Pink Floyd Appreciation Thread

[RangeRoverA1]

As I said, strictly looking at that pic, Syd looks like regular old guy. Maybe to you it shows him in bad way (without knowing details, side effects etc). To me, he looks casually. That's the point.

[Jay]

As I said, strictly looking at that pic, Syd looks like regular old guy. Maybe to you it shows him in bad way (without knowing details, side effects etc). To me, he looks casually. That's the point.

Sorry, I overlooked that part of the post. After going through photos online real quick, he did get some grey and white hair over time. When I made my post I was thinking about a specific picture of Syd in the mid 1970's, when he showed up unexpectedly at the studio where Pink Floyd was recording. At first glance it appears that it's just an older person, but it's SYd with a bald head and no eyebrows. I think he would have been barely thirty years old in that picture. I had forgotten that there were indeed some pictures of Syd as an older man. 

[KDS]

Would like to say few things about Syd. 1stly, he didn't do anything especially ground-breaking to get people put Syd in pedestal. Yet he/ his persona brought cult following. Being main songwriter-guitarist-singer when PF began isn't unique case which doesn't take place in different bands. He gave up very quickly. If music business is tough to deal with, he should be sth. else instead. Lines galore. Fast fwd, when pics appeared in the Internet with chubby bald Syd, everybody said he looks bad, amazed that he changed to the point he doesn't look like young Syd. Frankly, it's silly reaction. Face it, many chaps, esp. when they age, get bald, many I see walking by in the streets got big belly. Syd's like average people. Without knowing details, going strictly by pics, Syd's changed look makes sense. We know he lived as recluse, it shows in pics too. But, again, there's many like him.

Meddle's good album, nice to read "Echoes" listed. When did you discover Pink Floyd? Did you listen to it chronologically? Did you get into it via different British bands?

Syd's guitar playing was actually very different from what was doing on at the time.   He also taught Gilmour how to play, even if Gilmour turned into a much better player.  I also agree that his songwriting is a bit overrated.   

If you want to see an better example of a pic of Syd looking "bad," there's one that was taken in 1974, when Syd showed up at one of Floyd's recording sessions.   He'd put on a lot of weight and shaved his head, and while still pretty young, looked nothing like the play who broke with Floyd. 

I think Floyd first caught my ear when I was 15, going on 16, in the summer of 1996.   By chance, I caught a showing of the movie The Wall on basic cable, and I loved the music.  I was obsessed with The Wall album for about a year, then later went and got all of their other albums.    So, I didn't listen in chronological order.   If I recall, I started with Dark Side, then the two post Waters albums, then went from there.   

Once, I'd listened to all the Floyd albums front to back many many times, I got the Gilmour and Waters solo albums.   

Luckily, at the height of my new Floyd fandom, in 1999, Roger Waters announced he was going on his first tour in 12 years.   I've had the chance to see him five times.   I'm still waiting on a full US tour from Gilmour.   I'm not exactly holding my breath.

[Alex]

Looovvee Piper, the early singles, and some of the other random Syd stuff (Vegetable Man, Jugband Blues, Scream Thy Last Scream, etc), I could take or leave the Waters/Gilmour stuff.

[pixletwin]

Syd's change in appearance was of his own doing though, and a result or side affect of his mental illness. He willingly shaved off all of his hair, as well as his eyebrows.

Yes in 1974. Syd went bald the natural way too. lol

I don't think his preference for jeans and a t-shirt (sometimes a tanky) is necessarily a symptom of his mental illness either. I believe Syd suffered from severe anxiety (among other thinngs) but the thought that he may have been schizophrenic is given far too much weight.

Syd was a talented guy who did too many drugs and discovered the music lifestyle didn't suit him. He preferred to paint, work in his garden, go for walks, come home  and  read. He had enough in royalties to do that. He just wanted to be left alone.

I originally wrote "content to paint"... etc... but I don't think he was ever content. He knew something was not right and was determined to self diagnose and self treat his illness. But I think schizophrenia is pretty much laughed off by anyone who truly knows.

[ChewBecca]

Syd's change in appearance was of his own doing though, and a result or side affect of his mental illness. He willingly shaved off all of his hair, as well as his eyebrows.

Yes in 1974. Syd went bald the natural way too. lol

I don't think his preference for jeans and a t-shirt (sometimes a tanky) is necessarily a symptom of his mental illness either. I believe Syd suffered from severe anxiety (among other thinngs) but the thought that he may have been schizophrenic is given far too much weight.

Syd was a talented guy who did too many drugs and discovered the music lifestyle didn't suit him. He preferred to paint, work in his garden, go for walks, come home  and  read. He had enough in royalties to do that. He just wanted to be left alone.

I originally wrote "content to paint"... etc... but I don't think he was ever content. He knew something was not right and was determined to self diagnose and self treat his illness. But I think schizophrenia is pretty much laughed off by anyone who truly knows.

I remember reading one interview where his sister Rosemary or Roseanne or whatever basically claimed that Syd was not crazy just selfish or something, that his mental illness was overblown and that it was more along the lines of what you just had posted. It was in on of those books I that I cannot remember the name of.

[♩♬☮ Billy C ♯♫♩☮]

Syd's change in appearance was of his own doing though, and a result or side affect of his mental illness. He willingly shaved off all of his hair, as well as his eyebrows.

Yes in 1974. Syd went bald the natural way too. lol

I don't think his preference for jeans and a t-shirt (sometimes a tanky) is necessarily a symptom of his mental illness either. I believe Syd suffered from severe anxiety (among other thinngs) but the thought that he may have been schizophrenic is given far too much weight.

Syd was a talented guy who did too many drugs and discovered the music lifestyle didn't suit him. He preferred to paint, work in his garden, go for walks, come home  and  read. He had enough in royalties to do that. He just wanted to be left alone.

I originally wrote "content to paint"... etc... but I don't think he was ever content. He knew something was not right and was determined to self diagnose and self treat his illness. But I think schizophrenia is pretty much laughed off by anyone who truly knows.

I remember reading one interview where his sister Rosemary or Roseanne or whatever basically claimed that Syd was not crazy just selfish or something, that his mental illness was overblown and that it was more along the lines of what you just had posted. It was in on of those books I that I cannot remember the name of.

Rosemary Bremen, and the book you’re referring to was called Comfortably Numb by Mark Blake