The Dark Side of the Moon

This article is about the album by musical group Pink Floyd. For information on the mockumentary of the same name, see Dark Side of the Moon (documentary). For information on the actual moon orbiting Earth, see Moon or far side of the Moon.

Untitled

Dark Side of the Moon (The initial "The" is included in some versions of the title) is a 1973 concept album by Pink Floyd, dealing with the pressures of life such as time, money, war, mental illness, and death.

It is considered by many fans to be the band's magnum opus, surpassing even The Wall (1979). Originally composed as "Eclipse: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics", it was a played live in Pink Floyd's early tours. Dark Side of the Moon was the original title of the opus, but the band Medicine Head had already released an album by that name. However, their album flopped, and the name Dark Side of the Moon was once again used, along with an end song to the opus called Eclipse, which Brain Damage now seagues into. A landmark in rock, it features radio-suited rock songs such as Money, Time, Us and Them, and Brain Damage/Eclipse, with ethereal electronica, and concrete sound effects. It is a bridge between "classic" blues rock and the then-new electronic music genres. However, it is the softer touches on Dark Side, the lyrical and musical nuance, that make this album stand apart.

Dark Side of the Moon is estimated to be the second-best-selling album of all time, worldwide, and the 18th-best-selling album in the United States. It peaked at #1 on The Billboard 200, remained on that chart for a record-setting period of over a decade, and also reached #1 on Billboard's Pop Catalog Chart. The 2003 Hybrid SACD issue reached #1 on Billboard's Pop Catalog Chart as well and sold 800,000 SACDs in the U.S. alone. Since it was first released, it has sold over 40 million copies worldwide as of 2004. In 2003, 250,000 copies were bought, and as of 2004 it was selling over 8,000 copies a week. It is estimated that one in every 14 people in the U.S. under the age of 50 owns a copy of this album.

Concept

Dark Side of the Moon is a concept album. The album covers the faults of humanity and the pressures of modern life that can drive a man to insanity, including mortality, religion, money, the encroachment of old age, society and conflict. The track On the Run represents pressures of escaping pursuit. "Time" discusses how quickly life can slip by. The Great Gig in the Sky was known as "The Mortality Sequence" during recording, and has a religious or death theme. Money talks about the greed in the world, and how money is the "root of all evil today". Us and Them deals with conflict and war. Brain Damage is about lunacy and what it is like. Eclipse was to mean the same thing with a different concept of singing. While it is broken up into 9 different tracks on most releases, it is considered one whole piece as opposed to an album with independent songs.

Another common theory surrounding the concept of the album is that it tells the story of the cycle of life, Speak to Me/Breathe"being the tale of birth, and gradually insanity (Brain Damage) and death (Eclipse).

The theme of Dark Side of the Moon was in part precipitated by the earlier departure of Syd Barrett, a founding member of Pink Floyd. It is said to have been conceived during a band meeting in Nick Mason's kitchen, when it was decided to make an album about the pressures of modern life.

Roger Waters wrote all of the lyrics, and created the early demo tracks in a small house in his garden.

Recording

Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London between June 1972 and January 1973, the album contains some of the most intricate uses of instruments and sound effects in the studio up to that time, including the sound of someone running around a microphone, and the recording of multiple clocks going off. A quadraphonic version was also released, with some re-mixing and different takes. In making DSotM, Pink Floyd perfected other effects such as doubletracking of vocals and guitars (allowing David Gilmour to harmonise flawlessly with himself), flanged vocals and odd trickery with reverb and panning of sound between the channels. To this day, Dark Side of the Moon is a reference standard that audiophiles use to test the fidelity of audio equipment. Another feature of the album is the snippets of dialogue between and over the tracks. Pink Floyd interviewed various people, asking questions related to the central themes of the album, such as violence and death. Roadie "Roger the Hat" features more than once ("give 'em a quick, short, sharp, shock ...", "live for today, gone tomorrow, that's me..."). The words "there is no dark side of the Moon really ... matter of fact it's all dark" over the closing heartbeats come from the studio doorman at the time, Gerry Driscoll. Paul and Linda McCartney were also interviewed, but their answers were considered too cautious for inclusion. McCartney's bandmate Henry McCullough contributed the famous line "I don't know, I was really drunk at the time". The monologue about the "geezers" who were "cruisin' for a brusin" comes from a conversation Roger Waters taped with his girlfriend about whether he was right to beat up several men in a recent bar fight.

Alan Parsons engineered the album while on staff at Abbey Road. He once said in an interview that he swapped shifts with colleagues in order to work on the whole project.

Success

In the U.S., Dark Side is the 18th-best-selling album of all time and has spent a total of 741 weeks on the Billboard 200 with the longest continuous period lasting 591 consecutive weeks. It reached the #1 chart position in the US, Belgium and France, but due to a quirk in the computer system, it was only awarded a gold disc. The LP was released before platinum discs were "invented" on January 1, 1976. The album would eventually be certified Platinum in 1990 and then Diamond in 1999 by the RIAA. Even in 2002, thirty years after the album's release, over 400,000 copies were sold in the United States, making the record the 200th-best-selling album that year. In 2003, over 800,000 copies of the Hybrid SACD version of DSotM were sold in the US alone. "Time", "Money" and "Us and Them" have become radio call-in favourites (with "Money" having also been a bestselling single in the USA). Dark Side of the Moon is now certified 15 times platinum in the US.

Dark Side of the Moon has been released as a 30th anniversary hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) with a 5.1 channel DSD surround mix, mastered from the original 16-track studio tapes. Some surprise was expressed when longtime producer James Guthrie was called in to make the SACD mix, rather than the original LP engineer Alan Parsons. This 30th anniversary edition won four Surround Music Awards in 2003.

In 1997, Dark Side of the Moon was named the 6th greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 1998, Q magazine readers placed it at number 10, while in 2001 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 51.

In 2003, the United States cable television channel VH1 named Dark Side of the Moon's album cover the 4th greatest album cover of all time. Also in 2003, a "Classic Albums" DVD about Dark Side of the Moon was released; it included interviews with Gilmour, Mason, Waters, Wright, Alan Parson, Storm Thorgerson and Chris Thomas about the making of the album.

Many argue that Acid House evolved out of the EMS synthesizer flurries on Dark Side of the Moon.

New York reggae label Easy Star commissioned a reggae version, Dub Side of the Moon, based on Dark Side, but with additional material.

Track listing

Track title	Credited to	Original CD and 1994 remaster release	Shine On (box set) version, and 20th anniversary re-release	30th anniversary SACD re-release
"Speak to Me"	Mason	1:00	1:13	1:13
"Breathe"	Gilmour Waters Wright	2:59	2:46	2:46
"On the Run" (vorbis sample (112K))	Gilmour Waters	3:35	3:34	3:35
"Time" (vorbis sample)	Gilmour Mason Waters Wright	7:04	7:04	7:04
"The Great Gig in the Sky"	Wright	4:48	4:44	4:48
"Money"	Waters	6:24	6:32	6:24
"Us and Them"	Waters Wright	7:49	7:40	7:49
"Any Colour You Like"	Gilmour Mason Wright	3:26	3:25	3:26
"Brain Damage"	Waters	3:50	3:50	3:50
"Eclipse" (vorbis sample (102K))	Waters	2:04	2:02	2:04

Some more recent pressings of the album, starting with those included in the Shine On box set and the live version on P*U*L*S*E, have slightly different credits. These versions add Roger Waters' name to the writing credits for "Speak to Me" and "The Great Gig in the Sky", and Richard Wright's name to "On the Run".

Because the original LP record was two sided, there was a break between "The Great Gig In The Sky" and "Money". Alan Parsons added a small crossfade between these two tracks for the digital remaster. The remastering was supervised by James Guthrie and Doug Sax.

On later CD pressings a hidden, orchestral version of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" is audible after "Eclipse", although very faintly. Why this is so is unknown, and was possibly a mastering mistake. (The bootleg A Tree Full of Secrets includes an amplified, enhanced version of this oddity.)

Personnel

• David Gilmour — Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals, VCS 3 Synthesizer
• Roger Waters — Bass Guitar, Vocals, VCS 3 Synthesizer, Tape Effects
• Richard Wright — Keyboards, Vocals, VCS 3 Synthesizer
• Nick Mason — Percussion, Drums, Tape Effects

with

• Lesley Duncan — Vocals (background)
• Doris Troy — Vocals (background)
• Pink Floyd — Producers
• Dick Parry — Saxophone
• Barry St. John — Vocals (background)
• Liza Strike — Vocals (background)
• Clare Torry — Vocals
• Peter James — Assistant Engineer
• Chris Thomas — Mixing
• Alan Parsons — Engineer
• Hipgnosis — Design, Photography
• Storm Thorgerson — 20th and 30th Anniversary Edition Designs
• George Hardie — Illustrations, Sleeve Art
• Jill Furmanosky — Photography
• David Sinclair — Liner Notes in CD re-release

Quotes

"It's very well-balanced and well-constructed, dynamically and musically, and I think the humanity of its approach is appealing. It's satisfying. I think also that it was the first album of that kind. People often quote S.F. Sorrow by The Pretty Things as being from a similar mould - they were both done in the same studio at about the same time - but I think it was probably the first completely cohesive album that was made. A concept album, mate! I always thought it would be hugely successful. I had the same feelings about The Wall. [...] But of course, Dark Side Of The Moon finished The Pink Floyd off once and for all. To be that successful is the aim of every group. And once you've cracked it, it's all over. In hindsight, I think The Pink Floyd was finished as long ago as that."

— Roger Waters in June 1987, with Chris Salewicz.

Note: S F Sorrow was released in 1968, having been recorded at the same time as Pink Floyd's debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

Singles

• "Money"/"Any Colour You Like" - Harvest/Capitol 3609; released June, 1973
• "Time"/"Us and Them" - Harvest/Capitol 45373; released February 4, 1974

Charts

Album — Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1973	Pop Albums	1

Singles — Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1973	"Money"	Pop Singles	13
1974	"Time"	Pop Singles	101

Synchronicity with The Wizard of Oz

When the album is played simultaneously with the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, the images of the movie often appear to be synchronized with the music and lyrics. Some fans have found this phenomemon—which is sometimes dubbed "Dark Side of the Rainbow" or "Dark Side of Oz"—uncanny. Band members say it was not intentional, but many fans agree that it seems to almost be too improbable for it to happen on accident.

References

• The "Dark Side of the Moon": The Making of the "Pink Floyd" Masterpiece, John Harris, Fourth Estate, (2005) ISBN 0007190247

External links

• The official Dark Side of the Moon webpage
• A Full Conceptual Analysis of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon"
• Recording and history of the album
• The Pink Floyd HyperBase
• Dark Side of the Moon - anniversary audio review
• Dark Side of the Moon A Cappella