Dark Side Keeps Shining After All These Years

Glam rockers, gaudy costumes, zany hairstyles, vacuous lyrics, and over-the-top performances consumed post-hippie 1970s music. It was an era dominated by plastic, polyester, and the aesthetic qualities of music—and it was desperately in need of innovation, energy, and genuine feeling.

On March 24, 1973, Pink Floyd single-handedly redefined the course of that era—and of rock and roll history—with the release of their psychedelic masterpiece The Dark Side of the Moon. Unlike the other music of the time, Dark Side offered something refreshing, novel, and real. With its spacey feel, outstanding recording, unique song writing, and, most importantly, its uncanny ability to put life into perspective, Dark Side is recognized today as one of the best albums ever produced.

Recorded in the world-renowned Abbey Road Studios, Dark Side was an experiment of Promethean scope. Incorporating classic rock, blues, and electronic sounds in revolutionary ways, Alan Parsons, the legendary producer and engineer of Beatles fame, worked with lead singer Roger Waters and his band to achieve a truly new sound. The result was also one of the first successful demonstrations of musique concrète—the use of environmental and natural noises to make music—exhibited by effects such as the coins and cash register sounds in “Money” and the rapidly moving keyboard in “Speak to Me.” Ultimately, these innovative techniques made Floyd what is now often referred to as the first “techno rock” band.

Yet, Dark Side of the Moon’s composition and sound engineering was not an end in itself. They tied together and animated a lyrical story that was at once philosophical and moving. Now called a concept album, Dark Side consists of 10 intricately-united songs all revolving around one common theme: the exploration of the human experience. From start to finish, Pink Floyd gives the listener an outlet to question life, meaning, and the implications of actions. And, like human life, Dark Side begins and symbollically ends with the familiar sound of a low pitched, thumping heartbeat. The record’s opening tracks, “Speak to Me” and “Breathe” recall first breaths and the joy of first experience. In contrast, the album’s final two tracks, “Brain Damage” and “Eclipse,” epitomize old age and the letting go of one’s younger self.

Dark Side of the Moon sated the psyche of an audience thirsting for more than the glamour and glitz contemporary music could provide. Beyond its crafty musicianship, innovative recording style, and inventive psychedelic sounds, Dark Side will hold a permanent place in collections because it is a complete experience. Without gimmicks or corny fillers, Pink Floyd told the touching and sensitive story of the human condition—a story that has yet to be retold, or successfully reexamined, by any other musical act since the album’s release.