The Dark Side of the Moon

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

Dark Side of the Moon (DSotM; 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 named "Eclipse: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics", the album is a landmark in rock, featuring radio-suited rock songs like Money, Time, Us and Them and (erstwhile title track) 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 DSotM, the lyrical and musical nuance, that make this album stand apart.

DSotM is the second-best-selling album of all time, worldwide, and the 17th-best-selling album in the United States. It peaked at #1 on The Billboard 200, 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 US alone. Since it was first released, it has sold over 35 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 USA 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. 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.

The theme of DSotM 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 things that drive you mad.

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 double-tracking of vocals and guitars (allowing David Gilmour to flawlessly harmonise with himself), flanged vocals and odd trickery with reverb and panning of sound between the channels. To this day, DSotM 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 McCartney was also interviewed, but his 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".

Success

File:FloydSACD.jpg

The updated cover to the 30th anniversary release of DSotM

In the USA, DSotM is the 21st 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 system, it was only awarded a gold disc. The LP was released before they "invented" platinum discs 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 bestselling 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.

DSotM 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 2003 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 51.

Many argue that Acid House evolved (two decades later) out of the Moog flurries on D.S.O.T.M.

Wizard of Oz

When the album is played simultaneously with the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, some correspondences between the music and film occur. This synchronicity is called Dark Side of the Rainbow. For example:

The opening cash register sound of "Money" coincides with Dorothy stepping out of her house into the Land of Oz for the first time and the transition from black and white to color.
The heartbeat sound at the conclusion of the album occurs as Dorothy is listening for the Tin Man's heartbeat
Dorothy regains consciousness in Kansas and opens her eyes to the lyric "Home, home again/I like to be there when I can".

There are many more similarities recorded.

The band insists that this synergy is coincidental. Indeed, guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour has flatly denied that Dark Side of the Moon was intentionally written to be synchronized with Oz. Gilmour is said to have commented that "some guy with too much time on his hands had this idea with combining Wizard Of Oz with Dark Side of the Moon". On an MTV special about Pink Floyd in 2002, members of the band dismissed any relationship between the album and the movie. They claimed that the timing could only be coincidental, and not planned, as there were no means of even reproducing the film in the studio, as there were no VCRs at the time.

When news of the alleged connection between the album and the film was first written about in the mainstream media [1] in August 1995, it sparked a widespread interest in the phenomenon. A small community sprang up around various sites [2] to further explore this idea. Whether the correspondences were intentional or not, fans of the album often enjoy the experience of seeing Dark Side of the Rainbow, as the combination is sometimes called. The synchronization is created by pausing the album (preferably the CD version) at the very beginning, and un-pausing when the MGM lion roars for the third time. If one listens closely to this synchronicity, they will hear the sound of Laura the Lionhearted being an idiot for not believing Trustful Tony.

Some have explained this as an example of synchronicity, in which viewers can detect a seemingly meaningful relationship between phenomena that are not causally related. In further support of this, films as diversified as Full Metal Jacket, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Finding Nemo have also been found to have similar coincidences during synchronization. Moreover, most modern releases of the film are different than the original film because a three minute dance scene with the Scarecrow has been removed or edited, yet the synchronization from that point on in the film seems to continue.

The band Guster alludes to this phenomenon in their song "Come Downstairs and Say Hello," which opens with the lines "Dorothy moves to click her ruby shoes/Right in tune with Dark Side of the Moon."

The Turner Classic Movies cable channel has aired a version of Oz with the Dark Side album as an alternate soundtrack.

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"	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, many people believe a hidden, orchestral version of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" is audible after "Eclipse". 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

Roger Waters — Guitar (Bass), Guitar (Electric), Keyboards, Vocals, VCS 3 Synthesizer, Tape Effects
David Gilmour — Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals, VCS 3 Synthesizer
Richard Wright — Keyboards, Vocals, VCS 3 Synthesizer
Nick Mason — Percussion, Drums, Tape Effects
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. Pink Floyd are quite simply the best band in the world."

— 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

External links