Influences on Pink Floyd

General discussion about Pink Floyd.
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Influences on Pink Floyd

Post by ZiggyZipgun »

They've never pointed to any specific influences on their music, so I'm always interested in whatever references I find in interviews, etc.

For "Us and Them", Dick Parry said that Gilmour asked him to try to get the "breathy" tone that he'd heard on Beaver & Krause's Gandharva:

https://youtu.be/mBs1-pCneqs
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Re: Influences on Pink Floyd

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This was probably more of a subconscious influence, but it's almost too similar to "Wish You Were Here" to not mention.

Dave did say that he'd often be strumming something in the studio that would make Roger's ear perk up, but he'd have to make sure it wasn't just someone else's song that had been stuck in his head.

https://youtu.be/scxwMbY1AGA
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Re: Influences on Pink Floyd

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This one has a lot in common with "Breathe"; the backing vocal arrangement is very similar to "Time"; it was released while Dark Side of the Moon was still being recorded, the rhythm section also happened to be in Jokers Wild and would later play on David Gilmour; and, the pedal steel guitarist would appear on Amused to Death and On An Island. Tim Renwick and Steve Marriott (owner of "Seamus") both contributed to Cochise's earlier album, so it's surprising Gilmour never played on or produced their albums, but they'd split up by the time he got involved with Unicorn.

https://youtu.be/ENrjsIzveNU
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Re: Influences on Pink Floyd

Post by space triangle »

I believe I read somewhere David Gilmour has stated how Neil Young and this song helped inspire parts of Dark Side of the Moon like Breathe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KflCXmEX6BY
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Re: Influences on Pink Floyd

Post by Annoying Twit »

Once the Neil Young DBTR influence is pointed out, I can really hear it. PF took it up a whole level, however.
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Re: Influences on Pink Floyd

Post by ZiggyZipgun »

space triangle wrote: Fri Jul 31, 2020 6:44 amI believe I read somewhere David Gilmour has stated how Neil Young and this song helped inspire parts of Dark Side of the Moon like Breathe
Annoying Twit wrote: Fri Jul 31, 2020 10:47 amOnce the Neil Young DBTR influence is pointed out, I can really hear it. PF took it up a whole level, however.
Strangely enough, it may not have been Neil's version they were listening to at the time:

https://youtu.be/BdxZs2sCugE
Last edited by ZiggyZipgun on Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Influences on Pink Floyd

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I was actually going to post a Roy Buchanan song before you mentioned Neil Young, since In the Beginning can be seen on the top of a stack of records in Gilmour's home at one point in the Wider Horizons documentary. In 1988, while Pink Floyd and Buchanan were both touring Australia, David reached out and set up a gig with Roy, joined by most of the Floyd's touring musicians, at a hotel where Roy had just played. Roy said that Gilmour and Renwick were "just bluesmen at heart." Sadly, he died six months later.

I think Buchanan was a big influence on Gilmour's playing around 1976, when he added a lot of the leads to "Dogs". The two earlier versions that they'd performed live had the same melodic parts, with Rick playing the harmony on the Minimoog, and also playing solos on what sounds like the Hohner Clavinet through a Leslie. The album version, with it's dual leads and aggressive runs, definitely sounds Buchanan-esque.

Gilmour stated that following the Animals tour, he actually spent a lot of time trying to improve his playing, particularly in terms of speed, which I think may have been inspired by having the very capable Snowy White around, and you can hear the results on The Wall.

https://youtu.be/deeBQZ8Aklc
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Re: Influences on Pink Floyd

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEmLSmb_2wk

Maybe the similarity of the chord progression is just a coincidence, but the first time I heard the extended live version of "Childhood's End", I immediately thought of "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy".

https://youtu.be/MONo3LHr5gM
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Re: Influences on Pink Floyd

Post by space triangle »

Check this out.

Bruce Springsteen - Independence Day (1980)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-UjhzfRcS0


Pink Floyd - Lost for Words

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8yPaVGyUJE
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Re: Influences on Pink Floyd

Post by Annoying Twit »

This is a very interesting thread. I'm not aware of anything I can post myself that's of interest. But, I'm finding it interesting listening to these examples and reading the discussion.
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Re: Influences on Pink Floyd

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This one is pure speculation, based on Gilmour mentioning in Acoustic Guitar magazine that he was influenced by Joni Mitchell's use of alternate tunings, which led to "A Pillow of Winds" and "Fearless". Their final performance of "Embryo" in late 1971 (which saw them improvising for an extra 15 minutes while Rick's Hammond organ was being repaired) had bits of songs that they'd been working on at the time, including "Dogs". It's kind of an unusual rhythm part for Gilmour at that time, so I just flipped through Joni's discography to see what she put out around that time, skipped through the tracks on Blue to see if something sounded at least superficially similar, and sure enough, there is one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD0dRjq4m20
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Re: Influences on Pink Floyd

Post by space triangle »

This is a song by the well known Italian prog band PFM(Premiata Forneria Marconi) from 1972. It's hard to miss a big resemblance to the Brain Damage from DSOTM:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhLikNNgQDw
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Re: Influences on Pink Floyd

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This was mentioned elsewhere on here, but during their visit to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1967, Rick Wright brought up Jani Christou's Praxis.

https://youtu.be/BbJU_D3Qroo
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Re: Influences on Pink Floyd

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Stockhausen was probably the most frequently mentioned influence on the Floyd from '67 to '70.

https://youtu.be/Hyx0I8_kTAQ
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Re: Influences on Pink Floyd

Post by space triangle »

'AMM' - free improvistion group from the 60's had influence on Syd Barrett. Especially when it comes to songs Interstellar Overdrive and Nicks Boogie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwgkBZ-FLW0