RIP Syd Barrett

7/13/2006

I didn't get to the Pink Floyd party until after Syd Barrett had left the building. Like most people, by the time I was having the living crap scared out of me by listening to "Dark Side of the Moon" in some dark, black-light-lit, overcrowded dorm room, Syd had gone on to his own dark side. His recreational moments were spent with schizophrenia and LSD, which managed to get him booted out of the band he founded and named, and then booted off the face of what we call rational reality.

But the legacy had been cast and the damage had been done. Pink Floyd's music continued its revelry in the madness, alienation and violent hostility that Syd wrote about and lived. And we loved it. Even without the recreational substances. "Dark Side", "The Wall", and "Wish You Were Here" became required chapters in the baby boomers' cultural reference guide. Even today, more than a generation later, it's hard to listen to that stuff without wondering how we ever survived all that sex, drugs and rock & roll. Then again, a look at the present day Syd Barrett was always a frightening reminder that mere survival wasn't exactly the point.

What was the point? I forget. I knew it once but it slipped away somehow, a process described pretty well in "Comfortably Numb", which is probably my favorite song of all time. If you've never heard it, or haven't heard it lately, go download it right now. Listen to the desperate lyrics and the terrifying music and that glorious, soaring guitar solo. Rock music doesn't get any better. The reunited band played it at last year's Live 8 concert and it still sent chills up and down my spine. Syd didn't write or perform on that song, but he was a huge influence on the guys who did. For that alone, he has my eternal gratitude.

Not that fan gratitude ever did him any good. After getting canned by Floyd, Syd released a couple of solo albums and then disappeared. Although he evidently became wealthy through the royalties that his ex-bandmates made sure he continued to get, he rapidly descended into eccentric obscurity. He died this week at age 60, of complications from diabetes. A sad end to a sad life that once shone like the sun. Without him, many of us wouldn't be who we are now. For better or worse.

So rest in peace, Syd. Wish you were here. Shine on.
 
 
 

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