The Dark Side of the Moon, by Pink Floyd, gives a chilling experience with psychedelic synth waves and haunting lyrics that make you ponder your own demons but it potentially loses relevance today due to the mechanics with which the album was developed.
Pink Floyd was a British rock band that was most prominent around the 70s and 80s. Pink Floyd captured the world’s attention and composed some of the most innovative pieces of their time. Even today, their albums are renowned and hold high positions on ranking charts because their sounds weren’t like any others back then and are similarly unique now. The band has even been inducted into both the US and UK Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because of the influence the band has had in both countries.
Among their coveted albums lies The Dark Side of the Moon. Listening to the album as a whole, it soon becomes clear the unique style that this band has for the listener. With synthetic tones and tape loops, classicrockreview.com describes The Dark Side of the Moon as “bridging the final days of the late 1960s psychedelic era with the new wave, electronic phase that dominated the late 1970s.” This assessment captures the feelings listeners receive because, at times, they will likely feel unsure as to what exactly they are listening to but know the emotions the music evokes regardless. Especially with strange audio clips and ambient sounds, listeners will feel in unfamiliar territory the entire time and be forced to listen deeply into the music, grabbing their attention and lulling them into this sense of deep focus rather than being something you put on in the background while you study.
These tones complement the severity of the album’s underlying themes. The Rolling Stone believes the album “seems to deal primarily with the fleetingness and depravity of human life, hardly the commonplace subject matter of rock.” Many of the pieces dig deep into the human mind and spirit. “Breathe” is about enjoying life without forgetting who or what is important to you (“Breathe, breathe in the air. Don’t be afraid to care. Leave but don’t leave me. Look around and choose your own ground.”). “Time” is all about missed opportunity and trying to catch up(“You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today. And then one day you find ten years have got behind you”). Brain Damage calls to mind an altered psyche and losing your sense of self within your own mind (“You lock the door/And throw away the key/There’s someone in my head but it’s not me.”). These themes make listeners attempt to understand the personal struggles that people often go through in life, thus making them more connected to the music, whereas modern pop and hip-hop involves situations that usually the rich and famous are exclusive to. True, these do not fit the standard topics for rock, but that’s what makes this album all the more memorable.
However, with such evolving standards in musical taste and culture, the album may find difficulty remaining as loved as it was in the past. Speaking as a contemporary music listener, I can point out everything that sticks out to me. For instance, the entire album is a single audio track; the songs are meant to seamlessly transition into each other. The idea is unique and develops a sense of unity with all these morbid songs but the problem is that today, listeners don’t always listen to entire albums. Online music streaming has changed how people find and listen to music. Often times people shuffle music; when listening to The Dark Side of the Moon, that would ruin the connectivity that these songs have and can complicate picking singular songs to add to your personal playlist. Additionally, as a result of this album being a single track, there are many transition songs that lie in between the main songs with vocals. These songs are not by themselves very interesting and people will think of them as just throwaway songs. Truthfully, they only matter in the grand scheme of the album, not on their own, and so many people will just disregard them.
Despite these culture shocks, The Dark Side of the Moon is still a great album capable of making you reflect on your own life struggles and lose all sense of time doing so. The everlasting synthesizer makes the morose vocals all the more drastic and creates an experience I’ve yet to have with modern-day music. Although modern pop and hip-hop creates different listeners than what The Dark Side of the Moon typically appeals to, I still believe anyone with the time to listen to the whole thing unshuffled won’t regret it.
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