2004). This movement is described as one of the most fascinating aspects of rock revolution that stimulated young American audiences by a second-hand version of American music traditions and filtered through British sensibilities (Winkler 1988). Due to The Beatles’ heavy influence on American music culture, it is still debated whether or not they were the greatest band of all time. There are many theories as to why America supported and embraced The Beatles’ success. The focal point shifted from the aftershock of John F. Kennedy’s death towards The Beatles and their rising popularity. This phenomenon changed the idea of rock and roll, as well as other

The British Invasion took place during the mid-1960’s. British musicians began to look toward their American counterparts for inspiration, copying their styles and advertising to fans in the United States. By this point, British youth had been interested in American rock and roll since the 1950’s, captivated by its pronounced beats and suggestive lyrics (Robbins). However, Britain did not have the same musical background as the United States. In the States, rock and roll emerged from a coalescence of Country and Western, Rhythm and Blues, and Pop music (Stuessy). Because of this, rock from the United States had deep roots, while rock from Britain before the mid-1960’s lacked depth and was simply an imitation. Eventually, rock began to take off in Britain from two main locations: Liverpool and London. This music became insanely popular in both Britain and the United States (Robbins). When studying the British Invasion, it is important to analyze the musical differences between Liverpool and London, as well as look at why this music became so popular in the United States.

gave us amazing bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Who and, best of all, AC/DC.

These trips brought, the already inseparable trio, closer and closer to each other and soon romantic relationships become nearly impossible with the rigorously gruelling course load at Cambridge, which they managed to leave with a 2:1 impressively, and to be part of a flourishing blues rock band, which had sold 1 million copies of their début in 12 weeks. 

To the surprise of the British trio, the majority of their sales were in actual fact in France. It seemed as if all those laborious journeys to Paris had made a mark on the young and rebellious counterculture crowds whom scooped up every single one of their records from each and every record store from Saint-Germain-des-Prés to Montmare. Their success in the United Kingdom and the United States was hindered by the overwhelming popularity of the ‘British Invasion’ of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Soon, with their newfound rock star status and a tidy sum of earnings, the band moved across the channel to exploit their riches among the French youth whom were eager for more

July 2, 2005, Pink Floyd reunited after over 20 years at Live 8, a series of benefit concerts that coincided with the 20 year anniversary of the Live Aid Concerts, aimed at ending poverty in impoverished countries, the concerts ushering a call for change. Soon after the events G8 nations doubled their aid to 50 Billion dollars by the year 2010. An amazing action and what else was amazing was when all four members of Pink Floyd joined up to play one last time together as one; I have been fortunate to see one members of the band play live, Roger Waters, it was a highlight of my life, seeing the band sit down mid-song for a card game and a drink, while an improvised song is being played, I was in awe. Pink Floyd has had five band members and