Hexagram said:
I'm still waiting to see him pop up in the best horror game thread.
Sorry guys, I wasn't around yesterday... I got caught up on the horror thread, now I see this one? Jeesh.
Grey said:
I can't wait for mC to see this.
I'm not terribly surprised the question has been put. Do I think Pink Floyd is overrated? Yes and no. Some albums are terribly overrated, but there's a lot of genius in that band, too much for me to ever vote 'yes'.
In my opinion, Pink Floyd started off brilliantly; Piper, Saucer, Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother, Meddle and Obscured by Clouds - I love every one of those albums. I know most people tend to scoff at Atom, but I found it intriguingly addictive.
Dark Side of the Moon was a good album, the band was still working as a band should, producing some very good tracks. Time and Any Colour You Like were great, but I never understood how Money and The Great Gig in the Sky got so much airtime...
Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall are probably my three least favourite albums. Do I think those albums are overrated? Yes, I do. Somehow those three caught on like wildfire. I don't know, I've never been a huge fan of Waters' lyrics, he's much too politically or socially motivated for my tastes. I'm in it for the music, not the message, and those albums just have too much message for my taste. The music is good yes, but it's almost overshadowed by the message.
However, despite saying that I found The Final Cut, which for anyone who doesn't know was entirely written by Roger, and is highly political in nature, an interesting deviation from the Pink Floyd sound you hear on the radio. It's a good album. Far from my favourite, but good.
The two recent studio albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell, are both excellent albums. A drastic departure from their early stuff and their 70's rock albums, but excellent in their own right. I've always loved the 80's sound in AMLOR, and TDB is just so refreshing, it literally is a breath of fresh air.
Every time I see somebody in the under-25 crowd walking around wearing some sort of Pink Floyd merchandise, it's always the same thing; the Dark Side prism, or the screaming face or marching hammers from The Wall. Occasionally I see the burning man from the cover of Wish You Were Here. How often do you see the talking head sculptures from The Division Bell cover? How often do you see a hat with Ummagumma live album cover image with the instruments all laid out on the pavement in front of the truck? When I went to The Australian Pink Floyd Show last, I had to make my own Atom Heart Mother t-shirt! I went out to Staples and bought the t-shirt transfers and ironed it on myself, using the image off the back side of the album with the three cows looking into the camera (because I always found the front cover picture of the cow mooning the camera naughty).
So yes, I think that Wish You Were Here, Animals and especially The Wall are overrated albums. I have absolutely no idea what so ever how much Floyd everyone here has been exposed to, and I don't mean to offend anyone, but I wonder how many people here who claim Pink Floyd to be overrated haven't looked past the big four albums (DSOTM, WYWH, Animals and The Wall) and explored some earlier stuff. Give Meddle or Obscured by Clouds a listen.