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In 1972 the British psychedelic-rock group, Pink Floyd, released their eighth album, Dark Side of the Moon. Since then it has been hailed as their greatest album and, perhaps more importantly, one of the greatest rock albums of all time. It continues to sell copies even to this day, thirty-three years after its inception. What makes Dark Side of the Moon so unstoppably great? Moreover, why is it that few, if any, other albums by other artists seem unable to compare to it. My supposition is that the timelessness of Dark Side of the Moon lies in the skill and talent of the performers, the level of care and polish they endowed onto their songs, and the overarching theme of the whole album itself.
With seven albums under their belt already, it was obvious at the time that Pink Floyd knew how to write and perform great music, but no one expected them to showcase their talents as well as they did in Dark Side. For one, the entire album is one big song. The individual songs are more like phases of the album which seamlessly fade in and out of each other. Not only did they experiment with their albums format, but the tried new and inventive songwriting techniques never before seen in mainstream rock. To this day, “Money,” the song that started the second side of the album when it was on vinyl, is still the only song in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame written in 7/8 time (for those of you who are not classically trained, 7/8 time basically means there are seven beats in every measure of music, which is a difficult rhythm to keep on time with). Further adding to its creative grandeur, over half of the album is instrumental. All of the songs with lyrics have massive instrumental break downs, and some songs are completely without words. Any album that can do that and still keep short attention spanned America’s attention is great indeed.
While their songs are brilliant, Pink Floyd knew better then to simply rely on their own creative genius and...