Wish You Were Here Cover Art

On This Date, January 6th, in 1975: Pink Floyd entered London’s Abbey Road Studios to begin recording its seventh studio album, Wish You Were Here. Like much of Pink Floyd’s material, the album’s two-part song “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” is a tribute to the band’s former singer and guitarist Syd Barrett, whose drug-induced breakdown had forced him to leave the band several years earlier. Syd would also have celebrated his birthday today (Born January 6, 1946), if he had not passed away in July of 2006 at the age of 60. Shine on you crazy diamond.