seventh-best-selling album of all time
in the UK, and retained its presence
in the US album chart for a staggering
741 weeks between the album’s release
in 1973 and 1988. Worldwide sales of
the album are have reached twenty-four
million certified sales, yet some industry
estimates place this figure at closer forty-
five million copies, and Dark Side of
the Moon is currently the fourth biggest
selling album globally. The success of the
album has certainly not overwhelmed
certain band members though, as Nick
Mason commented in 2007 that he felt
not all the success of Dark Side of the
Moon could be attributed to the music: ‘I
think that when it was finished, everyone
thought it was the best thing we’d ever
done to date, and everyone was very
pleased with it, but there’s no way that
anyone felt it was five times as good as
Meddle, or eight times as good as Atom
Heart Mother, or the sort of figures that it
has in fact sold. It was... not only about
being a good album but also about being
in the right place at the right time.’
The success of Dark Side of the Moon is
undeniable, yet reviews revisiting album
contain retrospective niggles that were
not present in initial appraisals; such as
this piece by the respected American rock
journalist Robert Christgau, best known
for his pioneering work with Village Voice
Magazine, who wrote about Dark Side of
the Moon through post-punk eyes when
it was chosen as one of the Rock Albums
of the 70s. The following controversial
review was published in 1981:
‘With its technological mastery and
its conventional wisdom once removed,this is a kitsch masterpiece – taken too
seriously by definition, but not without
charm. It may sell on sheer aural
sensationalism, but the studio effects
do transmute David Gilmour’s guitar
solos into something more than they
were when he played them. Its taped
speech fragments may be old hat, but for
once they cohere musically. And if its
pessimism is received, that doesn’t make
the ideas untrue – there are even times,
especially when Dick Parry’s saxophone
undercuts the electronic pomp, when this
record brings its clichés to life, which is
what pop is supposed to do, even the kind
with delusions of grandeur.’
Mr Christgau was definitely an
atypical reviewer, as most agreed that the
cumulative effect of the brilliance of the
compositions and the pristine quality of
the recording served to position Dark
Side of the Moon as a landmark in popular
music. The problem for Pink Floyd was
that at some stage they would have to
produce an album to follow their own
masterpiece. The standard had been set
so highly by Dark Side of the Moon that
in every respect it was clear the follow
up had to be nothing short of a second
masterpiece.
During the course of an interview
published on 19 May 1973 in Melody
Maker, David Gilmour declared that
he was not unduly concerned by
the pressures brought about by the
phenomenal sales of Dark Side of the
Moon.
‘No, success doesn’t make much
difference to us. It doesn’t make any
difference to our output or general
attitudes. There are four attitudes in the
band that are quite different. But we all
want to push forward and there are all
sorts of things we’d like to do. For Roger
Waters it is more important to do things
that say something. Richard Wright is
more into putting out good music. And
I’m in the middle with Nick. I want to do
it all, but sometimes I think Roger can
feel the musical content is less important
and can slide around it. Roger and Nick
tend to make the tapes of effects like the
heartbeat on the LP. At concerts we have
quad tapes and four-track tape machines
so we can mix the sound and pan it
around. The heartbeat alludes to the
human condition and sets the mood for
the music, which describes the emotions
experienced during a lifetime. Amidst
the chaos, there is beauty and hope for
mankind. The effects are purely to help
the listener understand what the whole
thing is about. It’s amazing, at the final
mixing stage we thought it was obviousPink Floyd in performance in the 1970’s.