Pink Floyd Timeline

Pink Floyd 35

1943 – 1946 The founders are born -- Barrett, Waters, Mason, Wright The four founders of Pink Floyd are born within three years of each other: Roger Waters on 6 September 1943 in Great Bookham, Surrey; Richard Wright on 28 July 1943 in Hatch End, Middlesex; Nick Mason on 27 January 1944 in Birmingham; and Syd Barrett on 6 January 1946 in Cambridge. Waters's father Eric Fletcher Waters is killed at Anzio in January 1944 when Roger is five months old -- an absence that haunts Waters's entire creative output, most explicitly in The Wall. Barrett grows up in Cambridge in a creative, middle-class household that encourages his artistic gifts.
1962 – 1964 Cambridge and London -- the friendships form Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright meet as architecture students at the Regent Street Polytechnic in London in 1962 and begin playing together in various student bands. Syd Barrett, Waters's childhood friend from Cambridge, moves to London to study at the Camberwell College of Arts in 1964. The Cambridge connection between Waters and Barrett -- and their shared love of blues and R&B -- is the seed of Pink Floyd. Waters, Mason and Wright have been playing together for two years; Barrett's arrival as vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter is the catalyst that transforms a student band into something extraordinary.
1965 – 1966 The Pink Floyd Sound -- early name and residencies The band adopts the name The Pink Floyd Sound in 1965 -- combining the first names of two Georgia bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, from Syd Barrett's record collection. They shorten it to Pink Floyd. Through 1966 they build a following playing the London underground circuit -- UFO Club in Tottenham Court Road becomes their primary venue. Their performances are accompanied by oil light shows and slide projections, creating a total sensory experience that defines the psychedelic era. Barrett is the creative engine: his songs, his guitar playing and his charismatic, eccentric stage presence make Pink Floyd the most talked-about band in underground London.
1967 – 1968 Syd Barretts breakdown -- acid and mental illness Through the second half of 1967, Syd Barrett's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and unpredictable. He takes enormous quantities of LSD; he stands motionless on stage during performances; he tunes his guitar obsessively without playing; he stares blankly into the audience. On a US tour he appears on the Pat Boone Show and refuses to answer questions. The band, aware that his mental state is deteriorating rapidly, initially attempts to manage around him. The precise diagnosis of Barrett's condition is disputed -- paranoid schizophrenia is most commonly cited -- but the LSD use almost certainly accelerated a pre-existing vulnerability.
1967 Arnold Layne -- first single Pink Floyd releases 'Arnold Layne' -- a song about a man who steals women's underwear from washing lines, inspired by a real local figure in Cambridge -- as their debut single on 11 March 1967. It reaches Number 20 in the UK charts despite being banned by several radio stations for its subject matter. Barrett's whimsical, surrealist lyric writing and his distinctive guitar tone -- using a Zippo lighter as a slide -- are immediately recognisable. The single establishes Pink Floyd as the leading band of the British psychedelic underground.
1967 See Emily Play -- Top 10 hit 'See Emily Play,' released in June 1967, reaches Number 6 in the UK charts -- Pink Floyd's highest chart position during the Barrett era. The song, written by Barrett about a girl who lives in a dream, is the definitive statement of his psychedelic vision: melodically beautiful, lyrically surreal and instrumentally innovative. The band performs it three times on Top of the Pops. John Lennon, watching at home, says Barrett is the most interesting new talent in British music. The single's success puts pressure on the band to produce a follow-up album immediately.
1967 The Piper at the Gates of Dawn -- Barretts masterpiece Pink Floyd records and releases The Piper at the Gates of Dawn in August 1967 -- simultaneously with the Beatles recording Sgt. Pepper's in the adjacent studio at Abbey Road. The album is one of the most original debut albums in rock history: Barrett's songs range from the cosmic ('Astronomy Domine,' 'Interstellar Overdrive') to the whimsically English ('The Gnome,' 'Bike,' 'Scarecrow'). The extended psychedelic pieces demonstrate the band's ability to create immersive sonic environments. It reaches Number 6 in the UK. It is both Barrett's triumph and his farewell -- he is already deteriorating.
1968 David Gilmour joins -- Barrett replaced David Gilmour -- Barrett's Cambridge friend and an accomplished guitarist -- is recruited in January 1968, initially with the intention of allowing Barrett to remain as a non-touring songwriter. The arrangement is unworkable: Barrett's condition makes him unable to contribute consistently. On the way to a gig in April 1968, the band simply decides not to pick Barrett up. He is never formally fired. Gilmour's arrival transforms Pink Floyd's sound: where Barrett's guitar was idiosyncratic and effects-driven, Gilmour's is fluid, melodic and emotionally expressive -- the voice that will define Pink Floyd for the next two decades.
1968 A Saucerful of Secrets -- the transition album A Saucerful of Secrets (June 1968) is the transitional album -- half Barrett, half post-Barrett. Barrett contributes one track ('Jugband Blues' -- possibly the most poignant self-aware breakdown in rock music, its final section dissolving into chaos as Barrett asks 'what exactly is a dream, and what exactly is a joke?'). The rest of the album points toward the extended instrumental pieces and concept-driven structures that will define the band's future. The title track is Pink Floyd's first major composition by Waters, Wright and Mason -- abstract, dynamic and exploratory.
1969 More and Ummagumma -- soundtracks and experiments Pink Floyd records the soundtrack to Barbet Schroeder's film 'More' (1969) and releases 'Ummagumma' -- a double album comprising one live disc and one studio disc on which each band member records a solo piece. The albums demonstrate the band's range: accessible melodic rock, abstract noise, pastoral pieces and genuine experimental composition. Waters's 'Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict' is a found-sound experiment; Wright's 'Sysyphus' is a classical-influenced piano suite. The band is finding its range in Barrett's absence.
1970 Atom Heart Mother -- Number 1 in the UK Atom Heart Mother (October 1970), featuring an extended orchestral-rock suite occupying the entire first side, reaches Number 1 in the UK -- Pink Floyd's first chart-topping album. The title track, written with Ron Geesin, features a brass ensemble, choir and cello. The album demonstrates Pink Floyd's ambition to transcend rock's conventional format. Waters later disowns it as a failure of nerve; Gilmour considers it an interesting experiment. Its Number 1 position proves that the British album-buying public is ready for extended, ambitious rock compositions.
1971 Meddle -- Echoes and the sound of the future Meddle (November 1971) contains 'Echoes' -- a 23-minute piece occupying the entire second side that is arguably Pink Floyd's greatest single composition. 'Echoes' begins with a single piano note through a Leslie speaker (creating the famous 'ping'), develops through extended improvisational passages and climaxes in a massive unison statement before dissolving into birdsong. The piece demonstrates every element of the mature Pink Floyd sound: Gilmour's lyrical guitar, Wright's atmospheric keyboards, Waters's bass, Mason's driving drums and the band's collective ability to sustain a large-scale musical arc.
1972 Obscured by Clouds and the Pompeii film Pink Floyd records the soundtrack to 'La Vallée' as 'Obscured by Clouds' (1972) and films 'Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii' -- a concert film shot in the empty Roman amphitheatre at Pompeii with no audience. The Pompeii film, directed by Adrian Maben, is one of the great rock films: the band performing in the ruins, surrounded by the volcanic landscape of Vesuvius, creates images of extraordinary power. 'Echoes,' 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun' and 'A Saucerful of Secrets' are performed with hypnotic intensity. The film introduces Pink Floyd to audiences who have not seen them live.
1973 The Dark Side of the Moon -- the album that changed everything The Dark Side of the Moon is released on 1 March 1973. It remains on the Billboard 200 chart for 741 consecutive weeks -- 14 years -- and has sold over 50 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums in history. Its themes -- time, money, madness, death, conflict -- are addressed with a sonic and conceptual sophistication unprecedented in rock music. 'Money,' 'Time,' 'The Great Gig in the Sky,' 'Brain Damage' and 'Eclipse' are woven into a seamless 43-minute listening experience. Alan Parsons's engineering and the band's use of the studio as a compositional tool set a new standard for record production.
1975 Syd Barrett visits Abbey Road -- the ghost appears During the recording of Wish You Were Here in June 1975, an obese, shaven-headed stranger wanders into the Abbey Road studio. The band do not recognise him. He is Syd Barrett -- 29 years old, looking 50, transformed beyond recognition by years of mental illness and drug use. He brushes his teeth repeatedly, asks when he will be needed for the recording and eventually leaves. Roger Waters weeps. Gilmour, who married that day, describes the encounter as the most disturbing of his life. Barrett returns to Cambridge shortly afterwards and lives reclusively with his mother until his death in 2006.
1975 Wish You Were Here -- the Barrett tribute Wish You Were Here (September 1975) is Pink Floyd's most personal album -- a meditation on absence, alienation and the music industry's exploitation of artists. 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' (parts I-V and VI-IX, framing the album) is a direct tribute to Syd Barrett, whose decline haunts the entire record. During the recording sessions, Barrett himself appears at Abbey Road -- grossly overweight, head shaved, eyebrows shaved -- unrecognised by his former bandmates until he speaks. Gilmour, who had been Barrett's friend since childhood, is deeply shaken. The album reaches Number 1 in both the UK and US.
1977 Animals -- Waters takes control Animals (January 1977) is Roger Waters's most politically explicit statement -- a Orwellian allegory dividing society into pigs (the ruling class), dogs (the enforcers) and sheep (the passive masses), drawn from George Orwell's Animal Farm. The album is more aggressive than its predecessors: long, abrasive guitar solos from Gilmour, Waters's most bitter lyrics and a general atmosphere of fury at Thatcherite Britain (which has not yet arrived but which Waters clearly anticipates). 'Dogs' (17 minutes) and 'Pigs (Three Different Ones)' are the centrepieces. The album reaches Number 2 in the UK and Number 3 in the US.
1977 The Montreal incident -- the Wall is conceived During the Animals tour at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal in July 1977, Roger Waters -- frustrated by the enormous, impersonal venues the band's success has forced them into -- spits in the face of a fan who has been shouting and setting off fireworks throughout the concert. Appalled by his own behaviour, Waters conceives of a show in which a wall is built between the band and the audience during the performance, eventually blocking the band from view entirely. The Montreal incident is the direct origin of The Wall.
1979 The Wall -- the double album of isolation The Wall is released on 30 November 1979. A double album concept work about a rock musician ('Pink') who builds a psychological wall around himself to shut out the world, it is Roger Waters's most fully realised concept and Pink Floyd's commercial peak. 'Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)' -- with its children's choir ('We don't need no education') -- reaches Number 1 in 18 countries and is the UK's best-selling single of 1979. The album spends 15 weeks at Number 1 in the US. It eventually sells over 30 million copies. It is simultaneously a masterpiece and the beginning of the end for Pink Floyd.
1980 – 1981 The Wall live -- the most theatrical rock show ever The Wall is performed live at Earls Court in London (August 1980) and the Nassau Coliseum and Los Angeles Sports Arena (February-March 1980). The show -- featuring a 40-foot wall built across the stage during the performance, animated Gerald Scarfe projections, life-size marionettes and an inflatable teacher -- is the most theatrical rock production ever staged. Each performance costs over $1 million to produce. Only 31 shows are performed due to the logistical complexity. The wall is demolished at the end of each show. The concerts are landmarks in the history of rock spectacle.
1982 – 1983 Richard Wright fired -- and rehired as session musician Roger Waters fires Richard Wright during the recording of The Wall in 1979 -- reportedly citing Wright's lack of contribution and demanding that he work as a salaried session musician rather than a band member on equal footing. Wright agrees rather than leave. The firing is a significant moment: it demonstrates Waters's dominance of the band and prefigures the eventual total breakdown. Wright is paid a salary for the Wall tour -- which, paradoxically, means he is the only member of Pink Floyd who makes money from it, since the tour's enormous losses are shared among the other three.
1982 The Wall film -- Alan Parker directs The Wall film, directed by Alan Parker with animations by Gerald Scarfe, is released in July 1982. Bob Geldof plays Pink. The film is a hallucinatory experience -- minimal dialogue, extended animation sequences depicting war, fascism and psychological breakdown. 'Comfortably Numb,' 'Run Like Hell' and 'In the Flesh' are performed in context. The film is a critical and commercial success. Roger Ebert gives it four stars. It remains one of the most uncompromising mainstream films ever made and the definitive visual expression of Waters's conceptual vision.
1983 The Final Cut -- Waterss solo album in all but name The Final Cut (March 1983) is described as 'a requiem for the post-war dream' and is dedicated to Waters's father, killed at Anzio. It is almost entirely Waters's composition and concept -- Gilmour contributes one co-write and his guitar playing, but describes it as Waters's solo album. Mason plays minimal drums; Wright has been fired. The album is angry, elegiac and relentlessly personal -- a meditation on Falklands-era Britain, the waste of war and broken promises. It reaches Number 1 in the UK. Gilmour calls it 'a collection of demos' and refuses to tour it. The band is effectively over.
1985 Roger Waters leaves Pink Floyd Roger Waters formally announces his departure from Pink Floyd on 17 December 1985, stating in a letter to the band's management that Pink Floyd is a 'spent force' and that he is leaving. He applies to have the band's name dissolved as a partnership. Gilmour and Mason contest this legally and win the right to continue using the Pink Floyd name. Waters considers their continuation an act of commercial cynicism, trading on a name they have no right to use without him. The legal and personal battle between Waters and Gilmour is one of the great feuds in rock music -- vicious, prolonged and occasionally petty on both sides.
1987 – 1988 A Momentary Lapse of Reason -- Gilmours Pink Floyd David Gilmour leads a reconstituted Pink Floyd -- with Mason and the restored Wright (now a full member again) -- to record A Momentary Lapse of Reason (September 1987). The album is largely written by Gilmour with outside collaborators; it is technically polished but lacks the conceptual depth of the Waters era. Waters publicly dismisses it as 'a pretty fair forgery.' The subsequent Delicate Sound of Thunder tour (1987-89) grosses over $135 million and plays to 4.25 million people -- demonstrating that the Pink Floyd brand retains enormous commercial power even without Waters.
1990 Waters performs The Wall at Berlin -- 200,000 attend Roger Waters stages a massive performance of The Wall at the site of the recently demolished Berlin Wall on 21 July 1990, celebrating German reunification. The audience of 200,000 is the largest paying concert audience in history at the time. The cast includes Bryan Adams, Sinead O'Connor, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Cyndi Lauper, Thomas Dolby, Marianne Faithfull and the Scorpions. The production, staged in the no man's land between East and West Berlin, is a genuine cultural event rather than merely a rock concert. Waters uses the occasion to demonstrate that he -- not Gilmour -- is the creative force behind Pink Floyd's most important work.
1994 – 1995 Pulse tour -- the final Pink Floyd tour The Pulse tour (1994-95) is the most technically elaborate in the band's history -- featuring a massive LED screen that forms the back wall of the stage, a circular screen above the stage for projections, and the complete performance of The Dark Side of the Moon in the second set of every show. The tour grosses $103 million from 68 shows, playing to over 5.3 million people. The Earls Court shows are filmed and released as 'Pulse' (1995) -- the definitive live Pink Floyd document. It is the band's farewell to live performance for over a decade.
1994 The Division Bell -- the final studio album The Division Bell (March 1994) is the final Pink Floyd studio album -- again without Waters, with Gilmour and Wright sharing primary songwriting duties. Where A Momentary Lapse was commercially driven, The Division Bell has genuine emotional depth: several songs address the breakdown of communication within the band, particularly between Gilmour and Waters. 'High Hopes' and 'Coming Back to Life' are among Gilmour's finest compositions. The album reaches Number 1 in both the UK and US. The subsequent Pulse tour (1994) is the highest-grossing of the band's career.
2001 – 2006 Syd Barrett dies -- the ghost is finally at rest Syd Barrett dies on 7 July 2006 at his home in Cambridge, aged 60, from complications of diabetes. He has lived quietly in Cambridge since the early 1980s, painting, growing vegetables and living on his Pink Floyd royalties under his birth name Roger Barrett. His death is mourned worldwide. Pink Floyd releases a statement calling him 'the architect of our band.' His influence -- on Barrett-era Pink Floyd, on David Bowie, on the entire British psychedelic tradition -- is incalculable. His breakdown and its aftermath remain one of rock music's most haunting stories.
2005 Live 8 -- Waters and Gilmour reunite Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright perform together as Pink Floyd for the first time in 24 years at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, London on 2 July 2005. The reunion -- reportedly negotiated by Bob Geldof -- is greeted with an outpouring of emotion from the 200,000-strong crowd and a worldwide television audience of hundreds of millions. They perform 'Breathe,' 'Money,' 'Wish You Were Here' and 'Comfortably Numb.' Waters and Gilmour embrace at the end. The performance generates widespread hope for a permanent reunion. It does not happen.
2008 Richard Wright dies -- the last hope of reunion fades Richard Wright dies of cancer on 15 September 2008, aged 65. His death ends any remaining possibility of a full Pink Floyd reunion. Wright had been the most musically gifted of the four founders -- his keyboard playing, chord voicings and harmonic sense are the emotional centre of the band's sound, most evident on 'The Great Gig in the Sky,' 'Us and Them' and 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond.' Gilmour says: 'The world is a lesser place without him.' Waters, after years of not speaking to Wright, calls the family to express his condolences.
2011 – 2014 The Wall Live -- Waters tours the world alone Roger Waters tours The Wall worldwide from 2010 to 2013 -- the highest-grossing concert tour in history at the time, earning over $458 million from 219 shows played to 4.1 million people across North America, Europe, South America and Australia. The production is even more elaborate than the 1980 original. Waters performs without any other Pink Floyd members. The tour demonstrates that he is the dominant creative force behind The Wall and that the Pink Floyd name -- which Gilmour and Mason continue to use -- is at least partly his creation.
2014 The Endless River -- Wrights farewell The Endless River (November 2014) is described as Pink Floyd's final album -- a largely instrumental record built from recordings made during the Division Bell sessions in 1993-94, featuring Richard Wright's keyboard performances as its emotional core. It is Gilmour and Mason's tribute to Wright. The album reaches Number 1 in the UK -- making Pink Floyd only the second act (after Elvis Presley) to have a Number 1 album in six consecutive decades. It becomes the most pre-ordered album in UK history. Gilmour announces it will be the last Pink Floyd record.
2022 Hey Hey Rise Up -- the Ukraine single In March 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Pink Floyd releases 'Hey Hey Rise Up' -- featuring Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Boombox, who had returned to Ukraine to fight and posted a video of himself singing a Ukrainian patriotic song in Kyiv's Sofiyska Square. Gilmour and Mason add instrumentation to Khlyvnyuk's vocal, releasing it as a charity single. The release is notable for being described as the first new Pink Floyd music in 28 years since The Division Bell. It demonstrates that Gilmour and Mason consider Pink Floyd still active as a humanitarian platform if not as a recording and touring enterprise.
2023 – present Legacy -- the dark side of everything Pink Floyd's legacy is the proof that rock music can sustain the weight of genuine artistic ambition -- that a rock album can address mortality, madness, war and political corruption with the seriousness those subjects deserve. The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall are the three great pillars: each a sustained artistic statement, each technically groundbreaking, each emotionally profound. Their combined sales exceed 100 million copies. The unresolved tension between Waters and Gilmour -- creative partners who created masterpieces together and cannot speak to each other -- is the human story behind the music.