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Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Syd Barrett, 1946-2006

Posted by on July 11 at 11:57 AM

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The Crazy Diamond shines no more. Syd Barrett died July 7 from complications relating to diabetes, but for all practical purposes, he hasn’t really been alive since he vanished from the music scene over 30 years ago. The founder of the enormously influential British psych-rock band Pink Floyd, Barrett burnt out in classic acid-head style. But before he fried his brain, Barrett left a small but potently inventive body of work that continues to fire imaginations worldwide.

Barrett was a pivotal figure in unmooring rock and roll from its R&B roots and catalyzing the music into fresh, dynamic permutations of exploratory instrumentation (haters will call this “wankery” or worse, but they deserve the earthbound mediocrity that is their typical listening diet). While Pink Floyd certainly excelled at the extended freakout, they also could pen concise, eccentrically infectious pop tunes (“Arnold Layne,” “Lucifer Sam,” “See Emily Play,” and “Bike,” to name but a few). Either the drugs were better then or Barrett was a mad genius. Actually, both assertions are true.

The mastermind behind Pink Floyd’s 1967 debut, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Barrett is largely responsible for launching psychedelic rock into deep space with tracks like “Astronomy Domine” and “Interstellar Overdrive.” The rest of that all-time classic album perfectly captured the by turns absurd, blissful, whimsical, and disturbing aspects of the LSD-enhanced sensorium.

Barrett contributed only minimally to Pink Floyd’s second album, A Saucerful of Secrets (1968), and then shakily embarked on a solo career in 1970 with help from his Floyd replacement, guitarist David Gilmour. Both The Madcap Laughs and Barrett possess an awkward winsomeness and can be construed as forerunners to the sort of bedroom/lo-fi aesthetic that has flourished in the rock underground from the late ’80s to the present. On these LPs, Barrett mostly retreats into more introverted singer-songwriter territory, albeit one tinted with the eerie glow of a manchild tumbling down the rabbit hole of insanity while eking out memorable melodies on an acoustic guitar. Both albums are the aural equivalent of Taj Mahals constructed out of glued-together toothpicks.

In 1972, Barrett formed a band called Stars with ex-Pink Fairies drummer Twink and bassist Jack Monck, but that unit didn’t last long and, aside from an aborted 1974 recording session with Peter Jenner at Abbey Road Studios, Barrett gave up on music and retreated to his mother’s basement.

Barrett’s ramshackle, surreal, crazy-psychonaut persona and music have inspired everyone from Radiohead to Robyn Hitchcock to the TV Personalities to Julian Cope to bands that have named themselves after Syd songs (Gigolo Aunts, Baby Lemonade, and Effervescing Elephant, for all I know).

While his life was a tragedy and perhaps a cautionary tale, Barrett blazed incredibly brightly while he was an active musician, and his legacy will last as long as people desire to expand their consciousness through sound.

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Pink Floyd (Syd, center)


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thanks Dave for a great tribute. Syd's tale was certainly a tragedy, but it is doubtful an album like Piper would have been if he wasn't mad to begin with.

Today is a sad day for music.

Damn.

More hyperboly about Barrett:

[...]for all practical purposes, he hasn’t really been alive since he vanished from the music scene over 30 years ago.

A bit harsh, don't you think? "Syd" has indeed been dead for years, killed off at every opportunity by Mr. Barrett himself whenever pesky Floyd fans / Journalists would bother him. But the man wasn't dead until now.

While his life was a tragedy and perhaps a cautionary tale [...]

It was neither. He left the world of Rock & Roll for a quiet life. This is neither tragic nor cautionary.

I suppose it's fitting that the same tired mythology is used in his epitaph that was used while he was alive.

Pink Floyd is responsible for some of the worst crimes committed by rock music. They are grandiose, overly dramatic, formulaic, solipsistic, trite, juvenile and just downright boring. How about that album-long song featuring a barking dog? Why did anyone ever want to hear that? Plus they are responsible for bringing us Rush, Yes and Genesis, for which they can never be forgiven.

Syd Barrett had a moment of glory, but let's not kid ourselves that he was some kind of genius. If he hadn't lost his mind to drugs and become a kind of hippy martyr, he'd now be peddling the same dross that people like Jethro Tull or Bryan Ferry squeeze out every few years.

Sad, though I hope every classic rock station doesn't respond to this by putting Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall on repeat.

have to say that i could care less about pink floyd but have been saddened by the loss of one of the original Commodores today:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5169798.stm

but for all practical purposes, he hasn’t really been alive since he vanished from the music scene over 30 years ago.

what a terribly offensive thing to say about a man that has just died.

gurldoggie? um...really. if you gotta point a stumpy 'as if punk saved the world' finger you should blame the Soft Machine...duh, THEY invented jazz rock. KEVIN AYES, ROBERT WYATT AND DAVID ALLEN all NEED a KICK IN THE NUTS! And Syd Barrett had nothing to do with PF after he left…like, you can't hold the 'mom' responsible for any crimes the 'child' might commit. no matter how horrible. and however offensive you may feel PF may be, in the future they will be considered masters of composition, you just wait. It will be laser Floyd performed by orchestras!

Okay Nipper, you win. I agree. Soft Machine suck too. As do King Crimson, Gentle Giant and all of those boring boring boring English bands who play 30 minute 'orchestral' suites.

But Pink Floyd were arguably the first of the navel gazing dinosaur bands, they've sold the most records, and are therefore the most guilty.

I'll take Pink Floyd (either pre or post Syd, though not post Roger Waters) or just about any King Crimson record over 99.99% of the trendy post-punk bullshit touted in the Stranger any old day, and twice on Sundays. I could give two shits whether being an accomplished musician went out with the Ramones (who I like, BTW).

The main cautionary tale of Syd Barrett is that nascent mental illness and large quantities of LSD just don't mix (unfortuately, it's sort of hard to figure out whether it will be a problem until it's too late).

GurlDoggie: This little diatribe reminds me of similar hating I heard in the wake of the deaths of A:) Kurt Cobain ("Good Riddance!"), B:)Jerry Garcia ("Yay! No more Grateful Dead!") and Joe Strummer ("Joe who? Who cares?").

We get it. You didn't care for his music. Or you wouldn't have, if you'd ever heard it. Or something. But really, why you gotta tapdance on the fresh grave? It's not like he bombed villages or ate babies. He made some music you don't like. So what?

In conclusion, I'm sure the music that you prefer is very cool and your taste is above reproach.

OT, but speaking of the Dead...

How many Deadheads does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Pretty much all of them. One to do it, and the rest to follow the old burned-out one for 25 years

(insert snare roll here - with apologies to Jerry)

Ha!
Very funny FlamingB, thanks for the reminder to be humble. And of course I have no claim to superiority just because I can't stand Pink Floyd. May Syd Barrett's poor damaged brain finally rest in peace.

Soft Machine suck too. As do King Crimson, Gentle Giant and all of those boring boring boring English bands who play 30 minute 'orchestral' suites.

Have you ever heard the first two Soft Machine albums? They consist of short compositions that are shot through with highly inventive arrangements, Dadaist wit, and catchy (yes, catchy) artful tunes. And if you don't like at least some King Crimson LPs up through 1975, there's no hope for you.

While his life was a tragedy and perhaps a cautionary tale [...]

It was neither. He left the world of Rock & Roll for a quiet life. This is neither tragic nor cautionary.

Tragic in the sense that Barrett seemingly had so much more to contribute to music, but he left the scene at a relatively young age. Tragic in the sense of squandered potential. Yes, that comes off as kind of selfish, but I think a lot of fans would've loved to have heard more Syd material.

From all that I've read about Syd's personal life (which hasn't been much, because he didn't grant interviews), it seems not to have been a joyful existence. But maybe you have greater access to the man and can share your insights.

Hasn't really been alive for over 30 years? I'll join the chorus of folks who find that a highly obnoxious, stupid and disrespectful statement. And I don't care one way or another about Syd Barrett. I just think it is inappropriate to say something like that about anybody who has just died and who hadn't done anything horrible to anybody.

"Hasn't really been alive for over 30 years."

Don't feel too bad about the comment, Segal. I had a similar reaction this morning when Nipper told me that the diamond was no longer shining. I guess we're guilty of differentiating the private man versus his public output.

And fuck the haters: I think "The Wall" destroys.

Now I'm gonna go home and listen to "Rats" really loud.

Let me second what that Paulus guy said. Anyone who takes offense to your "Hasn't really been alive for over 30 years" comment needs to curb their tired knee-jerk outrage. For those of us who read past the second sentence of your obit, yout hit it right on the fucking head. "Terriby offensive"? Fuck off.

Anyone who thinks this guy "hit it right on the fucking head" is a complete moron -- which is kind of redundant because anyone who would write "hit it right on the fucking head" is a moron anyway. That means you Trevor. Look in the mirror and you will see a moron staring back at you.

Gurldoggie, Syd's Pink Floyd was everything that classic-rock Pink Floyd was not -- sprightly, childlike, downright peppy in a lot of ways. There is ZERO resemblance between the genius of "See Emily Play" and the ponderous bass chords of Dark Side of the Moon/The Wall/etc. etc. Not the same thing at all. Syd will be missed. The other guys won't be (by me at any rate). Syd' Floyd never sold any records in the US, so you may not be familiar. And, as Dave points out, his two solo lps are the blueprint for ALL lo-fi bedroom pop since then.

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