Kicked the bucket: Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd co-founder and their first singer/songwriter

In my life, I've gotten more stoned to Pink Floyd's music than any other band (especially the early instrumental long-form stuff, Ummagumma, etc). That's the enduring nature of Pink Floyd's appeal -- they're the best music to get high by. Dark Side Of The Moon has accompanied more passed-along doobies than any album ever.
And now Syd Barrett is dead -- the guy who wrote their first album, gave them their name, and cast a long shadow over the sterling work of their second songwriter/singer, Roger Waters.

BTW, I saw Pink Floyd in concert the week Dark Side Of The Moon came out. Heard the album for the first time when they did it live on stage. Fuck me with a long sweet bent guitar note. Best concert ever, and I've seen everybody -- Stones, Bowie, McCartney, King Crimson, Roxy Music, Eagles, Neil Young. Pink Floyd had a rocket flying over the audience that crashed the stage with a big bang; a huge robot behind them you didn't see at first because they brought up the lights on it very slowly; a big cymbal bursting into flame, etc. Plus the best sound. Also, I was on dope and a quarter cap of acid. Pure bliss.

I shed a little tear this morning when the BBC on NPR had an interview with a Pink Floyd producer, who said how fine it was that Pink Floyd kept the name and spirit of Syd Barrett alive in a subtle, non-exploitative way, and that this was good karma for them. Good guys. Despite the Waters/Gilmour flareup.

Here's an obit from a music magazine, and the Wikipedia entry on Syd.

1. Pink Floyd legend Syd Barrett dies
Reclusive star passes away aged 60
(from New Musical Express)

Pink Floyd legend Syd Barrett has died at his Cambridgeshire home.

The singer, 60, who suffered from an LSD-induced breakdown while at the peak of his career in the Sixties, died last Friday (July 7). It has been reported that he died from complications related to diabetes, however, other reports suggest the cause of death was cancer.

A statement from Pink Floyd said: "The band are naturally very upset and sad to learn of Syd Barrett 's death.

"Syd was the guiding light of the early band line-up and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire."

His brother Alan confirmed his death earlier today (July 11), saying: "He died peacefully at home. There will be a private family funeral in the next few days."

'Syd 'Barrett was born Roger Keith Barrett in Cambridge on January 6, 1946, the youngest of five children. A keen musician from an early age, he acquired the nickname which became his most prominent moniker aged 15, a reference to another Cambridge -based musician, also named Sid Barrett .

Barrett formed Pink Floyd along with Roger Waters ,Nick Mason and Rick Wright in 1965, reputedly naming the band after two blues artists, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council , who had a place in his record collection.

From R&B beginnings, the band developed a unique psychedelic style which sat well with the swinging London hipsters of the time. They quickly became the house band at the acclaimed UFO Club on Tottenham Court Road in the West End , which championed acts from the psychedelic underground.

The band recorded their first single 'Arnold Layne' , written by Barrett about a cross-dresser, in January 1967. Produced by 60s scenester Joe Boyd , the recording proved enough for EMI to offer the group a contract.

After scoring a Top Ten hit with 'See Emily Play' , again written by Barrett , the band released their debut LP 'The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' in August 1967.

The record, on which Barrett wrote eight songs and co-wrote another two, was recorded at Abbey Road studios in London 's St John's Wood, next door to where The Beatles were making 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' .

As well as composing many of the tunes, Barrett was renowned for his innovative guitar playing, experimenting with feedback and distortion and using props such as a Zippo Lighter to get a unique sound from his Fender Esquire .

The UK public liked what they heard - the LP made the Top Ten and the band started to attract a devoted following. However, Barrett was becoming increasingly unhinged, which coincided with regular consumption of LSD.

The star started to behave erratically at gigs, most memorably at a show in San Francisco when he put hair gel on his head until it slowly melted over his face thanks to the heat from the stage lights.

Towards the end of 1967, friend of the band David Gilmour was asked to join as second guitarist to compensate for Barrett 's behaviour. It got so bad that on the way to a gig in Southampton in January 1968, Pink Floyd elected not to pick him up.

When Pink Floyd 's second album 'A Saucerful Of Secrets' was released in 1968, it contained only one Barrett composition, 'Jugband Blues'. His official departure was announced in March 1968.

Following this, Barrett holed himself up in his flat in London 's Earls Court , resurfacing in 1970 to release two solo albums, 'The Madcap Laughs' and 'Barrett' , which were not commercially successful. Among the people helping him out on these records were Gilmour and Waters .Gilmour also backed Barrett at his one concert during this period, in June 1970 at London Olympia.

In 1972 Barrett resurfaced in a band called Stars, but he quit after one gig at Cambridge Corn Exchange. In 1974, his old manager Peter Jenner managed to get Barrett to return to Abbey Road in hope of recording another album. When this also proved fruitless, Barrett sold the rights to his solo albums back to the record label and returned to Cambridge to live with his mother. He never returned to the music industry, and lived in the same house until his death. He was said to be fond of painting, writing and gardening. Pink Floyd ensured he still got regular royalty payments.

Pink Floyd of course, went on to achieve massive worldwide fame, and 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' , from the 1975 album 'Wish You Were Here' , was a tribute to him. Sensationally, Barrett made a brief visit to the studio when the track was being recorded, having put on weight and shaved his hair. The rest of the band have since confessed their distress at seeing him in such a dishevelled state.


2. From Wikipedia

Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (January 6,1946 –July 7, 2006) was an English singer, songwriter, guitarist and artist.

Best remembered as one of the founding members of the group Pink Floyd , Barrett was active as a rock musician for only a few years, before mental instability forced him into seclusion. His creative legacy and quintessentially English vocal delivery have since proven to be remarkably influential.

Early years

Barrett was born in Cambridge, England, to a well off middle class family, the youngest of five siblings. His father Arthur Barrett was a prominent pathologist and both he and his wife Winifred encouraged the young Roger (as he was then) in his music. Barrett acquired the nickname "Syd" at the age of 15, a reference to an old local Cambridge drummer, Sid Barrett. Syd changed the spelling in order to differentiate himself from his namesake.

Pink Floyd years (1965–1968)

Pink Floyd (originally called "The Tea Set", "The Abdabs", "The Screaming Abdabs" and "The Megadeaths" before Syd joined and created the name "The Pink Floyd Sound" then later "The Pink Floyd") was formed in 1965 . It is generally recognized that he derived the name "Pink Floyd" juxtapositioning the first names of Pink Anderson and Floyd Council he had read about in a sleevenote by Paul Oliver for a 1962 Blind Boy Fuller LP (Philips BBL-7512): "Curley Weaver and Fred McMullen, (...) Pink Anderson or Floyd Council -- these were a few amongst the many blues singers that were to be heard in the rolling hills of the Piedmont, or meandering with the streams through the wooded valleys."

While the band began by playing cover versions of American R&B songs (much in the same vein as contemporaries The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, and The Kinks ), by 1966 they had carved out their own style of improvised rock and roll, which drew as much from improvised jazz as it did from British pop-rock, such as that championed by the Beatles. In that year, a new rock concert venue, the UFO, opened in London and quickly became a haven for British psychedelic music. Pink Floyd became their most popular attraction, and, after making appearances at the rival Roundhouse, became the most popular musical group of the so-called "London Underground" psychedelic music scene.

By the end of 1966, Pink Floyd had gained a reliable management team in Andrew King and Peter Jenner. The duo soon befriended American expatriate Joe Boyd, who was actively making a name for himself as one of the more important entrepreneurs on the British music scene. Boyd produced a recording session for the group in January 1967 at Sound Techniques in Chelsea, which resulted in a demo of the single " Arnold Layne ". King and Jenner took the song to the recording behemoth EMI , who were impressed enough to offer the band a contract, under which they would be allowed to record an album. The band accepted. By the time the album was released, "Arnold Layne" had reached #21 on the British singles charts (despite a ban by the BBC) and a follow-up single, " See Emily Play" had sold even better, peaking at #6.

These first two singles, as well as a third ("Apples and Oranges"), were written by Syd Barrett. Barrett wrote most of the Floyd's early material, and was the principal visionary/author of their critically acclaimed 1967 debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Of the 11 songs on Piper, Barrett wrote eight and co-wrote another two. [1] He was also an innovative guitarist , exploring the musical and sonic possibilities of dissonance ,distortion ,feedback , and the echo machine ; his experimentation was partly inspired by free improvisation guitarist Keith Rowe [2] . One of Barrett's trademarks was playing his Fender Esquire guitar by sliding a Zippo lighter up and down the fret-board through an old echo box to create the mysterious, otherworldly sounds that became associated with the group.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was recorded intermittently between January and July 1967, much of that time in the studio right next door to recording sessions for the Beatles' landmark album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band . When Piper was released in August of that year, it became a smash hit in the UK, hitting #6 on the British album charts (the album was not nearly so successful in the USA). However, as the band began to attract a large fanbase, the pressures placed on Barrett contributed to him experiencing increasing psychiatric illness.

Barrett's behaviour became increasingly unpredictable, partly as a consequence of frequent experimentation with psychedelic drugs such as LSD . Many report seeing him on stage with the group, strumming on one chord through the entire concert, or not playing at all. At a show at The Filmore West in San Francisco, during a performance of " Interstellar Overdrive ", Barrett slowly detuned his guitar, the audience seemed to enjoy such antics, unaware of the rest of the band's consternation. At another show Waters remembered Barrett putting hair gel (purportedly mixed with crushed Mandrax ) on to his head which subsequently melted down his face under the heat of the stage lighting, however Nick Mason has disputed this stating in the Barrett biography 'Madcap' "Syd would never waste good mandies."

Following a disastrous abridged tour of the United States, David Gilmour (a school friend of Barrett's) was asked to join the band as a second guitarist in order to cover for Barrett as Barrett's erratic behaviour prevented him from performing. For a handful of shows David played and sang while Barrett wandered around on stage, occasionally deigning to join in playing. The other band members soon tired of Barrett's antics, and in January 1968, on the way to a show at Southampton University , the band elected not to pick Barrett up. They attempted to retain him in the group as a songwriter, much as The Beach Boys had with Brian Wilson , but this proved untenable.

There are many stories about Barrett's bizarre and intermittently psychotic behaviour - many of which are undoubtedly apocryphal , although some are known to be true. According to Roger Waters, Barrett came into what was to be their last practice session with a new song he had dubbed "Have You Got It, Yet?" The song seemed simple enough when he first presented it to his bandmates, but it soon became impossibly difficult to learn: as they were practicing it, Barrett kept changing the arrangement. He would then play it again, with the arbitrary changes, and sing "Have you got it yet?"; after more than an hour of trying to "get it" they realised they never would.

Barrett did not contribute any material to the band after A Saucerful of Secrets was released in 1968 . Of the songs he recorded with Pink Floyd after Piper , only one (" Jugband Blues ") made it to the band's second album; one became a less-than-successful single ("Apples and Oranges"), and two others were never officially released ("Scream Thy Last Scream" and "Vegetable Man"). Barrett supposedly spent some time outside the recording studio, waiting to be invited in (he also showed up to a few gigs and glared at Gilmour), it's possible that his contributions to the album (guitar on some of the tracks) were included as a concession to him. In March 1968 it was officially announced that he was no longer a member of Pink Floyd.

Solo years (1968–1972)

After leaving Pink Floyd, Barrett distanced himself from the public eye. However, at the behest of EMI and Harvest Records , he did have a brief solo career, releasing two mercurial solo albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett . Much controversy has risen around the production work - which left Barrett's more vulnerable moments on tape to give the records a more "authentic" feel - but many feel the treatment does Barrett few favours and instead takes advantage of his fragile condition. Much of the material on both albums dates from Barrett's most productive period of songwriting, late 1966 - mid 1967, and it is believed that he wrote few new songs after he left Pink Floyd.

The first album, The Madcap Laughs , was recorded in two distinct sessions, both at Abbey Road Studios: a few tentative sessions took place between May and June 1968 (produced first by Peter Jenner and then by Malcolm Jones), while the bulk of the album was recorded between April and July 1969 (produced by David Gilmour and Roger Waters). This album offers an insight into Barrett's state of mind at the time; tracks such as "Dark Globe," have been seen as first-person narratives of schizophrenia. A few tracks on the album feature overdubs by members of the band Soft Machine .

The second album, Barrett, was recorded more sporadically than the first, with sessions taking place between February and July 1970. This effort sounds more polished than the first, but Barrett was arguably in a worse state. The album was produced by David Gilmour and featured Gilmour on bass guitar, Rick Wright on keyboard and Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley.

Despite the numerous recording dates for his two solo albums, Barrett undertook very little musical activity between 1968 and 1972 outside the studio. On 24 February 1970 , he appeared on John Peel's BBC radio programme Top Gear playing five songs - only one of which had been previously released. Three would be re-recorded for the Barrett album, while the song Two of a Kind was a one-off performance. (The song appears on the 2001 greatest hits album The Best of Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss Me? .) Barrett was accompanied on this session by David Gilmour and Jerry Shirley who played bass and percussion, respectively.

Gilmour and Shirley also backed Barrett for his one and only live concert during this period. The gig took place on 6 June 1970 at the Olympia Exhibition Hall, London, and was part of a "Music and Fashion Festival". The trio performed four songs, playing for less than half an hour, and due to poor mixing, the vocals were inaudible until part-way through the last number. At the end of the fourth song, Barrett unexpectedly but politely put down his guitar and walked off the stage.

Syd Barrett made one last appearance on BBC Radio, recording three songs at their studios on 16 February 1971 . All three came from the Barrett album, and were presumably aired to encourage people to buy the record. At this stage, though, Barrett seemed to have little interest in recording music, and even less interest in performing it live. After this session, he would take a hiatus from his music career that lasted more than a year. He was said to have eaten a horses head as a joke.

Later years (1972-2006)

In 1972, Barrett formed a short-lived band called Stars with ex- Pink Fairies member Twink on drums and Jack Monck on bass. Though the band was initially well-received, one of their gigs at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge proved to be disastrous and Barrett decided to leave soon afterwards.

In 1974, Peter Jenner convinced Barrett to return to Abbey Road Studios in hope of recording another album. However, little became of the sessions, which lasted three days and consisted of blues rhythm tracks with tentative and disjointed guitar overdubs (the only titled track is the intriguing "If You Go, Don't Be Slow"). Once again, Barrett withdrew from the music industry. He sold the rights to his solo albums back to the record label, moved into a London hotel and when the money ran out he walked back to Cambridge to live in his mother's basement. Further attempts to bring him back (including one endeavour by The Damned who wanted him to produce their second album) were all fruitless. Up until his death, Barrett still received royalties from his work with Pink Floyd from each compilation and some of the live albums and singles that had featured his songs; Gilmour has commented that he "[made] sure the money [got] to him alright."

The Wish You Were Here sessions

Syd Barrett had one noted reunion with Pink Floyd, in 1975 during the recording sessions for Wish You Were Here. Barrett attended the Abbey Road session unannounced and watched the band record Shine On You Crazy Diamond — coincidentally, a song about him. At that time, Syd had gained a lot of weight and had shaved off all of his hair, including his eyebrows, and his ex-bandmates did not at first recognise him (one of the photographs in Nick Mason's book Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd appears to have been taken that day; it is captioned simply: Syd Barrett, 5th June 1975). Eventually, they realised who he was and Roger Waters was so distressed that he was reduced to tears. Members of the band also reported on their featured VH1 episode of Behind The Music that Barrett held a toothbrush and attempted to brush his teeth by holding the brush still and jumping up and down. A reference to this reunion appears in the film Pink Floyd The Wall (1982 ), where the character 'Pink', played by Bob Geldof, shaves off his eyebrows after succumbing to the pressures of life and fame.

In an interview for VH1, Rick Wright spoke about the session, saying: "One thing that really stands out in my mind, that I'll never forget; I was going in to the the Shine On sessions. I went in the studio and I saw this guy sitting at the back of the studio, he was only as far away as you are from me. And I didn't recognise him. I said, 'Who's that guy behind you?' 'That's Syd'. And I just cracked up, I couldn't believe it... he had shaven all his hair off... I mean, his eyebrows, everything... he was jumping up and down brushing his teeth, it was awful. And, uh, I was in, I mean Roger was in tears, I think I was; we were both in tears. It was very shocking... seven years of no contact and then to walk in while we're actually doing that particular track. I don't know – coincidence, karma, fate, who knows? But it was very, very, very powerful." In another interview, Nick Mason has said: "When I think about it, I can still see his eyes, but... it was everything else that was different." In yet another interview, Roger Waters has said: "I had no idea who he was for a very long time."

Compilations

In 1988, EMI Records released an album of Barrett's studio outtakes and previously unreleased material recorded from 1968 to 1970 under the title Opel. In 1993 it issued another release, Crazy Diamond , a box set of all three albums, each loaded with further out-takes from his solo sessions that illustrated vividly Barrett's inability or refusal to play a song the same way twice.

EMI also released The Best of Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss Me? in the UK on April 16, 2001, and in the United States on September 11, 2001. This was the first time his song "Bob Dylan Blues" was ever officially released, taken from a demo tape that David Gilmour had kept after an early 70s recording session. Also worthy of mention is the bootleg collection Have You Got It Yet? , a 19-disc audio/visual compilation composed of several live performances of Barrett both solo and with Pink Floyd, containing some versions considered superior to those that were officially released. Among the main attractions of the collection are tracks for his never-released third album. There are also interviews with other Pink Floyd members, video footage and covers from other artists.

Last years

According to a 2005 profile by his biographer Tim Willis, Barrett, who had reverted to using his original name of Roger, continued to live in his late mother's semi-detached home in Cambridge , and had returned to his original art-form of painting , creating large abstract canvases. He was also said to have been an avid gardener . His main point of contact with the outside world was his sister, Rosemary, who lived nearby. While reclusive, it was his physical health that prompted most concern, being afflicted with stomach ulcers and type two diabetes .

Although Barrett had not appeared or spoken in public since the mid- 1970s , time did little to diminish interest in his life and work; reporters and fans still travelled to Cambridge to seek him out, despite his attempts to live a quiet life, and many photos from the 1980s to the present of Barrett being annoyed by paparazzi when walking or biking to the store had been published in various places. A planned screen biography entitled "Crazy Diamond," which was to have been produced by Ridley Scott and directed by former Pink Floyd collaborator Peter Medak from a script by Ted Shuttleworth, ran into legal and rights issues and was shelved indefinitely.

Apparently, Barrett was not happy being reminded about his past as a musician and the other members of Pink Floyd had no direct contact with him. However, he did go to his sister's house in 2002 to watch the BBC Omnibus documentary made about him – reportedly he found some of it "too noisy", though he's said to have enjoyed hearing " See Emily Play " again.

Barrett died of a diabetes-related illness on 7th July 2006 at his home in Cambridgeshire at the age of 60.

Mental illness

There has been much speculation concerning the psychological well-being of Syd Barrett. Many believe he suffered from schizophrenia , though he didn't totally fit the typical profile for that condition. Additionally, some have suggested that Barrett had traits associated with Asperger's Syndrome, a condition most often placed on the autism spectrum.

Barrett's use of recreational drugs, especially LSD, during the 1960s is well-documented. Some believe that Barrett's drug use helped trigger (or at the very least inflame) his mental illness. In an article published in 2006, Gilmour was quoted as saying: "In my opinion, his breakdown would have happened anyway. It was a deep-rooted thing. But I'll say the psychedelic experience might well have acted as a catalyst. Still, I just don't think he could deal with the vision of success and all the things that went with it".

There is also the possibility that the sudden death of his father (a respected pathologist) when he was 11 caused him considerable anguish and left emotional scars that probably sowed some of the seeds of his later malaise. The subject matter of a lot of his songs, the nursery rhymes and fairy tale fantasies, were reminiscent for him of a "happier" period of his childhood before his father's passing.

Influence

Many artists have acknowledged Barrett's influence on their work. Paul McCartney and Pete Townshend were early fans; Jimmy Page, David Bowie, Brian Eno, and The Damned all expressed interest in working with him at some point during the 1970s. In fact, Bowie recorded a cover of " See Emily Play " on his 1973 album Pin Ups . On a VH1 program, honoring rock bands and artists, Pete Townshend gave a speech honoring Syd Barrett, and telling a story where he told Eric Clapton that he had to come see this guy play, who was Barrett. Townshend called Barrett legendary. Syd was one of Townshend's many influences, along with John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley and even Joe Walsh. Syd as guitarist was remarkable for his free-form style in playing chords (and not the echo, the tapes or the effects); his rhythmic guitar, as well as his minimalist and dissonant solos, can be seen as the main influence on punk, post-punk and grunge guitarists, and still is the main influence on indie bands as of today. No other guitarist of his generation could claim this.

Barrett's decline had a profound effect on Roger Waters' song-writing, and the theme of mental illness would permeate Pink Floyd's later albums, particularly 1973's Dark Side of the Moon and 1979's The Wall . One track from Dark Side of the Moon, entitled Brain Damage , contained a specific reference to Barrett's mental illness. A later line in the song references "the band you're in starts playing different tunes", which is a situation Barrett often got into when suffering from the symptoms of his mental illness. Wish You Were Here (1975) was a conscious tribute to Barrett. Other artists that have written tributes to Barrett include his contemporary Kevin Ayers (of the Soft Machine ), who wrote the song "Oh Wot a Dream" as a tribute (Barrett provided guitar to an early version of Ayers' "Singing a Song in the Morning"). Barrett fan Robyn Hitchcock is repeatedly compared to Barrett, has covered many of his songs live and on record and has paid homage to his forebearer with the songs "The Man Who Invented Himself" and "(Feels Like) 1974". The Television Personalities track "I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives" from their 1978 album 'And don't the kids love it' is another well-known tribute, apparently based on fact.

R.E.M. has covered the haunting "Dark Globe", as have Soundgarden ,Placebo and Lost and Profound .The Smashing Pumpkins have covered "Terrapin." Gary Lucas has covered "Astronomy Domine" . The Industrial collective Rx composed of Kevin Ogilvie (Nivek Ogre) and Martin Atkins have recorded a version of "Scarecrow". At the Drive-In 's frontmen (now the main members of The Mars Volta ) covered "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" and have claimed that they tried constantly to emulate The Piper at the Gates of Dawn' s sound in their music. Slowdive covered "Golden Hair", which was a Syd Barrett version of the poem by James Joyce , on their EP "Holding Our Breath". Phish has performed several Barrett solo songs in concert, including "Love You," "Terrapin", "Baby Lemonade," "It's No Good Trying," and the Piper at the Gates of Dawn track "Bike".

Other artists/bands that have claimed influence and/or covered Barrett's work include Étienne Daho ,This Mortal Coil ,Marc Bolan, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Robert Smith (of The Cure ), Johnny Marr (formerly of The Smiths ), Kevin Shields (of My Bloody Valentine ), Primal Scream, Voivod (band), The Libertines, Dirty Pretty Things, The Beta Band, Lone Pigeon, Julian Cope, Robyn Hitchcock, The Flaming Lips, REM, Mercury Rev, East Bay Ray (of the Dead Kennedys ), Camper Van Beethoven, Voivod, Pearl Jam, Love and Rockets, Elevator To Hell, The Melvins, Transatlantic, Phish, Dream Theater, Graham Coxon (formerly of Blur ), John Frusciante (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers ), Eppo, Skobot Bzzzz , and the Vinyl Skyway.

Most bands in the Elephant 6 collective, such as Of Montreal, have a very distinct Barrett influence in their music, and Italian group Jennifer Gentle (named after a line from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn's "Lucifer Sam") emulates the sound of Piper and Barrett's solo work.

Trivia

Barrett is portrayed briefly in the opening scene of Tom Stoppard's play Rock 'n' Roll (2006) but his life and music (including the disastrous Cambridge Corn Exchange concert and his later reclusive lifestyle) are a recurring motif in the work.