Pink Floyd takes center stage in London exhibition
LONDON — The first international exhibition on Pink Floyd opened at the weekend, describing how the British the rock band became a cultural icon after it was formed in the 1960s Western counterculture movement.
“Pink Floyd is one of the biggest bands of the last half century. They came to prominence in the mid-60s when they were in the vanguard of the psychedelic movement, when music was really changing,” the exhibition’s curator Victoria Broackes told Xinhua on Saturday when the exhibition opened at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Pink Floyd, formed by architecture students, chose the name by amalgamating the names of two US blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Counsel.
The band’s principal members included guitarists Roger Waters and David Gilmour, and drummer Nick Mason, all of whom offered items for display. Mason acted as a consultant for the exhibition and a liaison with the other band members.
Pink Floyd’s cult status in 1960s London grew, but it was the album The Dark Side of the Moon which saw them reach a global audience.
“Albums were beginning to outsell singles, and music was beginning to tell the story of the change that was going on in society. But they were still quite a cult band at that stage. And then in 1972-73 they had an amazing hit with Dark Side of the Moon, which incredibly still sells 7,000 copies a week. And, so that changed from being a cult success to being a worldwide hit,” said Broackes.
Pink Floyd earned a reputation for musical success and experimentation and was a forerunner of some of the technologies and theatricalities seen in many modern music performances.
The ongoing exhibition, titled Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains, records the band’s many iconic albums.
“What they always did was to present themselves visually — and we are a museum of art, design and performance and so Pink Floyd brings together that theatrical aspect with the music in a way that makes it a fantastic subject for a museum exhibition,” said Broackes.
Pink Floyd is renowned for being very early adopters of electronic music, according to Broackes.
The exhibition has a focus on synthesizers, microphones and other electronic musical gadgets, she added.
“We have employed a musicologist, an expert to interpret these because I think that many people, like me, don’t actually know a synthesizer from another synthesizer,” said Broackes.
The exhibition runs until Oct 1.