1963–1965: Formation Roger Waters and
Nick Mason met in September 1962 while studying architecture at the
London Polytechnic at
Regent Street, London. They first played music together in a group formed by fellow students Keith Noble and Clive Metcalfe, with Noble's sister Sheilagh.
Richard Wright, a fellow architecture student, joined later that year, and the group became a sextet, Sigma 6. Waters played lead guitar, Mason drums, and Wright rhythm guitar, later moving to keyboards. The band performed at private functions and rehearsed in a
tearoom in the basement of the Regent Street Polytechnic. They performed songs by
the Searchers and material written by their manager and songwriter, fellow student Ken Chapman. In September 1963, Waters and Mason moved into a flat at 39 Stanhope Gardens,
Highgate in London, owned by Mike Leonard, a part-time tutor at the nearby
Hornsey College of Art and the Regent Street Polytechnic. Mason moved out after the 1964 academic year, and the guitarist
Bob Klose moved in during September 1964, prompting Waters's switch to bass. Sigma 6 went through several names, including the Meggadeaths, the Abdabs and the Screaming Abdabs, Leonard's Lodgers, and the Spectrum Five, before settling on the Tea Set. In September 1963, Metcalfe and Noble left to form their own band. The guitarist
Syd Barrett, a childhood friend of Waters, joined Klose and Waters at Stanhope Gardens. Mason said about Barrett: "In a period when everyone was being cool in a very adolescent, self-conscious way, Syd was unfashionably outgoing; my enduring memory of our first encounter is the fact that he bothered to come up and introduce himself to me." Klose introduced the band to the singer Chris Dennis, a technician with the
Royal Air Force (RAF). In December 1964, they secured their first recording time, at a studio in West Hampstead, through one of Wright's friends, who let them use some downtime free. Wright, who was taking a break from his studies, did not participate. When the RAF assigned Dennis a post in Bahrain in early 1965, Barrett became the frontman. Later that year, they became the resident band at the Countdown Club near
Kensington High Street in London, where from late night until early morning they played three sets of 90 minutes each. During this period, spurred by the need to extend their sets to minimise song repetition, the band realised that "songs could be extended with lengthy solos", wrote Mason. After pressure from his parents and advice from his college tutors, Klose quit in mid-1965 and Barrett took over lead guitar.
1965–1967: Syd Barrett years Pink Floyd The group, comprising Mason, Wright, Waters and Barrett, rebranded as the Pink Floyd Sound in late 1965. Barrett purportedly created the name on the spur of the moment when he discovered that another band, also called the Tea Set, were to perform at one of their gigs. The name was derived from the given names of two
blues musicians whose
Piedmont blues records Barrett had in his collection,
Pink Anderson and
Floyd Council. By 1966, the group's repertoire consisted mainly of
rhythm and blues songs. They had begun to receive paid bookings, including a performance at the
Marquee Club in March 1966, where
Peter Jenner, a lecturer at the
London School of Economics, noticed them. Jenner was impressed by the sonic effects Barrett and Wright created and, with his business partner and friend
Andrew King, became their manager. The pair had little experience in the
music industry and used King's inheritance to set up
Blackhill Enterprises, purchasing about £1,000 () worth of new instruments and equipment for the band. Around this time, Jenner suggested the band drop the "Sound" from their name. On 15 October 1966, Pink Floyd made their major debut at the
Roundhouse under the name the Pink Floyd. Under Jenner and King's guidance, Pink Floyd became part of London's
underground music scene, playing at venues including All Saints Hall and the Marquee. While performing at the Countdown Club, the band had experimented with long instrumental excursions, and they began to expand them with rudimentary but effective light shows, projected by coloured slides and domestic lights. Jenner and King's social connections helped gain the band prominent coverage in the
Financial Times and an article in the
Sunday Times which stated: "At the launching of the new magazine
IT the other night a pop group called the Pink Floyd played throbbing music while a series of bizarre coloured shapes flashed on a huge screen behind them ... apparently very psychedelic." In 1966, the band strengthened their business relationship with Blackhill Enterprises, becoming equal partners with Jenner and King and the band members each holding a one-sixth share. By late 1966, their set included fewer R&B standards and more Barrett originals, many of which would be included on their first album. While they had significantly increased the frequency of their performances, the band were still not widely accepted. Following a performance at a Catholic youth club, the owner refused to pay them, claiming that their performance was not music. When their management filed suit in a small claims court against the owner of the youth organisation, a local magistrate upheld the owner's decision. The band was much better received at the
UFO Club in London, where they began to build a fan base. Barrett's performances were enthusiastic, "leaping around ... madness ... improvisation ... [inspired] to get past his limitations and into areas that were ... very interesting. Which none of the others could do", wrote biographer
Nicholas Schaffner.
Signing with EMI In 1967, Pink Floyd began to attract the attention of the music industry. While in negotiations with record companies,
IT co-founder and UFO club manager
Joe Boyd and Pink Floyd's booking agent,
Bryan Morrison, arranged and funded a recording session at
Sound Techniques in
Kensington. On 15 February 1967, Pink Floyd signed with EMI, receiving a £5,000 advance (). EMI released the band's first single, "
Arnold Layne", with the B-side "
Candy and a Currant Bun", on 10 March 1967 on its
Columbia label. Both tracks were recorded on 29 January 1967. "Arnold Layne"'s references to
cross-dressing led to a ban by several radio stations; however, creative manipulation by the retailers who supplied sales figures to the music business meant that the single reached number 20 in the UK. EMI-Columbia released Pink Floyd's second single, "
See Emily Play", on 16 June 1967. It fared slightly better than "Arnold Layne", peaking at number 6 in the UK. The band performed on the BBC's
Look of the Week, where Waters and Barrett, erudite and engaging, faced tough questioning from
Hans Keller. They appeared on the BBC's
Top of the Pops, a popular programme that controversially required artists to mime their singing and playing. Though Pink Floyd returned for two more performances, by the third, Barrett had begun to unravel, and around this time the band first noticed significant changes in his behaviour. By early 1967, he was regularly using
LSD, and Mason described him as "completely distanced from everything going on".
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) Morrison and EMI producer
Norman Smith negotiated Pink Floyd's first recording contract. As part of the deal, the band agreed to record their first album at
EMI Studios in London. Mason recalled that the sessions were trouble-free. Smith disagreed, stating that Barrett was unresponsive to his suggestions and constructive criticism. EMI-Columbia released
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn in August 1967. The album reached number six, spending 14 weeks on the UK charts. One month later, it was released under the
Tower Records label. Pink Floyd continued to draw large crowds at the UFO Club; however, Barrett's mental breakdown was by then causing serious concern. The group initially hoped that his erratic behaviour would be a passing phase, but some were less optimistic, including Jenner and his assistant,
June Child, who commented: "I found [Barrett] in the dressing room and he was so ... gone. Roger Waters and I got him on his feet, [and] we got him out to the stage ... The band started to play and Syd just stood there. He had his guitar around his neck and his arms just hanging down". Forced to cancel Pink Floyd's appearance at the prestigious
National Jazz and Blues Festival, as well as several other shows, King informed the music press that Barrett was suffering from nervous exhaustion. Waters arranged a meeting with psychiatrist
R. D. Laing, and though Waters personally drove Barrett to the appointment, Barrett refused to come out of the car. A stay in
Formentera with
Sam Hutt, a doctor well established in the underground music scene, led to no visible improvement. The band followed a few concert dates in Europe during September with their first tour of the US in October. As the US tour went on, Barrett's condition grew steadily worse. During appearances on the
Dick Clark and
Pat Boone shows in November, Barrett confounded his hosts by giving terse answers to questions (or not responding at all) and staring into space. He refused to move his lips when it came time to
mime "See Emily Play" on Boone's show. After these embarrassing episodes, King ended their US visit and immediately sent them home to London. Soon after their return, they supported
Jimi Hendrix during a tour of England; however, Barrett's depression worsened as the tour continued.
Addition of Gilmour and departure of Barrett In December 1967, reaching a crisis point with Barrett, Pink Floyd added guitarist
David Gilmour as the fifth member. Gilmour had studied with Barrett in Cambridge in the early 1960s. The two had performed at lunchtimes together with guitars and harmonicas, and later hitch-hiked and
busked their way around the south of France. In 1965, while a member of
Joker's Wild, Gilmour had watched the Tea Set. Morrison's assistant,
Steve O'Rourke, set Gilmour up in a room at O'Rourke's house with a salary of £30 per week (). In January 1968, Blackhill Enterprises announced Gilmour as the band's newest member, intending to continue with Barrett as a nonperforming songwriter. According to Jenner, the group planned that Gilmour would "cover for [Barrett's] eccentricities". When this proved unworkable, it was decided that Barrett would just write material. In an expression of his frustration, Barrett, who was expected to write additional hit singles to follow up "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", instead introduced "
Have You Got It Yet?" to the band, intentionally changing the structure on each performance so as to make the song impossible to follow and learn. In a January 1968 photoshoot of Pink Floyd, Barrett appears detached, staring into the distance. Working with Barrett eventually proved too difficult, and the band eventually decided not to collect him en route to a performance in
Southampton. It signalled the end of Barrett's tenure with Pink Floyd. Waters later said, "He was our friend, but most of the time we now wanted to strangle him." In early March 1968, Pink Floyd met with business partners Jenner and King to discuss the band's future; Barrett agreed to leave. Jenner and King believed Barrett was the creative genius of the band, and decided to represent him and end their relationship with Pink Floyd. Morrison sold his business to
NEMS Enterprises, and O'Rourke became the band's personal manager. Blackhill announced Barrett's departure on 6 April 1968. After Barrett's departure, the burden of lyrical composition and creative direction fell mostly on Waters. Initially, Gilmour mimed to Barrett's voice on the group's European TV appearances; however, while playing on the university circuit, they avoided Barrett songs in favour of Waters and Wright material such as "
It Would Be So Nice" and "
Careful with That Axe, Eugene". Mason said later that Gilmour brought greater structure to Pink Floyd's music and that "we became far less difficult to enjoy".
1968–1972: Musical transition A Saucerful of Secrets (1968) In 1968, Pink Floyd returned to Abbey Road Studios to complete their second album,
A Saucerful of Secrets, which they had begun in 1967 under Barrett's leadership. The album included Barrett's final contribution to their discography, "
Jugband Blues". Waters developed his own songwriting, contributing "
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun", "
Let There Be More Light", and "
Corporal Clegg". Wright composed "
See-Saw" and "
Remember a Day". Norman Smith encouraged them to self-produce their music, and they recorded demos of new material at their houses. With Smith's instruction at Abbey Road, they learned how to use the recording studio to realise their artistic vision. However, Smith remained unconvinced by their music, and when Mason struggled to perform his drum part on "Remember a Day", Smith stepped in as his replacement. Wright recalled Smith's attitude about the sessions, "Norman gave up on the second album ... he was forever saying things like, 'You can't do twenty minutes of this ridiculous noise. As neither Waters nor Mason could read music, to illustrate the structure of "
A Saucerful of Secrets", they invented their own system of notation. Gilmour later described their method as looking "like an architectural diagram". Released in June 1968,
A Saucerful of Secrets featured a
psychedelic cover designed by
Storm Thorgerson and
Aubrey Powell of
Hipgnosis. The first of several Pink Floyd album covers designed by Hipgnosis, it was the second time that EMI permitted one of their groups to contract designers for an album jacket. The release reached number nine, spending 11 weeks on the UK chart.
Record Mirror gave the album an overall favourable review, but urged listeners to "forget it as background music to a party".
John Peel described a live performance of the title track as "like a religious experience", while
NME described the song as "long and boring ... [with] little to warrant its monotonous direction". On the day after the album's UK release, Pink Floyd performed at the first ever free
concert in Hyde Park. In July 1968, they made a second visit to the US. Accompanied by the
Soft Machine and
the Who, it marked Pink Floyd's first major tour. That December, they released "
Point Me at the Sky"; no more successful than the two singles they had released since "See Emily Play", it was their last single until "
Money" in 1973.
Ummagumma (1969) and Atom Heart Mother (1970) in 1970|alt=A monochrome image of Waters playing bass guitar. He has shoulder-length hair, black attire, and is standing in front of a microphone.
Ummagumma represented a departure from Pink Floyd's previous work. Released as their first double-LP on EMI's
Harvest label, the first disc contained live performances of the band's concert staples recorded at the
Manchester College of Commerce and
Mothers, a club in
Birmingham. The second LP contained
experimental contributions from each band member, a concept spearheaded by Wright, who, inspired by the vast studio technology and varied instruments at the group's disposal, expressed his desire to create "real music".
Ummagumma was released in November 1969 and received positive reviews, with contemporaneous critics commending the band's unyielding and unorthodox efforts, songs of which ventured into genres such as
musique concrète,
drone, and
modern classical, among others. It peaked at number five and spent 21 weeks on the UK chart. In October 1970, Pink Floyd released
Atom Heart Mother. An early version premièred in England in January, but disagreements over the mix prompted the hiring of
Ron Geesin to work out the sound problems. Geesin worked to improve the score, but with little creative input from the band, production was troublesome. Geesin completed the project with the aid of
John Alldis, the director of the choir hired to perform on the record. Smith earned an executive producer credit, and the album marked his final official contribution to Pink Floyd's discography. Gilmour said it was "a neat way of saying that he didn't ... do anything".
Atom Heart Mother became Pink Floyd's first number-one album and spent 18 weeks on the UK chart. Waters was critical of
Atom Heart Mother, saying he would prefer if it were "thrown into the dustbin and never listened to by anyone ever again". Gilmour once described it as "a load of rubbish", and said "we were scraping the barrel a bit at that period". Pink Floyd toured extensively across America and Europe in 1970. In 1971, they took second place in a reader's poll, in
Melody Maker, and for the first time were making a profit. Mason and Wright became fathers and bought homes in London while Gilmour, still single, moved to a 19th-century farm in Essex. Waters installed a recording studio at his home in
Islington in a converted tool shed. In January 1971, upon their return from touring
Atom Heart Mother, Pink Floyd began working on new material. Lacking a theme, they attempted several unproductive experiments; engineer
John Leckie described the sessions as often beginning in the afternoon and ending early the next morning, "during which time nothing would get [accomplished]. There was no record company contact whatsoever, except when their label manager would show up now and again with a couple of bottles of wine and a couple of joints". The band spent long periods working on basic sounds, or a guitar riff. They also spent several days at Air Studios, attempting to create music using a variety of household objects, a project which would be revisited between
The Dark Side of the Moon and
Wish You Were Here.
Meddle (1971) Meddle was released in October 1971, and reached number three, spending 82 weeks on the UK chart. It marks a transition between the Barrett-led group of the late 1960s and the emerging Pink Floyd; Jean-Charles Costa of
Rolling Stone wrote that "not only confirms lead guitarist David Gilmour's emergence as a real shaping force with the group, it states forcefully and accurately that the group is well into the growth track again".
NME called it "an exceptionally good album", singling out "
Echoes" as the "Zenith which the Floyd have been striving for". ''Melody Maker's'' Michael Watts found it underwhelming, calling the album "a soundtrack to a non-existent movie" and shrugging off Pink Floyd as "so much sound and fury, signifying nothing".
Obscured by Clouds (1972) Pink Floyd had already recorded the soundtracks to the films
The Committee (1968) and
More (1969) and part of
Zabriskie Point (1970). On the back of
Mores success, the director
Barbet Schroeder asked them to record the soundtrack of his next major project,
La Vallée. The band took two breaks to
Strawberry Studios,
Château d'Hérouville, France, either side of a Japanese tour, to write and record music for the film. The album was mixed from 4–6 April at
Morgan Studios in London. The band had composed and refined the material while touring the UK, Japan, North America, and Europe. Producer
Chris Thomas assisted Parsons. Hipgnosis designed the packaging, which included
George Hardie's iconic refracting
prism design on the cover. Thorgerson's cover features a beam of white light, representing unity, passing through a prism, which represents society. The refracted beam of coloured light symbolises unity diffracted, leaving an absence of unity. Waters is the sole author of the lyrics. '' in mid-1973 Released in March 1973, the LP became an instant chart success in the UK and throughout Western Europe, earning an enthusiastic response from critics. Every member of Pink Floyd except Wright boycotted the press release of
The Dark Side of the Moon because a
quadraphonic mix had not yet been completed, and they felt presenting the album through a poor-quality stereo
PA system was insufficient.
Melody Maker Roy Hollingworth described side one as "utterly confused ... [and] difficult to follow", but praised side two, writing: "The songs, the sounds ... [and] the rhythms were solid ... [the] saxophone hit the air, the band rocked and rolled."
Rolling Stone Loyd Grossman described it as "a fine album with a textural and conceptual richness that not only invites, but demands involvement". Throughout March 1973,
The Dark Side of the Moon featured as part of Pink Floyd's US tour. The album is one of the most commercially successful rock albums of all time. A US number-one, it remained on the
Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart for more than fourteen years during the 1970s and 1980s, selling more than 45 million copies worldwide. In Britain, it reached number two, spending 364 weeks on the UK chart.
The Dark Side of the Moon is the world's third best-selling album, and the twenty-first best-selling album of all time in the US. The success of the album brought enormous wealth to the members of Pink Floyd. Waters and Wright bought large country houses while Mason became a collector of expensive cars. Disenchanted with their US record company,
Capitol Records, Pink Floyd and O'Rourke negotiated a new contract with
Columbia Records, who gave them a reported advance of US$1,000,000 ($ in dollars). In Europe, they continued to be represented by Harvest Records.
Wish You Were Here (1975) , a black
Fender Stratocaster bought by Gilmour in 1970 and used on songs including "
Shine On You Crazy Diamond", "
Money" and "
Comfortably Numb" After a tour of the UK performing
Dark Side, Pink Floyd returned to the studio in January 1975 and began work on their ninth studio album,
Wish You Were Here. Parsons declined an offer to continue working with them, becoming successful in his own right with
the Alan Parsons Project, and so the band turned to Brian Humphries. Initially, they found it difficult to compose new material; the success of
The Dark Side of the Moon had left Pink Floyd physically and emotionally drained. Wright later described these early sessions as "falling within a difficult period" and Waters found them "tortuous". Gilmour was more interested in improving the band's existing material. Mason's failing marriage affected his mood, which interfered with his drumming. Despite the lack of creative direction, Waters began to visualise a new concept after several weeks. During 1974, Pink Floyd had sketched out three original compositions and had performed them at a series of concerts in Europe. These compositions became the starting point for a new album whose opening four-note guitar phrase, composed purely by chance by Gilmour, reminded Waters of Barrett. The songs provided a fitting summary of the rise and fall of their former bandmate. Waters commented: "Because I wanted to get as close as possible to what I felt ... [that] indefinable, inevitable melancholy about the disappearance of Syd." While Pink Floyd were working on the album, Barrett made an impromptu visit to the studio. Thorgerson recalled that he "sat round and talked for a bit, but he wasn't really there". He had changed significantly in appearance, so much so that the band did not initially recognise him. Waters was reportedly deeply upset by the experience. Most of
Wish You Were Here premiered on 5 July 1975, at an open-air music festival at
Knebworth. Released in September, it reached number one in both the UK and the US.
Animals (1977) In 1975, Pink Floyd bought a three-storey group of church halls at
35 Britannia Row in Islington and began converting them into a recording studio and storage space. In 1976, they recorded their tenth album,
Animals, in their newly finished 24-track studio. The album concept originated with Waters, loosely based on
George Orwell's political fable
Animal Farm. The lyrics describe different classes of society as dogs, pigs, and sheep. Hipgnosis received credit for the packaging; however, Waters designed the final concept, choosing an image of the ageing
Battersea Power Station, over which they superimposed an image of a pig. The division of royalties was a source of conflict between band members, who earned royalties on a per-song basis. Although Gilmour was largely responsible for "
Dogs", which took up almost the entire first side of the album, he received less than Waters, who contributed the much shorter two-part "
Pigs on the Wing". Wright commented: "It was partly my fault because I didn't push my material ... but Dave
did have something to offer, and only managed to get a couple of things on there." Mason recalled: "Roger was in full flow with the ideas, but he was really keeping Dave down, and frustrating him deliberately." Gilmour, distracted by the birth of his first child, contributed little else toward the album. Similarly, neither Mason nor Wright contributed much toward
Animals; Wright had marital problems, and his relationship with Waters was also suffering.
Animals was the first Pink Floyd album with no writing credit for Wright, who said: "This was when Roger
really started to believe that he was the sole writer for the band ... that it was only because of him that [we] were still going ... when he started to develop his ego trips, the person he would have his conflicts with would be me." Released in January 1977,
Animals reached number two in the UK and number three in the US.
NME described it as "one of the most extreme, relentless, harrowing and downright iconoclastic hunks of music", and
Melody Maker Karl Dallas called it "[an] uncomfortable taste of reality in a medium that has become in recent years, increasingly soporific". Pink Floyd performed much of
Animals during their "
In the Flesh" tour. It was their first experience playing large stadiums, whose size caused unease in the band. Waters began arriving at each venue alone, departing immediately after the performance. On one occasion, Wright flew back to England, threatening to quit. At the
Montreal Olympic Stadium, a group of noisy and enthusiastic fans in the front row of the audience irritated Waters so much that he spat at one of them. The end of the tour marked a low point for Gilmour, who felt that the band achieved the success they had sought, with nothing left for them to accomplish.
The Wall (1979) In July 1978, amid a financial crisis caused by negligent investments, Waters presented two ideas for Pink Floyd's next album. The first was a 90-minute demo with the working title
Bricks in the Wall; the other later became Waters's first solo album,
The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking. Although both Mason and Gilmour were initially cautious, they chose the former.
Bob Ezrin co-produced and wrote a forty-page script for the new album. Ezrin based the story on the central figure of Pink—a
gestalt character inspired by Waters's childhood experiences, the most notable of which was the death of his father in
World War II. This first metaphorical brick led to more problems; Pink would become drug-addled and depressed by the music industry, eventually transforming into a megalomaniac, a development inspired partly by the decline of Syd Barrett. At the end of the album, the increasingly fascist audience would watch as Pink tore down the wall, once again becoming a regular and caring person. During the recording of
The Wall, the band became dissatisfied with Wright's lack of contribution and fired him. Gilmour said that Wright was dismissed as he "hadn't contributed anything of any value whatsoever to the album—he did very, very little". According to Mason, Wright would sit in on the sessions "without doing anything, just 'being a producer. Waters said the band agreed that Wright would either have to "have a long battle" or agree to "leave quietly" after the album was finished; Wright accepted the ultimatum and left.
The Wall was supported by Pink Floyd's first single since "Money", "
Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)", which topped the charts in the US and the UK.
The Wall was released on 30 November 1979 and topped the
Billboard chart in the US for 15 weeks, reaching number three in the UK. It is tied for sixth most certified album by
RIAA, with 23 million certified units sold in the US. The cover, with a stark brick wall and band name, was the first Pink Floyd album cover since
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn not designed by Hipgnosis.
Gerald Scarfe produced a series of animations for the
Wall tour. He also commissioned the construction of large inflatable puppets representing characters from the storyline, including the "Mother", the "Ex-wife", and the "Schoolmaster". Pink Floyd used the puppets during their performances. Relationships within the band reached an all-time low; their four
Winnebagos parked in a circle, with the doors facing away from the centre. Waters used his own vehicle to arrive at the venue and stayed in different hotels from the rest of the band. Wright returned as a paid musician, making him the only band member to profit from the tour, which lost about $600,000 (US$ in dollars).
The Wall was adapted into a film,
Pink Floyd – The Wall. It was conceived as a combination of live concert footage and animated scenes; however, the concert footage proved impractical to film.
Alan Parker agreed to direct and took a different approach. The animated sequences remained, but scenes were acted by actors with no dialogue. Waters was screentested but quickly discarded, and they asked
Bob Geldof to accept the role of Pink. Geldof was initially dismissive, condemning
The Wall storyline as "bollocks". Eventually won over by the prospect of participation in a significant film and receiving a large payment for his work, Geldof agreed. Screened at the
Cannes Film Festival in May 1982,
Pink Floyd – The Wall premièred in the UK in July 1982. It won the
BAFTAs for "Best Original Song" (for "Another Brick in the Wall") and
Best Sound.
1983–1985: Departure of Waters The Final Cut (1983) In 1982, Waters suggested a project with the working title
Spare Bricks, originally conceived as the soundtrack album for
Pink Floyd – The Wall. With the onset of the
Falklands War, Waters changed direction and began writing new material. He saw
Margaret Thatcher's response to the invasion of the Falklands as
jingoistic and unnecessary, and dedicated the album to his late father. Immediately arguments arose between Waters and Gilmour, who felt that the album should include all new material, rather than recycle songs passed over for
The Wall. Waters felt that Gilmour had contributed little to the band's lyrical repertoire.
Michael Kamen, a contributor to the orchestral arrangements of
The Wall, mediated between the two, performing the role traditionally occupied by the then-absent Wright. The tension within the band grew. Waters and Gilmour worked independently; however, Gilmour began to feel the strain, sometimes barely maintaining his composure. After a final confrontation, Gilmour's name disappeared from the credit list, reflecting what Waters felt was his lack of songwriting contributions. Though Mason's musical contributions were minimal, he stayed busy recording sound effects for an experimental
Holophonic system to be used on the album. With marital problems of his own, he remained distant. Pink Floyd did not use Thorgerson for the cover design, and Waters designed the cover himself. Gilmour did not have any material ready and asked Waters to delay the recording until he could write some songs, but Waters refused. Gilmour later said "I'm certainly guilty at times of being lazy ... but he wasn't right about wanting to put some duff tracks on
The Final Cut." Released in March 1983,
The Final Cut went straight to number one in the UK and number six in the US. Waters wrote all the lyrics, as well as all the music.
Rolling Stone gave the album five stars, with
Kurt Loder calling it "a superlative achievement ... art rock's crowning masterpiece". He viewed
The Final Cut as "essentially a Roger Waters solo album".
Waters's departure and legal battles Gilmour recorded his second solo album,
About Face, in 1984, and used it to express his feelings about a variety of topics, from the murder of
John Lennon to his relationship with Waters. He later stated that he used the album to distance himself from Pink Floyd. Soon afterwards, Waters began touring his first solo album,
The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984). Wright formed Zee with Dave Harris and recorded
Identity, which went almost unnoticed upon its release. Mason released his second solo album,
Profiles, in August 1985. Gilmour, Mason, Waters and O'Rourke met for dinner in 1984 to discuss their future. Mason and Gilmour left the restaurant thinking that Pink Floyd could continue after Waters had finished
The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, noting that they had had several hiatuses before; however, Waters left believing that Mason and Gilmour had accepted that Pink Floyd were finished. Mason said that Waters later saw the meeting as "duplicity rather than diplomacy", and wrote in his memoir: "Clearly, our communication skills were still troublingly nonexistent. We left the restaurant with diametrically opposed views of what had been decided." Following the release of
The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Waters publicly insisted that Pink Floyd would not reunite. He contacted O'Rourke to discuss settling future royalty payments. O'Rourke felt obliged to inform Mason and Gilmour, which angered Waters, who wanted to dismiss him as the band's manager. He terminated his management contract with O'Rourke and employed Peter Rudge to manage his affairs. Waters wrote to
EMI and
Columbia announcing he had left the band, and asked them to release him from his contractual obligations. Gilmour believed that Waters left to hasten the demise of Pink Floyd. Waters later said that, by not making new albums, Pink Floyd would be in breach of contractwhich would suggest that royalty payments would be suspendedand that the other band members had forced him from the group by threatening to sue him. He went to the
High Court to dissolve the band and prevent the use of the Pink Floyd name, declaring Pink Floyd "a spent force creatively". When Waters's lawyers discovered that the partnership had never been formally confirmed, Waters returned to the High Court to obtain a veto over further use of the band's name. Gilmour responded with a press release affirming that Pink Floyd would continue to exist.
1985–1994: Gilmour-led era A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) In 1986, Gilmour began recruiting musicians for a new project. Initially, there was no commitment to a Pink Floyd release, and Gilmour maintained that the material might become his third solo album. However, by the end of 1986, Gilmour had decided to make the material into a Pink Floyd project, the first without Waters. There were legal obstacles to Wright's re-admittance to the band, but after a meeting in Hampstead, Pink Floyd invited Wright to participate in the coming sessions. Gilmour later stated that Wright's presence "would make us stronger legally and musically", and Pink Floyd employed him with weekly earnings of $11,000. Recording sessions began on Gilmour's houseboat, the
Astoria, moored on the
River Thames. Gilmour felt that lyrics had become more important than the music under Waters, and sought to restore the balance. The group found it difficult to work without Waters's creative direction; to write lyrics, Gilmour worked with several songwriters, including
Eric Stewart and
Roger McGough, eventually choosing
Anthony Moore. Wright and Mason were out of practice; Gilmour said they had been "destroyed" by Waters, and their contributions were minimal.
A Momentary Lapse of Reason was released in September 1987. Thorgerson, whose creative input was absent from
The Wall and
The Final Cut, designed the album cover. To emphasise that Waters had left the band, they included a group photograph on the inside cover—the first since
Meddle—featuring only Gilmour and Mason. The album reached number three in the UK and the US. Waters said: "I think it's facile, but a quite clever forgery ... The songs are poor in general ... [and] Gilmour's lyrics are third-rate." Although Gilmour initially viewed the album as a return to the band's top form, Wright disagreed, saying: "Roger's criticisms are fair. It's not a band album at all."
Q described it as essentially a Gilmour solo album. Waters attempted to subvert the
A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour by contacting promoters in the US and threatening to sue if they used the Pink Floyd name. Gilmour and Mason funded the start-up costs with Mason using his
Ferrari 250 GTO as collateral. Early rehearsals for the tour were chaotic, with Mason and Wright out of practice. Realising he had taken on too much work, Gilmour asked Ezrin to assist them. As Pink Floyd toured North America, Waters's
K.A.O.S. On the Road tour was on occasion close by, in much smaller venues. Waters issued a writ for copyright fees for Pink Floyd's use of the
flying pig. Pink Floyd responded by attaching a large set of male genitalia to its underside to distinguish it from Waters's design. The parties reached a legal agreement on 23 December; Mason and Gilmour retained the right to use the Pink Floyd name in perpetuity and Waters received exclusive rights to, among other things,
The Wall. In 2013, Waters said he regretted the lawsuit and had failed to appreciate that the Pink Floyd name had commercial value independent of the band members.
The Division Bell (1994) For several years, Pink Floyd had busied themselves with personal pursuits, such as filming and competing in the
La Carrera Panamericana and recording a soundtrack for a film based on the event. In January 1993, they began working on a new album,
The Division Bell, in Britannia Row Studios, where Gilmour, Mason and Wright worked collaboratively, improvising material. After about two weeks, they had enough ideas to begin creating songs. Ezrin returned to co-produce the album and production moved to the
Astoria, where the band worked from February to May 1993. Contractually, Wright was not a member of the band, and said he almost did not work on the album. However, he earned five co-writing credits, his first on a Pink Floyd album since 1975's
Wish You Were Here. Gilmour's future wife, the novelist
Polly Samson, is also credited; she helped Gilmour write songs including "
High Hopes", a collaborative arrangement which, though initially tense, "pulled the whole album together", according to Ezrin. They hired Michael Kamen to arrange the orchestral parts;
Dick Parry and Chris Thomas also returned. The writer
Douglas Adams provided the album title and Thorgerson the cover artwork. Thorgerson drew inspiration from the
Moai monoliths of
Easter Island; two opposing faces forming an implied third face about which he commented: "the absent face—the ghost of Pink Floyd's past, Syd and Roger". To avoid competing against other album releases, as had happened with
A Momentary Lapse, Pink Floyd set a deadline of April 1994, at which point they would resume touring.
The Division Bell reached number 1 in the UK and the US, and spent 51 weeks on the UK chart. Pink Floyd spent more than two weeks rehearsing in a hangar at
Norton Air Force Base in
San Bernardino, California, before opening
The Division Bell tour on 29 March 1994, in Miami, with an almost identical road crew to that used for their
Momentary Lapse of Reason tour. They played a variety of Pink Floyd favourites, and later changed their setlist to include
The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety. The tour, Pink Floyd's last, ended on 29 October 1994. Mason published a memoir,
Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd, in 2004.
2005–present: Reunions 2005–2006: Live 8 reunion , London, on 2 July 2005.|alt=A concert stage lit by purple lighting. Four men are performing on the stage as a crowd stands in front of it. Behind the men are video screens displaying images of vinyl records. On 2 July 2005, Waters, Gilmour, Mason, and Wright performed together as Pink Floyd at
Live 8, a
benefit concert raising awareness about poverty, in
Hyde Park, London. It was their first performance together in more than 24 years. At the beginning of their performance of "Wish You Were Here", Waters told the audience: "[It is] quite emotional, standing up here with these three guys after all these years, standing to be counted with the rest of you ... We're doing this for everyone who's not here, and particularly of course for Syd." At the end, Gilmour thanked the audience and started to walk off the stage. Waters called him back, and the band embraced. Images of the embrace were a favourite among Sunday newspapers after Live 8. Waters said: "I don't think any of us came out of the years from 1985 with any credit ... It was a bad, negative time, and I regret my part in that negativity." Though Pink Floyd turned down a contract worth £136 million for a final tour, Waters did not rule out more performances, suggesting it ought to be for a charity event only. However, Gilmour told the
Associated Press that a reunion would not happen: "The Live 8 rehearsals convinced me it wasn't something I wanted to be doing a lot of ... There have been all sorts of farewell moments in people's lives and careers which they have then rescinded, but I think I can fairly categorically say that there won't be a tour or an album again that I take part in. It isn't to do with animosity or anything like that. It's just ... I've been there, I've done it." In February 2006, Gilmour was interviewed for the Italian newspaper
La Repubblica, which announced that Pink Floyd had disbanded. Gilmour said that Pink Floyd were "over", citing his advancing age and his preference for working alone.
2006–2008: Deaths of Barrett and then Wright Barrett died on 7 July 2006, at his home in Cambridge, aged 60. His funeral was held at Cambridge Crematorium on 18 July 2006. No Pink Floyd members attended. Wright said: "The band are very naturally upset and sad to hear of Syd Barrett's death. Syd was the guiding light of the early band line-up and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire." Wright died of cancer on 15 September 2008, aged 65. His former bandmates paid tributes to his life and work; Gilmour said that Wright's contributions were often overlooked, and that his "soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognised Pink Floyd sound". A week after Wright's death, Gilmour performed "Remember a Day" from
A Saucerful of Secrets, written and originally sung by Wright, in tribute on BBC Two's
Later... with Jools Holland. The keyboardist
Keith Emerson released a statement praising Wright as the "backbone" of Pink Floyd.
2010–2011: Further performances and rereleases In March 2010, Pink Floyd went to the
High Court of Justice to prevent EMI selling individual tracks online, arguing that their 1999 contract "prohibits the sale of albums in any configuration other than the original". The judge ruled in their favour, which the
Guardian described as a "triumph for artistic integrity" and a "vindication of the album as a creative format". In January 2011, Pink Floyd signed a new five-year contract with EMI that permitted the sale of single downloads. On 10 July 2010, Waters and Gilmour performed together at a charity event for the Hoping Foundation. The event, which raised money for Palestinian children, took place at
Kiddington Hall in Oxfordshire, England, with an audience of approximately 200. In return for Waters's appearance at the event, Gilmour performed "Comfortably Numb" at Waters's
performance of The Wall at the London
O2 Arena on 12 May 2011, singing the choruses and playing the guitar solos. Mason also joined, playing tambourine for "
Outside the Wall" with Gilmour on mandolin. On 26 September 2011, Pink Floyd and EMI launched an exhaustive re-release campaign under the title
Why Pink Floyd...?, reissuing the back catalogue in newly
remastered versions, including "Experience" and "Immersion" multi-disc multi-format editions. The albums were remastered by
James Guthrie, co-producer of
The Wall. In November 2015, Pink Floyd released a limited-edition EP,
1965: Their First Recordings, comprising six songs recorded prior to
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
The Endless River (2014) and Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets In November 2013, Gilmour and Mason revisited recordings made with Wright during the
Division Bell sessions to create a new Pink Floyd album. They recruited session musicians to help record new parts and "generally harness studio technology". Waters was not involved. Mason described the album as a tribute to Wright: "I think this record is a good way of recognising a lot of what he does and how his playing was at the heart of the Pink Floyd sound. Listening back to the sessions, it really brought home to me what a special player he was."
The Endless River was released in the following year. Though it received mixed reviews, it
became the most pre-ordered album of all time on
Amazon UK and debuted at number one in several countries. The vinyl edition was the fastest-selling UK vinyl release of 2014 and the fastest-selling since 1997. Gilmour said
The Endless River would be Pink Floyd's last album, saying: "I think we have successfully commandeered the best of what there is ... It's a shame, but this is the end." There was no supporting tour, as Gilmour felt it was impossible without Wright. In 2015, Gilmour reiterated that Pink Floyd were "done" and that to reunite without Wright would be wrong. In November 2016, Pink Floyd released a box set,
The Early Years 1965–1972, comprising outtakes, live recordings, remixes, and films from their early career. It was followed in December 2019 by
The Later Years, compiling Pink Floyd's work after Waters's departure. It includes a remixed version of
A Momentary Lapse of Reason with more contributions by Wright and Mason, and an expanded reissue of the 1988 live album
Delicate Sound of Thunder. In November 2020, the
Delicate Sound of Thunder reissue was released separately on multiple formats. Pink Floyd's
Live at Knebworth 1990 performance, previously released as part of the
Later Years box set, was released on CD and vinyl on 30 April. In 2018, Mason formed a new band,
Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets, to perform Pink Floyd's early material. It includes
Gary Kemp of
Spandau Ballet and the longtime Pink Floyd collaborator
Guy Pratt. They toured Europe in September 2018 and North America in 2019. Waters joined the band at the New York
Beacon Theatre to perform vocals for "
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun".
2022–present: "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" and conflicts Mason said in 2018 that, while he remained close to Gilmour and Waters, the two remained "at loggerheads". A remixed version of
Animals was delayed until 2022 after Gilmour and Waters could not agree on the liner notes. In a public statement, Waters accused Gilmour of attempting to steal credit and complained that Gilmour would not allow him to use Pink Floyd's website and social media channels.
Rolling Stone noted that the pair seemed "to have hit yet another low point in their relationship"., whose vocals are featured in "
Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" In March 2022, Gilmour and Mason reunited as Pink Floyd, alongside Pratt and the keyboardist
Nitin Sawhney, to record the single "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!", protesting the
Russian invasion of Ukraine that February. It features vocals by the
BoomBox singer
Andriy Khlyvnyuk, taken from an
Instagram video of Khlyvnyuk singing the 1914 Ukrainian anthem "
Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow" in
Kyiv. Gilmour described Khlyvnyuk's performance as "a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music". "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" was released on 8 April, with proceeds going to Ukrainian Humanitarian Relief. Gilmour said the war had inspired him to release new music as Pink Floyd as he felt it was important to raise awareness in support of Ukraine. Asked whether he was considering more Pink Floyd music, Gilmour said the single was a "one-off". Pink Floyd removed music from streaming services in Russia and Belarus. Their work with Waters remained, leading to speculation that Waters had blocked its removal; Gilmour said only that "I was disappointed ... Read into that what you will." In 2023, Waters released
The Dark Side of the Moon Redux, a new version of the album, and Pink Floyd released a box set,
The Dark Side of the Moon 50th Anniversary. In 2024, Gilmour released his fifth solo album,
Luck and Strange, featuring keyboards recorded with Wright in 2007. In 2023,
Variety reported that Pink Floyd had been seeking to sell their catalogue for some time but that this had been hampered by infighting. Gilmour said he wanted to "be rid of the decision-making and the arguments that are involved with keeping [the catalogue] going ... It's three people saying yes, but one person saying no." In October 2024, Pink Floyd agreed to sell their catalogue to
Sony Music for approximately $400 million. The sale included the rights to Pink Floyd's recordings, merchandise and spin-offs, but not songwriting. A
4K restoration of
Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii was screened in cinemas from 24 April 2025 and released on home media shortly after. A soundtrack album was released on 2 May, which became Pink Floyd's seventh UK number-one album. == Artistry ==