Would Syd be remembered if PF hadn't achieved success?

[PublicImage]

Perhaps I misunderstood the question, but Piper was pretty much Syd's album. The others were just musicians!

No, not really. The album would have sounded completely different without Richard Wright's contributions.

And Interstellar Overdrive, Pow R. Toc H., Astronomy Dominé, Matilda Mother and Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk would all have been rubbish without the rest of the band.

[HazeyJaneAgain]

Syd would have languished in obscurity for a couple of decades before being discovered again by some advertising company and laid down as a backing track for a phone company or something equally banal.Hey presto...

[rrrick6]

Let`s get this into perspective. Piper and ASOS were NOT massive hits at the time, just moderate ones. I remember them at the time being classed as weird, not great.

Syd`s solo output was commercially unsuccessful.. However, the reasons both he and PF have maintained the public interest is because they are/were uncomprimising.

Syd wouldn`t make a comeback, whereas another casualty from the same time, Peter Green, did - and he`s now only slightly interesting because of it.

PF gave up making singles. They have not performed or recorded anything they didn`t write themselves since they became famous. They will not re-form just to please the public. Dave even taught Kate Bush to be the same. All this helps to maintain interest in them.

Conclusion: Syd would not be as famous now if it were not for the ongoing success of PF, but he might still be a cult hero.

[nosaj]

I would say yes, because of what J Ed said basically. If PF ended when he left, then there would be no doubt about Syd being Pink...The band's success overshadowed him.

[fatoldbob]

I think you can also ask the opposite question - Would Pink Floyd have been successful if they never had Syd in the band? Take away the early success of Syd's Floyd, take away PATGOD and some of SOS, take away the noteriety they got from Syd leaving, take away all of the Syd influences and his writing, start with a 4 piece Floyd with David Gilmour on guitar, would they have been successful? I'm sorry but I think not, I'm not even sure they would have got a recording contract without the buzz that came from the gigs they did in '67 with Syd.

DS

I have to agree here. Syd established Pink Floyd as a minor name band and gave them a base from which to evolve into the polished band they became.

[Creek]

Hi All;
It's really hard to say, If a certain Roger Keith Barrett hadn't been in his bedroom looking at his record collection just so, there wouldn't have been a band named The Pink Floyd Sound. Thus no Pink Floyd, who knows what effect that would have had on the future. If Pink Floyd didn't have the success they had, would a record company sign a talented Syd Barrett? If Syd hadn't had a school mate (David Gilmour), that helped him come to grips with the guitar, thus creating that signature guitar sound? There are just too many variables to come to even an educated guess. I would like to think yes, after all he did invent The Pink Floyd Sound, with some help from his friends. And Alas they did end up being a success. With that clout, he did record solo albums that made him a cult hero.There is so much more to the story. It's too late for me to go on, got to get some sleep.

Best wishes from the Creek
Gray

[shergar]

Is it just me ? That first album with Syd set the trend for Pink Floyd. His musical influence was overwhelming on Dark Side Of The Moon and on Wish You Were Here and to an extent the Wall, but those first early/mid 70's albums are what turned Pink Floyd onto the masses.
This is Catch 22 question if ever I saw one. It's like the chicken and the egg, with Syd being the egg, and Pink Floyd being the chicken. You couldn't have had one without the other - but we all know what came first.

[Creek]

No Doubt...

[corie]

i would say 100 % yes... He is as keith said a cult hero . Look at some of the crap in the last 10 - 20 years made , so called one hit wonders that are famous toda ! so somebody like keith , an inspiration to many is and will always be remembered

[grelch]

Syd is a cult hero so I think he would still be a cult hero if the Floyd had stopped when he left music.

I think you can make a very strong case that his cult hero status, his legend if you will, was perpetuated by the remaining Floyds. If they had not chosen to resurrect his story in song, in interview, in story year after year after year... if they had just brushed his story under the matt, then I'd wager that Syd's legend would be a footnote in music history, and not one of the great folk stories of rock.

In fact, one might cynically make the case that the remaining Floyds used this legend to their advantage over the years.

[henno]

syd always wanted to be an artist ..(his own words!!)... and, in my opinion, only fell into the music world because it was the most accessible medium at the time....

its my conjecture that if syd had been left behind by his childhood friends he would not have felt it necessary to lift up a guitar to develop his art.. he would have come through art college (pass or fail??.. doesn't matter)... and could have been quite an accomplished artist....

[Metal Mickey]

syd always wanted to be an artist ..(his own words!!)... and, in my opinion, only fell into the music world because it was the most accessible medium at the time....

its my conjecture that if syd had been left behind by his childhood friends he would not have felt it necessary to lift up a guitar to develop his art.. he would have come through art college (pass or fail??.. doesn't matter)... and could have been quite an accomplished artist....

Henno, I completely respect and appreciate your opinions but I really have to disagree with you on this remark.

I think Syd was much more fond of music than any of us have been lead to believe. I don't think it was the combo of what latter would become The Pink Floyd, that encouraged his pursuit of music. Did he not learn guitar (and bass) before hooking up with them? Did he not play with other musicians before his time in London? Did he not write songs before the Floyd? I believe he would have pursued music even if he had not taken up with Waters & Co.

He even once said that 'even painting did not transcend the feeling of playing live'. Clearly music meant a lot to him but it was also a crutch...but, that's another story...

[snifferdog]

Henno's got an interesting take on it. I'm not sure if I agree with him 100% but he's got a point. Though Syd learned to play a musical instrument and was clearly a music fan, he was also very interested in art. I was listening to that BBC Radio 2 documentary about him last night. During it David Gilmour said he was like an encyclopedia when the pair of them visited the Louvre to look at the paintings. Art was always a part of his life. It's interesting that when he finally returned to Cambridge, he continued to paint but doesn't appear to have written any more songs or played music.

Going back to the original question, I voted Yes in the poll. I think even if Pink Floyd hadn't gone on to achieve massive success, Piper would still be remembered. Throw into the mix Syd's demise, those two solo albums and his post-Floyd life which is classic tabloid fodder and you've got someone who was always going to be remembered. A more interesting question would be "If Pink Floyd hadn't achieved success after Syd left, would they be remembered?"

[tea-set]

i think if floyd had stopped recording after ASOS he wouldn't be very ell know or wouldnt be as known as he is today.


but you would be getting music snobs claiming in Beatles forums that "there was an album recorded by a small band called The Pink Floyd in 68 that is a much better reflection of 60's psycadelia than Sgt Peppers"

[corie]

i
"there was an album recorded by a small band called The Pink Floyd in 68 that is a much better reflection of 60's psycadelia than Sgt Peppers"

i always believed this ... maybee even had something to do with the Beatles new direction ?