Dark Side of the Moon: 40 years on

On March 27th I turned 50. Only three days earlier, one of the most popular, biggest-selling albums in rock history, Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, celebrated its 40th anniversary, which means I was a tender 10-year-old, still in Franco's days, when it was released in the UK. 

It wasn't until 1978/9, when I went to Bilbao to stay for a few days in summer at my godfather's flat that I first listened to the glorious album. His elder daughter, Begoña, happened to have the vinyl record somewhere and I was immediately attracted by the futuristic cover when I came across it. On the outside a ray of light passing through a prism, a simple, elegant layout against a black background. Then inside the mix of sound waves with the colour spectrum ... I don't know why, but I found the design mesmerizing and so I kept staring at it as I started listening to its ground-breaking music. 

I vaguely remembered the name Pink Floyd in those days but I had probably not heard any music by the mythical British band before, so to me it was sort of a revelation. Begoña had a very primitive turntable and the sound was not particularly good. But still, there was something odd, different, almost magical about it. Of course I wouldn't try to understand the lyrics, my main focus was the captivating melodies that came out of the loudspeaker. 

Honestly, I found some of the songs too weird, as it were, in particular the instrumental piece "On the Run". What the hell was that repetitive, almost nightmarish noise produced by a synthesizer! Indeed I loved the soothing opening theme, "Breathe", the ethereal beauty of "The Great Gig in the Sky" (such an awesome vocal performance!), the more rock-oriented "Money" (arguably the best known song of the album and my mobile's ringtone right now), the velvety, jazzy "Us and Them" ... You know, being used to hard-rock stuff in those days, the sound Pink Floyd created definitely opened my ears to new sounds.

The band in the early 70s. Left to right: Wright, Waters, Mason and Gilmour.

When I came back to Salamanca a few weeks later, I talked to one of my mates - who at the time had an enviably good music collection - about Dark Side of the Moon, and right away he lent me a cassette, Wish you were here, probably the other most famous album by Pink Floyd, which of course I love too, quite as much. My diehard affection for the British band was complete, and what's more, I guess I changed my taste from hard rock to progressive rock, so I started listening to symphonic rock bands like Yes, Genesis, Camel and stuff. 

There are so many things I could tell you about DSOTM: how influential it has been in rock music, the staggering 15 years it remained in the US Billboard charts, the mind-blowing overall sales of 50 million copies to date ... Whatever the facts, The Dark Side of the Moon is, no doubt, one of Pink Floyd's most popular albums among both the fans and the critics, and is often cited as one of the greatest records of all time.

So if you want to listen for the first time to this rock gem or savour its music more lavishly yet again, here is the full album - with the lyrics captions:

And it you are, like me, a Pink Floyd fanatic, you will surely enjoy this enlightening documentary on the making of the album, featuring interviews of the band's four classic members, as well as the legendary sound engineer Alan Parsons and different rock critics on both sides of the Atlantic praising the masterpiece.

Are you keen on Pink Floyd's music? Do you like DSOFT? Post your comments here below!