Pink Floyd – the greatest progressive rock band of all time and one of music’s most successful bands, have sold over 250 million albums around the world, spaned for 14 studio albums. They gaining early recognition for their psychedelic rock music with ‘The Piper At The Gates of Dawn’, and for their focus on experimentation on albums like Atom ‘Heart Mother’ and ‘Ummagumma’. But it was with ‘Meddle’ that their magic began, spreading throughout the next 10 years matching the release of ‘The Wall’.
All of the tracks listed below come from that stretch in the ’70s Pink Floyd period, simply because they were one of the hugest bands on the planet at that time.
Check the 10 Best Pink Floyd Songs:
10 – ‘Brain Damage / Eclipse’ – (‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ / 1973)
‘Brain Damage / Eclipse’ closes the album ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ and we like to put the double track here, because the songs will always sound as one, connected by the lyrics ‘I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon’.
Roger Waters had been playing the song during the recording of the ‘Meddle’ album in 1971, when it was called ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’. Eventually this title would be used for the album itself. The song seemed to be partially inspired by their former band member Syd Barrett who had endured a mental breakdown.
‘Eclipse’ was sung by Roger Waters, with harmonies by David Gilmour and Rick Wright. After Waters left, Gilmour sang the lead when performing live. The end of the album/song is chilling on the words ‘and everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.’
9 – ‘Us and Them’ – (‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ / 1973)
The song began as a piano melody written by the group’s keyboard player Rick Wright when Pink Floyd was composing music for the 1970 film Zabriskie Point, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.
With prominent jazz influence, lyrics by Roger Waters and it is sung by David Gilmour, ‘Us and Them’ was released as the second single from ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ in the US.
8 – ‘Dogs’ – (‘The Animals’ / 1977)
The song was written first, back in 1974 by Roger Waters with music co-written by David Gilmour with the title ‘You’ve Got to Be Crazy’.
With 17 minutes long, the song concentrates on the aggressive, ruthlessly competitive world of business, describing a high-powered businessman. ‘Dogs’ has a complex musical composition.
About the song, Gilmour stated: ‘Once in a while I would find something uncomfortable to sing. The first lot Roger wrote for “Dogs” when it was called “You Gotta Be Crazy”, were just too many words to sing. … “Dogs” had so many words, I physically couldn’t get them in. [We] just cut out two-thirds of his words, to make it possible rather than impossible.’
7 – ‘Another Brick in the Wall Part 2’ – (‘The Wall’ / 1979)
The second and most famous part of the ‘Brick in the Wall’ trilogy directly continues the narrative line and themes begun in ‘Happiest Days of Our Lives.’ Part II is a protest song against rigid schooling in general and boarding schools in the UK in particular.
It was also released as a single and provided the band’s only number-one hit in the United Kingdom, the United States, West Germany and many other countries. Pink Floyd received a Grammy nomination for Best Performance by a Rock Duo or Group, but lost it to Bob Seger’s ‘Against the Wind’. In addition, Part II was number 375 on Rolling Stone ’s list of ‘The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time’. The single sold over 4 million copies worldwide.
The single, as well as the album ‘The Wall’, were banned in South Africa in 1980 after the song was adopted by supporters of a nationwide school boycott protesting racial inequities in education under the apartheid regime
6 – ‘Wish You Were Here’ – (‘Wish You Were Here’ / 1975)
‘Wish You Were Here’ is the title track on Pink Floyd’s 1975 album ‘Wish You Were Here’. David Gilmour and Waters collaborated to write the music and its lyrics encompass Roger Waters’ feelings of alienation from other people. Like most of the album, it refers to former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett and his breakdown.
In 2011, the song was ranked No. 324 on Rolling Stone’s list of the ‘500 Greatest Songs of All Time.’
On June 14, 2013, the song was released as an unofficial promotional single on Spotify and when fans streamed it one million times, which happened after only four days, the rest of the band’s catalogue was released.
5 – ‘Money’ – (‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ / 1973)
‘Money’ was written by Roger Waters and released as a single: it became the band’s first hit in the US, reaching at #10 in Cash Box magazine and #13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ was the album that released them from their progressive roots and their psychedelic mainstays, and ‘Money’ was the song that fueled it.
‘Money’ was performed during Pink Floyd’s reunion show, for which Waters rejoined the band (after more than two decades), at the Live 8 concert in London in 2005, along with ‘Breathe’ (including the reprise that follows ‘Time’), ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘Comfortably Numb’.
4 – ‘Echoes’ – (‘Meddle’ / 1971)
Written in 1970 by all four members of the group (credited as Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Nick Mason, David Gilmour on the original release), ‘Echoes’ provides the extended finale to Pink Floyd’s album ‘Meddle’.
The track has a running time of 23:31 and takes up the entire second side of the vinyl recording. According to Shiloh Noone’s Seekers Guide To The Rhythm Of Yesteryear, Pink Floyd introduced a new piece of music at the Crystal Palace Garden party entitled ‘Return of the Sun of Nothing,’ said by the band to be a joke about comic books and Godzilla-type movie sequels, which developed into ‘Echoes’ about 6 months later. The song was also a homage to the minimalist composer Terry Riley.
3 – ‘Time’ – (‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ / 1973)
‘Time’ is the only song on ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ credited to all four members of the band, though the lyrics were written by Roger Waters. The song carries the greatest conceptual impact out of all the songs on this amazing album.
This song is about how time can slip by, but many people do not realize it until it is too late. Roger Waters got the idea when he realized he was no longer preparing for anything in life, but was right in the middle of it.
Soulful music, haunting vocals, mind blowing solo rifts, and all packed into one 07:05 song. It doesn’t get any better than this guys!
2 – ‘Comfortably Numb’ – (‘The Wall’ / 1979)
‘Comfortably Numb’ appears on the 1979 double album ‘The Wall’ and it was also released as a single in 1980 with ‘Hey You’ as the B-side. It is one of only three songs on the album for which writing credits are shared between Roger Waters and David Gilmour, showing signs of rupture within the band at this time.
The song is one of Pink Floyd’s most famous, and is renowned especially for its guitar solos in the middle and at the end of the song. In 2004, the song was ranked number 314 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2005, it became the last song ever to be performed by Waters, Gilmour, Wright, and Mason together. The two guitar solos were ranked as the greatest guitar solos of all time by both Planet Rock listeners and WatchMojo.com.
1 – ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-IV)’ – (‘Wish You Were Here’ / 1975)
The song was first performed on their 1974 French tour, and recorded for their 1975 concept album ‘Wish You Were Here’. This nine-part classic piece of music, written by Roger Waters, Richard Wright and David Gilmour, it’s a tribute to former band member Syd Barrett:
‘Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun
Shine on you crazy diamond
Now there’s that look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky
Shine on you crazy diamond.’
A pinacle on Pink Floyd’s career, with movements that span funk, blues, gospel, rock, classical, jazz, and soul into one song!
