Do You Think Syd Realy Helped The Band?

[justinpinkfloyd99]

Well Vote Now and see

[Nockster]

Too difficult, sure he was the creative force which sprung them into the scene. But, Pink Floyd would not be the same Pink Floyd we know and love, if he would have stayed with the group...

[darksorrow]

syd barrett was a huge influence on the band have a look at any interviews from PF band members

[justinpinkfloyd99]

I know that syd was a very good influece, I just want to see what other members say.

Rock On!

[oldpink]

Yep, for one, the band would never have become what it wound up as, period.
PF 1.0 with him was whimsical and child like, with a psychedelic edge, courtesy of "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Astronomy Domine."
His departure was THE driving force for the direction the band would take in years to come, especially on DSotM, WYWH, and TW, but also on the others to one degree or another (Meddle - Fearless - "The idiot turned to face the crowd.").
PF 2.0 was a bit off stride for some time, then, they took their direction for the next three years with their masterpiece song "A Saucerful of Secrets," which begat "Atom Heart Mother," which begat "Echoes."
Then, came DSotm, with its moody soundscapes, powerful lyrics alluding to madness and the pressures of life in general.
WYWH was the most overt homage to the band's lost hero, especially the absolutely sublime "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" and its opening guitar solo that to this day STILL raises the hairs on my arms.
Even "Animals" had some reference to Syd, especially "Pigs on the Wing."
TW was largely about him, although less directly so.
Yes, the band's lyrics and style was heavily influenced by Syd decades after his untimely departure.
Dave's playing was influenced, and he took it in directions few could imagine.
The band would have been more volatile with Syd than without, and quite a different band.
Syd's playing had that quixotic madness to it.
Dave borrowed some of that with skill, expert note bending, and some real soul.

Some notable pieces of Dave's playing for me:
Atom Heart Mother - The opening slide/tremolo in the Floyd-only live performances
A Saucerful of Secrets, Pompeii version - "Celestial Voices" Cosmic violin produced by vibrating the slide down by the pickups
A Saucerful of Secrets, Fillmore West version - "Celestial Voices" section with an Ennio Morricone soundtrack style
Echoes - Seagulls, the climactic emergence from the "underwater" section
Time - Who does not just love this solo?
Shine on - All three solos in the first half are wonderful, especially the first
Shine on (part 8), Oakland Coliseum version - Dave and Snowy White sound so good when they do the tandem playing here that it nearly brings tears to my eyes
Dogs - extended, aggressive playing that is even better live
Comfortably Numb - even those who have never heard the name David Gilmour or Pink Floyd would find it hard to argue against this pile driver of a solo

Shine on, Syd and RIP

[Kibby]

Ah Yes It is true that Floyd has become what it has without syd, wich for most is the floyd we love & like most,& know most,But Without Syd, There would have never been pink floyd...There probably would have been A roger waters band, or, Jokers Wild,Or David Gilmour Bands,But, It NEVER would have been PINK FLOYD,as you must all know, They are nothing now without the "FLOYD" Backdrop,as solo musicians.You have to ask , do you think Roger Would have ended up playing with gilmour In some other band, If syd never existed, Or same for Mason & wright, all joining together..AH probable,but the odds are they, probably just would have never evolved into THE PINK FLOYD WE ALL LOVE & KNOW,So I think, Without syd,The Blue print for floyd probably would have never been the same,I'm sure Gilmour & roger Rick & nick would have definitely done something great With Other Bands or the abdabs Could have got big, But hard to say,The abdabs & jokers wild, Were not original! SYD Brought The blue print ORIGINALITY to them all..The End result too much acid, will give you deep insight, But can end in mental illness If you Are already a mad genius!

[mike-floyd]

I'm not so sure about that whoie genius thing. I love Syd and I think he really did some great things, wrote good songs, did far out improvisarions and so on. But a genius? Well...
Maybe Jimi Hendrix was a genius. He invented a whole new way of guitar playing. Syd? Others also did Slide guitar in 1966 (for example the AMM guitar player and others). What makes Syd (live) playing but nevertheless so interesting is, that he invented on the spot – but that was probably just acid madness, leaving the sound engineers to do a pretty hard job. Syd never played the same thing twice.

But anyway: there can be no doubt about the fact, that Pink Floyd would never have sounded like they did without him. That counts for the time he was in the band and even more so when he was no longer in the band.
I mean, come on now – which other rock band did manage to present the same old themes (madness, feeling of guilt, burnt out rock star etc.) over and over again. They plundered that for at least three records (Dark Side, WYWH, The Wall, Divison Bell parts).

I'd prefer any old Interstellar Overdrive or band-only AHM over ANY Dark Side of the Moon show! Really.

So Syd was important at ANY TIME.

[Trille]

Here's the deal:

Back in the 60´s Syd created a type of music that was unique, but nontheless relatively easy for that generation to accept. And they had to start off with something a bit lighter. If they had jumped directly to "dark side of the moon" it would have been to great and heavy to handle. But because of Barrett they had gathered enough fans to be able to experiment on a much larger playground without loosing their fans, but rather collect even more.

[AmusedToDeath]

Yep he brought the group together...so without him they probably never would have been.

With that said, if Syd had stayed in the band I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be a fan because to me Piper sounds like Circus music. Not my cup of tea.

[justinpinkfloyd99]

Originally Posted by AmusedToDeath

Yep he brought the group together...so without him they probably never would have been.

With that said, if Syd had stayed in the band I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be a fan because to me Piper sounds like Circus music. Not my cup of tea.

There would be no DSoTM. They probably would have to kick Syd out of the band eventually. I read in my old, old Floyd book that he was forcing the band to play VERY spacey phycadellic stuff. After that he went nuts.