Five years ago today...

[LG]

RIP Syd! I often wonder how the band would have ended up had he not been hooked on LSD (I think that's what it was) and Dave had never taken over his role. Wasn't he sort of forced out of the band?

From what an old friend told me who was the most knowledgeable Pink Floyd fan I've ever known, Syd fell into the LSD trap and couldn't function in the real world. Later as he got progressively more addicted he wasn't capable of contributing in the studio, to the point the band realized they had to do something. I remember two of my friends taking a holiday in Hawaii over 25 years ago now. They went to check out the "Kona Buds" and beaches and night life. When they were in a bar one of them bought two hits of LSD, the blotter had a Purple Dragon stamp on it. Seeing they had no luck finding Pot to smoke, they took the acid the next day. It literally scared the shit out of both of them for life, they got so spaced out one of them didn't think he was ever going to land and feel normal again. After that experience neither one of them would ever touch any of the hallucinogen's again. I can just imagine how much damage a person could do if you take LSD for a long time, eventually you never do regain the ability to come down and live in the normal world, and that is what I think happened to Syd Barrett.

But as previously mentioned, David Gilmour who was a lifelong friend took care of Syd, making sure he was never lacking for money and enjoyed a good standard of living. Very sad but all too common in the rock music world, even today it's not much different.

 

[Tray73]

Too many sad stories like that LG - Peter Green springs to mind.

RIP Syd.

 

[AboutAGirl]

I can't believe it's been so long...

 

[architect]

Wow, Is it 5 years already? Damn... so sad.

 

[lady_barrett2112]

RIP Syd! I often wonder how the band would have ended up had he not been hooked on LSD (I think that's what it was) and Dave had never taken over his role. Wasn't he sort of forced out of the band?

I don't know if this story is true or not but the guys drove down to Syd's house one day to pick him up for a rehearsal. They witnessed him standing outside talking to a tree, which was apparently the last straw. One of the guys asked Nick if he was going to stop and they all decided to drive away. Soon after that incident he was out of the band. Again I don't know if this story is just mere speculation or if it's actually true. One thing is sure that Syd was so blitzed out of his mind that the band had no choice but to carry on without him.


As far as where Floyd would have gone if Syd hadn't lost it, there's no doubt in my mind that they still would have been big. Would they have gone in the direction they did by incorporating a prog element to their sound (i.e. Dark Side of the Moon)? Probably not. Then yet again Syd was open to experimentation, just listen to Astronomy Domine or Interstellar Overdrive. So moving Floyd away from the poppier sound of their early stuff and into something more mature would have been entirely plausible.


I don't think Syd lived the life of a crazed hermit suffering from schizophrenia. I think the reality is that he just didn't want to be in the public eye. Frankly I don't blame him for his departure. Too many casualties as a result of rock and roll excess. Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, the list goes on and on. He had his taste of success and had come to the realization that music was not his real passion, painting was. There are sources that say they have spotted Syd in pubs talking to people about his art.

His family stated that Syd was quite happy with his life before he passed away. Plus it's good to know that he was well taken care of by the Floyd members and his family. Us fans have both of them to thank for preserving his legacy.

 

[architect]

I don't know if this story is true or not but the guys drove down to Syd's house one day to pick him up for a rehearsal. They witnessed him standing outside talking to a tree, which was apparently the last straw. One of the guys asked Nick if he was going to stop and they all decided to drive away.

Wow, I never heard that story. I've read something similar but not the talking to a tree part. Rog has said that once they went to pick Syd up for a gig and He was wearing a dress and said that he was a homosexual. And that behavior went on for weeks.