Dark Side of the Moon: An Ageless Piece of Art

Debuting the album in 1973, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon gave mixed emotions to their listeners around the world. Most of their fans enjoyed the album, feeling it met their Pink Floyd standard and as if taken to a dream-like state; others, though, thought it wasn’t Floyd’s best and perhaps a bit dull. However, the album has become a classic; retaining and gaining new fans for over thirty years. Despite many opinions throughout the world, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon is considered a masterpiece by many generations because it enriches the soul with heartfelt music and journeys one to another reality, enabling the intelligence behind the art to take listeners to their ideal lucid state while the message of madness, greed, and oppression within modern society is projected.       Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon allows reality to be extended for a matter of nine songs. This album takes listeners to a place that is never seen, the Dark Side of the Moon, where dreams meet reality. In an article about the debut of the album, journalist Roy Hollingworth of the Melody Maker says “The Dark Side of the Moon is a fine album with a textural and conceptual richness that not only invites, but demands involvement. There is a certain grandeur here that exceeds mere musical melodramatics and is rarely attempted in rock” (67). The album showcases its intelligence and beauty within the first thirty seconds, by innovatively revealing significant clips from each of the tracks. It begins with the sound of a heartbeat, symbolizing the start of our journey through human issues that will later be presented. Hollingworth describes the beginning of a live performance as “such a glorious feeling”; he further describes this sensational start, “And then it began… Heartbeat. The thick thump, staggering bumping filled the blackness, gaining in volume and intensity until it packed against your whole body” (67). The leading sounds are so impacting that when “the heartbeats fade to blend into a gushing stream of noise… colour split[s] the room open” (67). The consistent pulsation that shifts into a radiant instrumental, gives the feeling of taking a deep breath in, right as all the clips culminate, then exhaling as the impacting song titled “Breathe” begins. In an interview with Melissa Etheridge in 2003 about the album, she recalls “pretending to be not too blown away by it [Dark Side of the Moon]” then running out to buy it and “listening to it on end while staring at the cover” (43). Indeed, Pink Floyd does present certain magnificence to their listeners, so much so, that in 1973 they were given the name “Imperial Floyd”, which the band retained throughout their career (Hollingworth 68). The editing of the album adds surreal effect, by resulting in no endings, but merely transitions. Bill Mann from the Montreal Gazette says that “Pink Floyd does not jolt you” instead “its music gives you a nice vehicle to float in” allowing listeners to absorb the depth and drift further into the consciousness of the music (55). The creativity and organization behind this album is due to the intelligence of bassist, Roger Waters, who pieced this puzzle together.

Waters’ intelligence behind the album is not only heard through the music, but also strongly noticed within his lyrics. Bill Mann suggests that “Floyd is rare… the only highly intelligent, tasteful, heavy rock band” of its time (55). This is seen through Waters’ poetic mention of madness, greed, and oppression in modern society. Rolling Stone journalist points out that his message of “fleetingness and depravity of human life, [is] hardly the commonplace subject matter of rock” (Grossman 107). However, the subject matter that Waters draws upon, deals with issues that still exist and perhaps have only gotten worse, thus spanning its fan base out over three generations. Melissa Etheridge comments that “the music is such an innovative piece of work that it continues to speak to young and old minds. Listening to it is a journey,” (43). Waters overlays creativity onto his message of madness, for example, with the chiming of clocks as the song “Time” begins to play. He does the same kind of intelligent lead in for the song “Money”, where cash registers clinking are heard. The message projected in the song “Time” through the line “The time is gone the song is over” suggests that people are foolish for letting moments pass them by without confronting them. The song “Money” indicates that people have become greedy and are not willing to give anymore; this is seen through the line “Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie”. And the line “Forward he cried from the rear” from the song “Us And Them” represents the separation between people in society and oppression that controls it. These examples might be viewed as “the keys to understanding the meaning of the Dark Side of the Moon” (Mann 55). Some of this message must ring true to each new listener because years after its release, it still has a certain prophetic quality.

But not all listeners think this way. Most Pink Floyd fans are in love with this album; however, others do not express the same kind of passion. Some fans found it to be a little boring… “For one thing, it’s far too serious. For another, it’s hopelessly slow - not a single rocker among its six songs” (MacDonald 23). Compared to their other albums, Dark Side of the Moon is more thoughtful and commercial sounding, yet Floyd manages to maintain their creative edge. Most followers would agree that the music is not at all “hopelessly slow” but rather provides a delightfully stimulating dream. MacDonald goes on to say that “part of it might lie in the Floyd’s tantalizing blend of hippy intangibility with direct statement. The notion of a committed psychedelic band is attractive; it doesn’t need to interrupt the dream - it can become part of it” (23). Here, MacDonald feels that Waters’ message could have been more subtle instead of direct, but then follows up with “Whatever happened to the Spirit of Woodstock? What happened to idealism, anti-materialism, and the brotherhood of man? The Dark Side of the Moon is Roger Waters’ stab at answering such questions” (25). MacDonald compares the album to “a fumbling, sometimes banally clumsy effort - like a drowsy man groping in the dark for the bedside light-switch - but it has its moments of clarity” (25). He obviously does not relate to this album as much as others have, however even with his opposing opinion, there is realization that there is depth within this piece of art and uses of the second verse in “Brain Damage” as an example. He says “Waters’ own troubled conscience is, broadly speaking, successfully transformed into the troubled conscience of us all” which he notices to be the theme of the album (25).

It seems that MacDonald is the type of listener that enjoys the sound of the music rather than the subliminal meanings behind it. The fact that “it’s a record about unease, Waters’ - and ours, about his” is probably what MacDonald identifies the least with. He further supports his opinion by mentioning that, yes, “Dark Side of the Moon is a Thinking Fan’s album. A work of art - and the need for works-of-art in the rock culture is only too apparent from a cursory examination of the surrogates for contemporary classical music that are Yes and ELP” which are two bands that also have same creative intensity behind their music(25). However, by saying this, MacDonald does not contradict his opposing view, but rather suggests that Pink Floyd’s album is creatively different. Although, MacDonald “still [found] it a depressing piece of work” because of the issues that are surfaced, he goes on to say that “If ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ represents a world-view with which large numbers of young people identify, then we’re living in a gloomier age than I thought - with no direction home” (25). Unfortunately thirty years later, we still live in that gloomy age, where madness, greed, and oppression still exist and today’s youth still identifies with that truth.

Regardless of opposition to the album, Dark Side of the Moon has sold over thirty-five million copies worldwide. It is even listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having spent over eleven years on the top 200 charts internationally. Thirty-four years after its debut, the Dark Side of the Moon still receives recognition as one of the best composed albums. To mark its 30^th anniversary, the album released its re-mastered version in 2003, which exploded on scene. The Dark Side of the Moon brilliantly captures the essence of rock in an innovative and artistic manner that compels listeners to journey with the band to unknown territory which causes prolific reasoning, thus becoming ageless. 

Author, Thespian, and Philosopher: Brit Hysen has successfully made a name for her self in the arts publishing feature articles across the California State Campus Newspaper System. Her main accomplishments aside from mind-bending investigative journalism was pioneering Hollywood “extra-acting” on AMC’s Hit Series MadMen. To this day she does not stop as her sights are set high in the pursuit of personal enlightenment and overall coolness.