The 1970s. The world was trembling at the height of the cold war. Economy of the first world countries was shifting from industrial to service, resulting in unemployment and uncertainty.
The youth of the post-industrial society was living through an uncertain future.
In such an uncertain time, in 1973, Pink Floyd released The Dark Side of the Moon which explored the theme of human greed, war, time, fear of death, and mental illness.
The album’s themes resonated with the youth populace from the 70s to over decades, making it the most successful Pink Floyd album ever.
Pink Floyd was one of the bands to lead the psychedelic rock scene in the 60s and 70s. Their experimentation of psychedelia with progressive rock and effort to express the delicate human emotions and inner struggles make them unique and timeless.
The album songs were inspired mainly by the turbulent times of the 70s. Syd Barrett - the vocalist and the key member behind the creation of Pink Floyd, who left the band in 1968 due to mental illness, influenced the members to demonstrate human emotion of stress-induced insanity.
The first track ‘Speak to Me’ includes various excerpts from several songs of the album, accompanied by Nick Mason’s drum solo imitating human heartbeat, setting up the album’s overall tone.
The Dark Side of the Moon consists of ten tracks, each comprising different emotions and moods of humans due to societal change, which can be related to the reality of everyday lives.
For example, ‘Time’ talks about the importance of being productive during dull moments of the day; life is only getting shorter the older we get. The track includes philosophical lyrics sung by David Gilmour and Richard Wright.
‘Money’ is the most popular recognizable song on this album. The lyrics hint at the human greed and desire for money and consist of phenomenal musicianship by Roger Waters with an unusual 7/8 time signature.
The addition of saxophone played by Dick Parry gives the song a jazz fusion experience.
‘Brain Damage’ demonstrates the insanity-themed lyrics followed by erratic laughter of a human losing his mind in the background. This was a reference to Syd Barrett, to whom Pink Floyd dedicated several songs in later years.
Pink Floyd is known for creating deep lyrics with a philosophical view of life. Roger Waters did an exceptional job of delving the audience deep into reality with his songwriting rather than letting them escape through music in this album.
The album became widely successful and remains popular to this day.
With over 45 million copies sold worldwide and holding the record of staying in Billboard Top 200 for 15 years, The Dark Side of Moon is considered one of the best-selling albums of all time.
