Pink Floyd and Kurt Cobain

A Few Words About Music...

I came up with the idea of including various items from the world of music in the magazine. After all, each of us likes to listen to a favorite performer from time to time...

I won’t go on about whether it’s worth running a section like this. Surely many of you will learn, for example, how many records a particular band has released, interesting facts about their lives, how they got started, and so on.

If you’d like, dear reader, to share with others what you know about your favorite (though not necessarily favorite) performer, write to us.

PYZA

Pink Floyd

Now we’ll look at the band PINK FLOYD.

PINK FLOYD was formed in London in 1965 by:

• ROGER WATERS — guitar, vocals
• RICHARD WRIGHT — organ
• NICHOLAS MASON — drums

A few years later, DAVID GILMOUR (guitar, organ) joined them.

The name came from the first names of two American blues musicians: Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.

Many performers played with the band, but their roles were less significant.

The band often arranged music to emphasize the words of a song. Everything had to fit perfectly together. Each word therefore had its musical counterpart. They often used special effects for this (a heartbeat, the ticking of a clock). They created almost fairy-tale landscapes, underscored by the soft singing of backing vocals.

The band’s music encouraged filmmakers to work with them, although things did not turn out the way the filmmakers had hoped...

The album “THE DARK SIDE...” deserves a mention. It was recorded in the form of a suite: a series of connected pieces that together make up a whole. The craze began with this album. Most of the band’s later albums were recorded in this way.

In 1983 the band suspended its activities. They spent most of their time making solo recordings.

In 1986 they returned as Gilmour, Mason and Wright, setting out on a major Floyd tour of Canada and the USA.

Discography:

1. THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN
2. SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS (68)
3. MORE (69)
4. UMMAGUMMA (69)
5. ATOM HEART MOTHER (70)
6. RELICS (71)
7. MEDDLE (71)
8. OBSCURED BY CLOUDS (72)
9. THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON
10. WISH YOU WERE HERE (75)
11. ANIMALS (77)
12. A COLLECTION OF GREAT DANCE SONGS (81)
13. THE FINAL CUT (83)
14. A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON (87)
15. DELICATE SOUND OF THUNDER
16. THE DIVISION BELL (93)

PYZA

The End of Another Talent

On April 8, 1994, an electrician who had come to repair the electrical installation found a badly mutilated body. It was Kurt Cobain. The body was identified by fingerprints.

That was the end of one of rock’s biggest stars. He was 27 when he died.

His mother commented on his death like this:

“Kurt left and joined that stupid club of dead stars. I told him to stay away from them, but he didn’t listen to me.”

NIRVANA achieved enormous success. No one expected that after five years the band would become one of the best. It was a band that embodied all the slogans of rock ’n’ roll:

“Live fast, love hard and... die young.”

Alcohol and drugs were the singer’s constant companions. He wasn’t prepared for the role of a star, and that role wore him down. Several times he was in a state of clinical death. This time he didn’t come back.

The last song he recorded was included on the compilation “THE BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD EXPERIENCE.” It was called “I HATE MYSELF AND I WANT TO DIE.”

No one, however, took his words seriously. We’ll never hear Kurt perform live again...

NIRVANA released these albums:

1. BLEACH (89)
2. NEVERMIND (91)
3. INCESTICIDE (92)
4. IN UTERO (93)

DUFF