Pink Floyd has influenced countless bands over the world, five of the most interesting albums from the 90’s were created by the children of this rock giant, PINK FLOYD. If you have never heard about Pink Floyd or do not own any album. STOP. There are only three albums that are truly essential despite the word of obsessive fans. The first one is their masterwork The Dark Side of the Moon, 30th Anniversary Edition the other one is the very rich-sounding Meddle. And not as great but very fun is The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, this one was mostly composed by Syd Barret, the father and probably the only charismatic member of the band, Syd loved to eat mushrooms so eventually he became lunatic and dropped off.
Five great albums from Pink Floyd's most successful children Now remember those five interesting albums I mentioned? The first one goes by the name OK Computer by Radiohead. This album is simply amazing, you can actually hear excitement and passion on Thom Yorke’s voice and sound by sound this album went through a certain dedication and love. But I wouldn’t urge to go on and buy everything Radiohead has released, instead try Kid A this one is the other great pillar on Radiohead’s discography. All other albums by Radiohead to date haven’t managed to achieve the consistence and genius of these two works. Still it has been said that Radiohead along with U2 are the only great rock bands still living among us (by great rock bands I refer to bands that have sold millions of copies and have a huge fanbase that will very probably full every stadium they play on around the world).
The second key album is Mezzanine by Massive Attack, if you don’t know what trip hop is expect lots of bass, textures, exquisite female voices and huge beats. Massive Attack are one of the founding acts of this genre. Try also 100th Window for a more texturized and homogenic album. Due to the very dynamic, vast sound of the genre and caught in a generation pretty bored with anything that wasn’t new, Trip-hop was severely overplayed and cloned to death, only three acts (the founding ones) were consistent enough to propose something. Portishead’s Dummy is one of the favorites and Tricky’s Maxinquaye is more oriented towards a tribal hiphop sound. If you’d like to hear more about this genre try these ethereal-sounding albums: Bows Blush and The Changelings Astronomica(this album has by the way a Pink Floyd cover of “see Emily play”).
The third Key album would be Moon Safari by Air. This one defined the modern and also overplayed genre “chillout”. Very comfortable sexy- dreamy soundscapes. Download also the song “Playground love” by this band.
The fourth Key album is Mer De Noms by Perfect Circle. In a year were “nu-metal” was all that mattered, this side project didn’t believed the hype about it and released a great somewhat progressive metal album. Aggressive sounding without recurring to loud guitars and countless shouts which leads to a very depressing sound. The singer James Maynard Keenan seems to be quite a prolific artist considering he was born and raised in a tasteless country as USA. Other band worth checking out is Tool, also very influenced by Pink Floyd, start with Aenima. Talking about prolific American artists check the musical metal projects Mike Patton has created Fantomas The Director's Cut and Mr. Bungle Disco Volante sick very experimental music that is also influenced by Pink Floyd among others. Fantomas is currently in tour with Tool. A band that has also influenced very much the sound of Tool is King Crimson, although not influenced by Pink Floyd, King Crimson is one of the most important acts in progressive rock, only three albums to mention Red: 30th Anniversary Editions , Discipline and In The Court Of The Crimson King: 30th Anniversary Edition The fifth interesting album in the 90’s inspired by Pink Floyd is Agaetis Byrjun by Sigur Ros. Shocking, like falling in love, like hearing and actually understanding the chant of the whales. A mix of progressive rock, folk, IDM and new age. Although very similar sounding but very good try Sigur Rós
Other albums, genres and bands influenced by Pink Floyd Well no more chatter from now on, the next acts are in the vein of post rock and are also influenced by Pink Floyd Godspeed You Black Emperor – f#a# (infinity symbol) Tortoise – TNT is probably their most important album Mogwai – I find them very boring, their best album might beYoung Team A silver mount zion – He Has Left Us Alone But Shaft (If you’re interested in this genre the record labels kranky and constellation are home to many of this artists)
IDM it’s the best electronic genre out there, Pink Floyd has influenced once again the founding fathers of this genre Aphex Twin, autechre and the Orb to name some, here are some the key albums to understand electronic music influenced by Pink Floyd. Boards of Canada – Geogaddi FSOL - ISDN Amorphous Androgynous - The Isness Nine Inch Nails – Downward Spiral I do not own or like this one, but Trent Reznor considers himself a great Floyd fan Aphex Twin – Richard D. James Album Bjork- Vespertine and Homogenic Amon Tobin – Supermodified Latin music is also a genre that hasn’t escaped the Pink Floyd influences, would you find it hard to believe that the three greatest acts in latin popular music were influenced by Pink Floyd? If you're a sound-based person you wont mind not understanding what they're saying (sigur ros for example sings in icelandic) Gustavo Cerati – Bocanada Café Tacuba – Re Manu Chao – Clandestino - Esperando La Ultima Ola
Well this has been a huge list and still it's quite incomplete. Pink Floyd left us a huge expansive sound legacy so that their children went on and created new exciting genres for us. If you already like any of the above acts you might want to check the albums you have never heard of. Wait for the second part of this guide for another summary of bands that have praised the sound of Pink Floyd.
Thank you for reading. If you'd like to hear some of the songs by bands listed here go to this mp3 blog: http://mookamotel.blogspot.com
