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Heya, i'm new, but i have a mission. I am currently doing a dissertation on dark side, the title being "Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon: What's the Concept? (A personal examination of the interpreted and intended meanings, messages and stories present in Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon concept album)"

and i could really use some qualitative data (opinions basically) to use in it as research. So if anybody could take a few minutes out of their day and tell me about what any of the individual songs or even the entire album means to you personally, your own view and interpretation, what impact it has had on you as a person or in your life or if you link the album or a song with a particular memory or anything you want to say about it in general, you'd be helping me out LOADS! mind you though i warn you anything you say i will intend to use as evidence in my dissertation and may even quote from it, but if for some reason you ask me not to include it i'll respect that, but otherwise I'll take it as a given that i can use it as juicy juicy evidence.

many thanks in advance.

May I be the first of many to say that hearing DSOTM for the first time without doubt changed their lives. For me it was '73 and I was making plans for our wedding which was in Sept. '73. I called to a friend of my best man and he was playing DSOTM in his bedroom and it was as though the album had been made just for me. I was amazed and although I didn't even have a player to play the album on I had to buy a copy and I remember changing our wedding present request to my mum and dad for a stereo record player. The rest is history as they say.

I have mentioned some of this before, but it's now hidden in the depths of the forum somewhere, so hopefully I won't bore too many by repeating parts of this story! I first got into music in the late 60's, mostly through having no choice but to listen to what my brother was playing (loudly) in his bedroom. My first proper gig was I think 1972, when I saw Emerson Lake & Palmer and the first album I bought was Pictures at an Exhibition. At that time my musical influences were mostly steered by my brother and cousin. My cousin played DSOTM in its entirety to me one day and even though it was 36 years ago, I can still remember that first listen it as if it were yesterday. We were staying at my cousins house and our folks were down the pub, leaving us 'home alone'. Now my aunt and uncle were considered 'comfortably off' having a large house and fancy car, but most of all they had just bought a STEREO record player!



We had a mono Dansette, but they had a Ferguson Music System with two speakers! Really sexy thing with a smoked perspex lid and two separate speakers – I was green with envy.

So he tells me about a new album he's just bought by Pink Floyd. I had heard some of their stuff before, but wasn't that fussed to be honest - my brother had Meddle and the early singles in his collection, but I had never really listened to them - too intense for me and I was just getting into T-Rex at that point. Anyway, my cousin puts a cushion on the floor, with a speaker either side and we lie down with the tops of our heads touching on the cushion and a speaker either side, about 6 inches away from our ears. My cousin says "You have to hear this . . . " I was blown away, having never heard anything quite like it and saved my pocket money to buy it as soon as I could. I was lucky enough to see them play it at Knebworth in 1975 and if I could only possess one album, this would be it. Of the thousands of albums I own, I have played it more than anything else (by some considerable margin) and never seem to tire of hearing it. In fact I listened to it last week a couple of times, whilst driving back from a course I was on. It's an album I often go to when something special is happening in my life, as it just seems to fit. It can take me back to that moment instantly when I hear it. Particular highlights are when I was driving through Texas with a girl taking me to her home for the first time, the sun was setting, we had just opened some cold beers she had brought with her (illegal in Texas!) and all seemed right in the world. Another time was driving through the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile, again with the sun setting and spectacular views out the window and finally sleeping overnight under the stars, on the bridge roof of a Red Sea dive boat with my girlfriend, we had one earphone each!. There is no other music for me that can stimulate such vivid memories - someone else on the forum once described it as 'the soundtrack to their lives' that for me could not describe it in any better way. I know every note and word by heart and wish to have The Great Gig in the Sky played at my funeral. As to what it actually means . . .  well to be honest, it's not something I really think about but I guess if you look at how I view it on a personal level, then it encompasses the human spirit and is a reflection of modern life. It moves me in ways other music only aspires too and it will never leave me - I am often moved to tears when Ola and Amy sing TGGITS from TAPFS.

Interestingly, I cannot tell you the last time I played anything by ELP and I don't have Pictures at an Exhibition anymore (not theirs anyway!). I now have the entire Floyd catalogue, but Dark Side for me is in a league of it's own, it's a totally timeless work and modern classic. I just pray that one day it will knock Thriller from the #1 slot – there's no comparison IMO.

(by the way – welcome to the forum and what a great topic to kick off with  ;D)

Snap!  I have a picture of the rocket and one of the spitfires flying over  ;D

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Welcome Izyvonskuzzmonkey 

DSOTM is a seamless piece of music that must be played as a whole - I defy anyone to stop it once it has started playing (quite tricky if you're just popping along to the local shops in the car, but I did at some point become that obsessive).  My favourite part is from the start of Us & Them through to Any Colour you Like.

Firstly, I guess, it's Rick's substantial musical contribution and keyboard playing that really grabs me on Us and Them.  Rick was a true musician, not only was he the glue that held the Pink Floyd sound together, but he was also a great innovator .  Secondly, Water's thought provoking lyrics conjure up all kinds of images ... listen son said the man from the gun, there's room for you inside .... then at the end, we have the old solider down and out on the street ... what did he fight for?  ... now nobody has the time to give him the change for a cuppa and a slice of toast ... and as for the general and the lines on the map moving,  this makes me think about the WW1 trenches when a truce was called at Christmas in 1915 I think and the opposing sides played football in no man's land.  This is just a personal opinion of course, Roger no doubt had a totally different idea.  Rose suggests that Roger was thinking about a game of chess when he wrote these lines and the general, who was probably not even present, moving his men (or playing pieces) across the battlefield (a map at HQ).  I have heard that  the closing lines of Us & Them were inspired by a George Orwell novel called Down and Out in Paris & London where it was mentioned that the homeless would line up outside a shop to get their "tea and two slices".  Finally, Wright and Gilmour's superb harmonies hold the whole piece together ... it's really total perfection! Us & Them then flows right into the ultimate Wright/Gilmour instrumental (IMVHO) ... Any Colour You Like.

According to Phil Rose's excellent book, Which One's Pink? (an analysis of the concept albums of Roger Waters and Pink Floyd), and I quote:  Any Colour You Like acts as a bridge between the things that drive people mad, which are reflected in the albums previous songs leading up to Brain Damage .  Not the fear of going mad, but being perceived by others as being mad.

Rose states that, according to Waters, the title Any Colour You Like is related to the idea of not being free to choose and comes from the Cockney street traders that would travel to Cambridge.  The trader's banter would go, "Any colour you like, they're all blue."  because blue would be the only colour he had to offer and it just added to the patter to catch people's attention.  So hence, offering a choice when there is none!  Rose goes on to describe this theme transferring to the music, ie  Rick's keyboards leading and David's guitar being secondary and although we hear two separate instruments, they play a single melody in perfect harmony.

It's like travelling down a tributary into a river I guess ... and you're not free to choose whether you go mad ... hmm, if that makes sense.

It's these intracies that made DSOTM special.

Anyway, don't take my word for it, get Phil Rose's book and have a good read.  It will provide you with some very good quotes for your dissertation.

Incidentally, I'd love to read your dissertation when you've finished. 

Oh good lord, DSoTM is my favorite album of all time, and it truly is timeless in it's musicianship, it's themes and it imaginings that it conjours up. I have listened to this piece, (and Hippie is right it is one piece) literally hundreds of times, if not thousands of times. It got under my skin at the very first play....the heart beat, and speak to me, and I was hooked. Seamless, brilliantly crafted, simple, emotional, thought and image provoking, intellectually provoking and the musicianship is brilliant in its execution. It is IMHO one of the most well written pieces of music in my lifetime. It is a classic, and will remain so.  The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It's a transformational piece of music. I am greatfull that it came along in my life in 1973 when I was mature enough to enjoy it's many layers, and continue to enjoy it as much as I have up to this very day. Of the many musical gifts I have enjoyed in my lifetime, this piece is the stand alone, and the number 1 piece in my life. I have no doubt that it will remain that way for me too.
Cheers
Bob

Thank you to everybody who's replied so far, i can't tell you guys how much help you are! it is VERY much appreciated, this is literally gold dust for me. also thanks for recommending me that book hippie, I'll be sure to check it out.
thanks again everybody, keep them coming.