Pink Floyd: Shine On; The Definitive Oral History

Blake (Dreams: The Many Lives of Fleetwood Mac) provides the definitive oral history of Pink Floyd. Relying on numerous unpublished interviews with band members, colleagues, friends, and family, he vividly recounts the band’s origins near London with four classmates inspired by Beat, blues, and jazz: charismatic guitarist and vocalist Roger “Syd” Barrett; strong-willed, politically engaged bassist Roger Waters; drummer Nick Mason; and organist/keyboardist Richard Wright. Blake charts Floyd’s transition from a psychedelic group led by Barrett on their first album to a more experimental band, driven by Waters and featuring the somber guitarist David Gilmour. He details the genesis and mega-success of The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), and its follow-ups, Wish You Were Here (1975) and The Wall (1979). Bitter disputes within the band led to Waters’s resignation in 1985, and a third version of Pink Floyd was formed by Gilmour and Mason. The book concludes with discussion of the band’s solo projects and charity benefits and the deaths of Wright and Barrett.