'The Dark Side of the Moon'

Is Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon the best rock album of all time? Perhaps. I've been listening to this album a lot lately and thinking about it a little more deeply. Anyone with access to classic rock radio has heard "Time" and "Money" approximately 1,000 times. The brilliance of The Dark Side of the Moon comes when listening to the album in its entirety - from beginning to end.

Age has made me appreciate Pink Floyd in a whole new way. I wish I could go back in time and see them live in the 70s. What a miracle that must have been to witness! David Gilmour may well be the best guitarist ever. At any rate, he's giving Jimi Hendrix a run for his money. Gilmour is a master at solos. 

DSOTM made Pink Floyd very famous and very rich. It also cemented their place in the Rock Hall of Fame and spot on all those "best of" lists music magazines like to produce from time to time.

For me, the depth, layers and complexity of DSOTM is what makes the album so special to me. The harmonies and guitar solos are inventive and beautiful. The song lyrics totally bizarre yet brilliant and haunting.

My favorite songs on the album are "Time," "Any Colour You Like" and "Brain Damage/Eclipse" but really I prefer to just start at the beginning and let the album play. I like having it on in the background when I'm trying to write at work. I swear, even all these years and listens later I think I still discover something new each time I press play. I'd argue Dark Side of the Moon is one of those albums you can just listen to over and over and not get burned out. This is not the case for me when it comes to a lot of other really famous albums from bands we love. I can't listen to AC/DC Back in Black much anymore at all for example.

I think the lyrics to "Time" are some of the most beautiful in all of rock - and the most poignant too:

"Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day/
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way/
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town/
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way/
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain/
And you are young and life is long and there is time to kill today/
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you/
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun" 

Enjoy your Monday. Don't miss your starting gun today! 

Comments

[JCD]

For my money, Animals is a piece of work that is greatly underappreciated. It may very well be Gilmour's finest hour. Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall should all be listened to in their entirety to enjoy the full scope of their greatness. The same could be said for many records from the 70's.

[Bkallday]

Such a brilliant album. From front to back, absolutely no fillers! Not sure if this is my fave of theirs but its right up there if not. I saw em back on the Division Bell tour but thats not the same as seeing them in their prime. Of course they were still amazing and one of my top 10 shows of all time. Ive always loved this band and their music always puts me in the zone that i love being in! \m/

[Jeff]

All my friends were listening to them and raving about them in the 70's, but I could never get into them. There are a couple songs I can listen to, but they are not on my radar for must haves.

[Shawn]

Classic rock radio overplays them so much it causes me to tune them out when they come on which makes their work underappreciated by the masses. Great lyric - And then one day you find ten years have got behind you/
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun" so true in life........

Got to see David Gilmour's version at Oakland Stadium it was a great show - 8th row on the floor will never forget it.

[GNR]

And of course you can "sync" DSOTM to the Wizard of Oz and like blow your mind... or so the internet says. Remember press play on the 3rd roar of the MGM lion.

[stu]

while i respect the band’s ability (writing, playing, creativity, etc.) i just never got it. not a hater, just not my bag.
that said, i saw the division bell tour because i felt i needed to see (part of) them. glad i went, but doubt i’ll see any parts of the whole again either.

[Gary]

You have impeccable ears Allyson. David Gilmour is quite possibly the finest string bender on the planet. NEVER overplays a solo. Dude just adds exactly what a given song calls for. The solo at the end of Comfortably Numb is always voted top 5 all time in various guitarist polls. And rightfully so may I add. 👍

[Anonymous]

I was really into Prog back in the 1970s. I played hard rock on guitar because I was not good enough to play progressive rock; it was *way* too hard and complicated. But it was all I listened to. I was really into fusion as well like Mahavishnu Orchestra. Tommy Bolin is another great musician that died young and has been largely forgotten. The solos he did on Billy Cobham's album "Spectrum" are beyond belief. I'm 58 now and my tastes have really changed. Classic Rock and Prog I'm not into that much any more. These days I'm really into Punk, Industrial, and Black Metal. You will be more likely to be hearing me play "Godflesh" or NIN. I like "Meshuggah" a lot as well. As far as Prog goes, don't forget "Foxtrot" by Genesis.

[Metalboy!]

Agree with nearly all here.

I once knew a hippie dude with a beard, pony tail and overalls who drove one of those VW vans when I worked construction in D.C. in the Summer of ‘79 (I was 3 — Haha!! Even that would make me too old).

We were on a job together in Georgetown, just a few doors down from the steps in “The Exorcist” building a row of new townhouses. He would pull into the area that would become the garage of one of them and just crank that album over and over again on the Blaupunkt cassette player in the van over and over again, which for some reason, I didn’t seem to mind.

For my money, there best song is “Money”! One of the most bad as*ed songs e er recorded!

[Steverox]

I'll get flamed, but never really got into this band. I have listened to the songs everybody knows, and certainly like some of them. There is no doubt that some of the song composition is impeccable and the guitar work is exceptional. But I don't ever really have a desire to listen to Pink Floyd, nor do I have anything by them on my iPhone. And I even have a vinyl version of the Wall that my dad left me, I may need to give it another spin.

But I understand their appeal and I know I'm in the very small minority on this.