I think what makes Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark side of the Moon’ such a fascinating and iconic album is the many different influences the band used to create an eclectic, powerful sound. It almost seems like each song was written in a completely different genre, yet somehow the album as a whole is completely cohesive and definitely wouldn’t have the same energy if it was written in any other way.
The opening track, ‘Speak to Me’, is seen as an overture for the album, a purely classical device which the band incorporated into the experimental-rock track. They used fragments of the other tracks from the album to create a sense of suspense and tension within the track; ticking clocks to represent “Time”, Claire Torry’s screams as heard in “The Great Gig in the Sky” and a cash register, the same sample they used in the track “Money”. Most importantly,”Speak to Me”, and therefore the whole album, opens with the sound of a steady heartbeat. This can also be heard at the end of the album, thus creating a cyclical structure (another important classical concept).
Throughout the entire album, a very clear jazz influence is evident, with Nick Wright pulling direct inspiration from the 1959 Miles Davis album “Kind of Blue”.
The track Breathe uses a blues structure, played on a lap steel and a Stratocaster, alongside chords pulled directly from “Kind of Blue” and a strong bass line to create a space agey, kind of avant-garde theme that makes this one of the albums most iconic tracks. The same Cool Jazz influence can be heard on “Us and Them”, brought on by Dick Parry’s saxophone solo and the cymbal groove which elicits the energy of a 1950s Jazz Club.
In complete contrast, the following track “On the Run”, is an instrumental track, meant to act as a “travel sequence” between Breathe and Time, two of the albums major tracks. The bands guitarist David Gilmour used the EMS synthesiser Synthis AKS to replicate the feeling of being on a treadmill. This track could be seen as the early beginnings of electronica and EDM, being released almost 2 years before Kraftwerk’s “AutoBahn”
I think all of these different influences are what makes this Pink Floyd’s most iconic, multi-dimensional album. The variation between the tracks’ harmonic, metric and timbral qualities give “Dark Side of the Moon” a diverse energy and makes it one of the most iconic albums to come out of the 70s.
Bryanwawzenek (2018) Pink Floyd’s ‘The dark side of the moon’: A track-by-track guide, Ultimate Classic Rock. Available at: https://ultimateclassicrock.com/dark-side-of-the-moon-track-by-track/ (Accessed: November 5, 2022).
Cyclic form (no date) Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/art/cyclic-form (Accessed: December 5, 2022).
Gonzalez, T. (2022) Pink Floyd influences in the Dark Side of the moon, Music Data Blog. Available at: https://musicdatablog.com.ar/en/influences/pink-floyd-dark-side-moon-inspiration/ (Accessed: November 5, 2022).
Reising, R. (2016) Speak to me: The Legacy of Pink Floyd’s The dark side of the moon. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.