Mar 01: Pink Floyd released Dark Side of the Moon in 1973

The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by Pink Floyd, released in March 1973. It built on ideas explored in the band’s earlier recordings and live shows, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their work following the departure in 1968 of founder member, principal composer, and lyricist, Syd Barrett. The themes on The Dark Side of the Moon include conflict, greed, the passage of time, and mental illness, the latter partly inspired by Barrett’s deteriorating mental state.

My relationship with Pink Floyd comes in waves, and I must say that Jonathan Wilson and the latest album by The South has rekindled my Pink Floyd interest. The influence by Pink Floyd is so obvious. I just had to go back and listen closer. Two other bricks in the wall (pun intended) was Gov’t Mule and Flaming Lips’s Pink Floyd cover project. Some of my favourite bands love Pink Floyd, there has to be more to them. So, right now I’m on top of the wave, I listen to Pink Floyd a lot.

Classic albums: The making of Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd:

 “…what gives the album true power is the subtly textured music, which evolves from ponderous, neo-psychedelic art rock to jazz fusion and blues-rock before turning back to psychedelia. It’s dense with detail, but leisurely paced, creating its own dark, haunting world. Pink Floyd may have better albums than Dark Side of the Moon, but no other record defines them quite as well as this one.”
– Stephen Thomas Erlewine (Allmusic)

The Dark Side of the Moon was an immediate success; it topped the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart for one week and remained in the charts for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988. With an estimated 50 million copies sold, it is Pink Floyd’s most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide. It has twice been remastered and re-released, and has been covered in its entirety by several other acts. It produced two singles, “Money” and “Time”. The Dark Side of the Moon is one of Pink Floyd’s most popular albums among fans and critics, and is frequently ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time.

– Hallgeir