On This Date In 1973: Pink Floyd released their eighth studio album, The Dark Side Of The Moon in the US. It remained in the US charts for 741 discontinuous weeks from 1973 to 1988, longer than any other album in history. After moving to the Billboard Top Pop Catalog Chart, the album notched up a further 759 weeks, and had reached a total of over 1,500 weeks on the combined charts by May 2006. With an estimated 45 million copies sold, it is Pink Floyd’s most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide. Songs on the album were heavily inspired by former Pink Floyd vocalist/ guitarist and founding member, Syd Barrett, who left the band in 1968 (to be replaced by David Gilmour) due to his declining mental state.
I’m pretty sure that if the world were to end in 2012, this would be the album that would be left floating in space!!
This album reminds me of riding the school bus when I was in high school. The bus driver cranked this 8-track (yes, 8-track) every single morning. Kept all us kids very zoned out and peaceful…no hijinks on that bus, let me tell ya!
This album is the best album of all time. No question. Just recently watched Live at Pompeii too, also fantastic!
I am doing what my friend Marty calls Whole Album Wednesday. But on Saturday, which is more convenient, since that’s today. I’m up to “Any Colour You Like” right now. It’s fun to look at the original cover, designed by Hipgnosis and George Hardie, It’s simply the prism and the colors. Later versions added the band name and album title in a circle.
Adele’s “21” just surpassed Dark Side on the UK’s best selling albums list. Pretty crazy!