Years ago I found a copy of "The Dark Side of Planet Earth", a copy of the first episode to the Original Planet Earth series overlaid with the album. Whether intentional or not, the phenomena when a lyric or chord syncs up with the action on the screen is incredibly cool and can change the vibe. There's gotta be a pareidolia like term for finding audio sync ups.
Near the opening the camera is panning over some polar bear cubs finally leaving hibernation. In the opening show, this is a playful upbeat moment that makes the scene look like the cubs are playing. However with Dark Side, the scene changes to some intense life or death situation as like the cubs are at risk of falling off a cliff in an attempt to get to their mother.
"Money" starts right as B-roll of Spring is in full bloom; "Us and Them"'s line 'up and down' corresponds to shots of a great white shark jumping and falling to catch a seal; and a lot of the general b-roll syncs up with instrumental pieces.
Pink Floyd kind of got their first flush of success doing gigs with an innovative light show created by their landlord, who was a lecturer at Hornsey Art College. In the '70s they started projecting films behind the band as they played. Three of their eight pre-Dark Side albums (including Zabriskie Point here) were soundtracks. Us and Them started off as a piece for the Zabriskie Point soundtrack, where I believe it was supposed to be used as kind of ironic counterpoint to footage of riots.
So in a way it's not too surprising their music makes a good soundtrack. They (well mostly Roger) always had the full audiovisual experience in mind.
Edit: The instrumental section of Money is based on the live soundtrack they did for the moon landing in 1969.
> When viewers in the U.K. gazed upon their television sets on July 21, 1969, they were witnessing history. Man was setting foot on the Moon for the first time, and providing the soundtrack was legendary rock band Pink Floyd.
> The BBC recognized how historically significant the Moon landing would be and planned its programming accordingly. Over a 10-day period the network provided more than 27 hours' worth of material that was about or inspired by the Moon landing. These included news reports, children’s shows and Moon-centric entertainment.
> Before my article, “The Dark Side of the Rainbow” was just a word-of-mouth thing on an early internet message board. Hardly anyone knew about it, and those who did had no idea who came up with the idea or where it started.
This legend was already going around college dorms in the late 1980s.
I don't know the origin either, but things spread by word of mouth in ways other than the internet. For example, I had friends who were Deadheads.
Amazing that this guy wrote an article about it and seems somewhat in the dark about it!
This legend was already going around college dorms in the late 1980s.
Absolutely, yes.
I heard it from older stoner-type kids while I was in high school in the early 90s in the pre-web. While not entirely possible, there is close to zero chance they heard it through digital means.
I hope we never get a definitive answer. I hope it stays a myth like the origin of "420".
Also, from the article:
Hardly anyone knew about it,
lol, this was fairly common knowledge in my high school. I swear to god probably five different people told me about the Dark Side / Oz thing.
Our high school did a showing of this in our theater when I was a junior, circa 1996-1997.
It was an urban legend. Slight disagreements about which lion roar to start the album on. Reasons why each song correlated to the events on screen, etc.
I thought there were some coincidences, but hardly worked as a soundtrack.
Going to have to call bollocks there. I first did this as a kid, with my dad when I was 8. I joined a bunch of folks at a movie theatre on Bloor, in Toronto, in 1993, right after I moved there in August. Though, where I grew up we called it the Dark Side of Oz.
I was with chilling with a bunch of friends in my college room in 2018 when one of them played Any Color You Like on YouTube. Since then, I have been enamored by their music.
I go through phases of listening to The Dark Side of the Moon, and even now, after so many years, I haven't gotten bored of it. It's just too good, and eternal.
"When the record was finished I took a reel-to-reel copy home with me and I remember playing it for my wife then, and I remember her bursting into tears when it was finished. And I thought, "This has obviously struck a chord somewhere", and I was kinda pleased by that. You know when you've done something, certainly if you create a piece of music, you then hear it with fresh ears when you play it for somebody else. And at that point I thought to myself, "Wow, this is a pretty complete piece of work", and I had every confidence that people would respond to it."
"We like to watch old movies while listening to Hotel California to see if it syncs up in a significant way and so far no nothing has." - Mort Goldman on Family Guy
PSA: If you like Pink Floyd, try Eloy, specifically these albums:
* Ocean - Not their absolute best, but the last 4 minutes of Poseidon's Creation demonstrate the bass+synth interplay that made me love this band.
* Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes - Has Shine on You Crazy Diamond lost some of its luster? This album contains almost the same song; don't overplay it and it will hit hard every time you listen to it.
* The Tides Return Forever - The title track rewards the patient. You might be tempted to skip forward but please don't and it will pay off.
* Ocean 2 - Seems like most Eloy fans are kinda "meh" on this one, but I love it.
I recall downloading a bootleg divx of this mashup back in university. Great album, great film, great mashup, particularly under the effects of THC.
I’ve explored audio video mashups a lot in the past few years as a DJ and VJ. Some are available on my Vimeo [1], a favorite being a mashup of Rock & Rule (Clive Smith 1983) and Another Bugged Out Mix (Erol Alkan 2005) [2].
After a lot of experimentation I think I can explain the effect…
Film and music are both forms of story telling.
See Joseph Campbell’s “monomyth” for the best explanation of this, how we’re pretty much all telling the same “hero” story over and over again.
A great film presents one or more story arcs with an intro, build up, a downfall due to conflict, then another rise to overcome conflict, maybe a big surprise twist, then a nice plateau for the ending.
A great DJ set follows a similar pattern with its energy and build ups and drops.
So does a great album, especially a truly artistic album like Dark Side of the Moon.
It’s fractal pattern…
A single song tells a story with a smaller arc. A single film scene has a flow.
Overlap really interesting music and video with their independent ebbing and flowing story telling and you’re bound to get lucky where they line up really well from time to time.
Sometimes you get so lucky it feels like more than a coincidence. Particularly when the source materials have an actual similar theme or influence and if viewers are an altered state and you are adding your own internal narrative to the mix.
Despite seeing this formula I still think it’s magic. All artists are tapping into some sort of universal creative spirit and are taking and sharing influences consciously and unconsciously.
I am always searching for more people exploring these types of mashups and finding great videos to explore.
I enjoyed the article's focus on the less convenient mashup of the analog and the digital world. I really enjoy reflecting on that time pre-www. We use to have to go to record stores, magazine stores, and the movies to stay current. Sometimes it seems I experience depression instead of boredom with all these opportunities.
I never knew this was so big of a thing. I remember hearing about it some time in the 90s and thinking it was probably bullshit - that there was no way the two works could synchronize well - but it still had some mystique. Don’t remember hearing about it again since but I’m not more than a very casual Pink Floyd fan. Enjoyed learning about the origins even if they aren’t fully known.
With those visuals, pretty much any psychedelic sound will work.
On a tangent, it’s interesting to me that 2001 was made before the time of fly-bys from Voyagers (by nearly a decade) so the fuzzy images of Jupiter were probably some of the best available at the time. In only the 40+ years since, we’ve had Cassini and Juno bringing even more details than Voyagers, and all of that imagery is so entrenched now that 2001’s fuzzy images look fake
> didn’t come up with the idea of pairing these two works. I’m not the inventor of “The Dark Side of the Rainbow.” But in a strange sort of accident, I played a key early role in its becoming a cultural phenomenon.
I realized years ago that doing something is only half the job; communicating the accomplishment is the balance.
Can someone please explain Pink Floyd to me? Is it the lyrics that are cool? Do you have to be on drugs? I'm not being facetious, I would very much appreciate a link to a song, more specifically a part of a song that you like, and ideally a brief blurb about why you like it. I've tried on multiple occasions to listen to them, and my experience every time has been "this must just not be one of the songs people like."
The first thing to realize is that there are 4 main phases of Pink Floyd, and can be considered different bands:
1) the Syd Barrett era. They were a psychedelic pop / experimental band, led by charismatic singer / songwriter / guitarist Syd Barrett. They had 1 album (Piper at the Gates of Dawn), and several singles. I like this era a lot. Try listening to Arnold Layne, Lucifer Sam, See Emily Play...
2) Middle period - after Syd went nuts, they brought in Dave Gilmour to replace him. Everyone tried their hand at writing songs, and it took some time to get their footing. This is a more introspective, laid back period, and when they did those sound track albums people are talking about. They were in the top 40, but not really stars yet. The culmination of this era was the movie Live at Pompeii.
3) Roger Waters era - bass player Waters wrote an entire album of songs about madness and alienation, this was Dark Side of the Moon, their most popular album, which propelled Pink Floyd to the top of the charts. Waters had developed into a genius song writer, but with each successive album, became more domineering and difficult to work with. These albums tended to be ambitious concept albums, dark and disturbing, in contrast to the laid back vibe of the previous era. The last 2 Waters albums, The Wall and Final Cut were essentially Waters solo albums, and at the end, half the band had departed.
3) Dave Gilmour era - Waters went solo, and expected the band to end, but Gilmour decided to bring back the 2 ousted members of the band, and continue as Pink Floyd. This period isn't very interesting IMO.
So my personal tastes: I find The Wall and most of the Waters-era albums kind of overpowering and negative. I prefer the Barrett stuff, as well as Live at Pompeii. YMMV...
If you have and still don’t like Floyd, that’s ok.
They are amazing musicians, pioneers of psychedelic rock, modern studio recording, and storytelling through long play albums.
Imagine buying this LP in 1973 when there was far far less entertainment options in general. Fast forward to now and it still sounds fresh and modern and transports me somewhere else for an hour.
Pink Floyd is best experienced through whole albums. Take 45 minutes and listen to "The Dark Side of the Moon". Or, "The Wall", which could be called more "theatrical". Those are probably their two most celebrated albums, but there's more.
If you're just looking for "part of a song" to get you hooked, then maybe it's not for you. You don't need to be on drugs and I'd say it's combination of lyrics and music (but probably more music part, because they do have some great songs with few or no lyrics).
Comfortably Numb is my favorite song, of all types. For me, David Gilmour's amazing guitar solos are the best part. Psychedelic rock is the genre and I don't know anyone else that sounds like this band.
https://youtu.be/x-xTttimcNk
I suppose different people appreciate different things about them, but for me, it's just the experience (for lack of a better word). It's the musical equivalent of being in the flow state, and tickles my brain the same way. The crescendo of Echoes or Brain Damage/Eclipse makes me feel the same way as when I find the perfect solution to a problem I've been working on. You can't link to part of a song and say "this is the epitome of Pink Floyd." There are certainly certain segments that are better than others, but to fully appreciate it, you have to have listened to the previous parts of the album. The songs build on themselves.
Some people like the lyrics, I think Roger Waters bloviates too much. Weed certainly makes it more enjoyable, but it isn't necessary.
The obvious masterpieces are Another brick in the wall and Wish you were here.
But let's say you don't like those two. Another great whole-life-story-of-a-person song is Time. It sums up a majority of people's lives. You go through your life trying to figure out what you need/want to do in life...and then it's over, you never figured it out. Great introspection song. Makes you ask yourself...
I think people suggesting listening to a whole album are going down the wrong track. If you aren't already inclined to like what you have heard on the radio then the albums probably won't do it for you. I would just suggest listening to a greatest hits album. They have some amazing, world class songs, and then there are a lot that are not my cup of tea that are sound collage-adjacent and instrumentals that I do not enjoy.
For me it's the guitar solos and also the driving rhythms. At the time in the 70s there wasn't and had not been anything called metal and although Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath were both big. The lyrics are also non-trivial. A lot of the music is what used to be called growers, i.e. they grow on you the more you listen to them. DSOTM, Animals, Wish You Were Here and The Wall, Meddle.
I don't do any drugs, never have. I've also never had alcohol. So I know you can enjoy Pink Floyd without being under the influence of anything.
I just love the music, the lyrics, the points being made. And I am a big fan of whole albums. I dont like singles much. I want songs that blend into each other, an hour long experience. That is why I like Pink Floyd so much.
The two pair well together. I first got to experience this by following instructions I found on a random Internet forum. Just warm up the cd player by setting it on repeat disc mode, hit play, followed by pause. Now start playing the video and cd together on the third roar of the MGM lion and enjoy the show! Later I transcoded my dvd copy (probably with ffmpeg) with a multi audio track mp4 so I could enjoy the original or the dark side moon complete with subtitles :)
With audio and video embeddings, this might be automatable now. Embed, say, 10s snippets of both movies & looped-albums, and then treat it as a dynamic programming problem to find minimum total distances summed over the length of the movie.
You restart the album. I was party to a screening this way back in college and while there are some things that line up with the movie pretty well but it doesn’t seem like a lost soundtrack to the movie.
[+] [-] uaas|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tsumnia|2 years ago|reply
Near the opening the camera is panning over some polar bear cubs finally leaving hibernation. In the opening show, this is a playful upbeat moment that makes the scene look like the cubs are playing. However with Dark Side, the scene changes to some intense life or death situation as like the cubs are at risk of falling off a cliff in an attempt to get to their mother.
"Money" starts right as B-roll of Spring is in full bloom; "Us and Them"'s line 'up and down' corresponds to shots of a great white shark jumping and falling to catch a seal; and a lot of the general b-roll syncs up with instrumental pieces.
...I think I'll watch it again tonight for fun :D
[+] [-] Joeboy|2 years ago|reply
So in a way it's not too surprising their music makes a good soundtrack. They (well mostly Roger) always had the full audiovisual experience in mind.
Edit: The instrumental section of Money is based on the live soundtrack they did for the moon landing in 1969.
[+] [-] default-kramer|2 years ago|reply
> When viewers in the U.K. gazed upon their television sets on July 21, 1969, they were witnessing history. Man was setting foot on the Moon for the first time, and providing the soundtrack was legendary rock band Pink Floyd.
> The BBC recognized how historically significant the Moon landing would be and planned its programming accordingly. Over a 10-day period the network provided more than 27 hours' worth of material that was about or inspired by the Moon landing. These included news reports, children’s shows and Moon-centric entertainment.
[+] [-] lapcat|2 years ago|reply
This legend was already going around college dorms in the late 1980s.
I don't know the origin either, but things spread by word of mouth in ways other than the internet. For example, I had friends who were Deadheads.
[+] [-] JohnBooty|2 years ago|reply
I heard it from older stoner-type kids while I was in high school in the early 90s in the pre-web. While not entirely possible, there is close to zero chance they heard it through digital means.
I hope we never get a definitive answer. I hope it stays a myth like the origin of "420".
Also, from the article:
lol, this was fairly common knowledge in my high school. I swear to god probably five different people told me about the Dark Side / Oz thing.[+] [-] bena|2 years ago|reply
It was an urban legend. Slight disagreements about which lion roar to start the album on. Reasons why each song correlated to the events on screen, etc.
I thought there were some coincidences, but hardly worked as a soundtrack.
[+] [-] cik|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|2 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] abhaynayar|2 years ago|reply
I go through phases of listening to The Dark Side of the Moon, and even now, after so many years, I haven't gotten bored of it. It's just too good, and eternal.
[+] [-] dreamcompiler|2 years ago|reply
-Roger Waters
https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/roger-waters-revi...
[+] [-] default-kramer|2 years ago|reply
PSA: If you like Pink Floyd, try Eloy, specifically these albums:
* Ocean - Not their absolute best, but the last 4 minutes of Poseidon's Creation demonstrate the bass+synth interplay that made me love this band.
* Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes - Has Shine on You Crazy Diamond lost some of its luster? This album contains almost the same song; don't overplay it and it will hit hard every time you listen to it.
* The Tides Return Forever - The title track rewards the patient. You might be tempted to skip forward but please don't and it will pay off.
* Ocean 2 - Seems like most Eloy fans are kinda "meh" on this one, but I love it.
[+] [-] nzoschke|2 years ago|reply
I’ve explored audio video mashups a lot in the past few years as a DJ and VJ. Some are available on my Vimeo [1], a favorite being a mashup of Rock & Rule (Clive Smith 1983) and Another Bugged Out Mix (Erol Alkan 2005) [2].
After a lot of experimentation I think I can explain the effect…
Film and music are both forms of story telling.
See Joseph Campbell’s “monomyth” for the best explanation of this, how we’re pretty much all telling the same “hero” story over and over again.
A great film presents one or more story arcs with an intro, build up, a downfall due to conflict, then another rise to overcome conflict, maybe a big surprise twist, then a nice plateau for the ending.
A great DJ set follows a similar pattern with its energy and build ups and drops.
So does a great album, especially a truly artistic album like Dark Side of the Moon.
It’s fractal pattern…
A single song tells a story with a smaller arc. A single film scene has a flow.
Overlap really interesting music and video with their independent ebbing and flowing story telling and you’re bound to get lucky where they line up really well from time to time.
Sometimes you get so lucky it feels like more than a coincidence. Particularly when the source materials have an actual similar theme or influence and if viewers are an altered state and you are adding your own internal narrative to the mix.
Despite seeing this formula I still think it’s magic. All artists are tapping into some sort of universal creative spirit and are taking and sharing influences consciously and unconsciously.
I am always searching for more people exploring these types of mashups and finding great videos to explore.
Some good stuff on the Synkronocity Archive!
[1] https://vimeo.com/grepz [2] https://vimeo.com/700268028
[+] [-] smitty1e|2 years ago|reply
Then the camera shifts with him saying "...and..." to land on Dorothee in her "blue" dress.
"And who knows which is which, and who is who?"
Great stuff.
[+] [-] detourdog|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cogogo|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] floor_|2 years ago|reply
Echoes lines up with the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
[+] [-] fnord77|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dylan604|2 years ago|reply
On a tangent, it’s interesting to me that 2001 was made before the time of fly-bys from Voyagers (by nearly a decade) so the fuzzy images of Jupiter were probably some of the best available at the time. In only the 40+ years since, we’ve had Cassini and Juno bringing even more details than Voyagers, and all of that imagery is so entrenched now that 2001’s fuzzy images look fake
[+] [-] nervousvarun|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smitty1e|2 years ago|reply
I realized years ago that doing something is only half the job; communicating the accomplishment is the balance.
"Wow, you're smart, Smitty," said advertisers.
[+] [-] BellsOnSunday|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dave333|2 years ago|reply
https://youtu.be/EOdATLzRGHc
while listening to Tangerine Dream's "Stratosfear"
https://youtu.be/2w8VsvJ40sM
The TGV clip now has a couple of partially unskipable ads that mess up the timing - the music now slows down before the train does.
[+] [-] kwhitefoot|2 years ago|reply
There is a Firefox addon that manages to skip most embedded advertising.
[+] [-] ralusek|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kagakuninja|2 years ago|reply
1) the Syd Barrett era. They were a psychedelic pop / experimental band, led by charismatic singer / songwriter / guitarist Syd Barrett. They had 1 album (Piper at the Gates of Dawn), and several singles. I like this era a lot. Try listening to Arnold Layne, Lucifer Sam, See Emily Play...
2) Middle period - after Syd went nuts, they brought in Dave Gilmour to replace him. Everyone tried their hand at writing songs, and it took some time to get their footing. This is a more introspective, laid back period, and when they did those sound track albums people are talking about. They were in the top 40, but not really stars yet. The culmination of this era was the movie Live at Pompeii.
3) Roger Waters era - bass player Waters wrote an entire album of songs about madness and alienation, this was Dark Side of the Moon, their most popular album, which propelled Pink Floyd to the top of the charts. Waters had developed into a genius song writer, but with each successive album, became more domineering and difficult to work with. These albums tended to be ambitious concept albums, dark and disturbing, in contrast to the laid back vibe of the previous era. The last 2 Waters albums, The Wall and Final Cut were essentially Waters solo albums, and at the end, half the band had departed.
3) Dave Gilmour era - Waters went solo, and expected the band to end, but Gilmour decided to bring back the 2 ousted members of the band, and continue as Pink Floyd. This period isn't very interesting IMO.
So my personal tastes: I find The Wall and most of the Waters-era albums kind of overpowering and negative. I prefer the Barrett stuff, as well as Live at Pompeii. YMMV...
[+] [-] nzoschke|2 years ago|reply
If you have and still don’t like Floyd, that’s ok.
They are amazing musicians, pioneers of psychedelic rock, modern studio recording, and storytelling through long play albums.
Imagine buying this LP in 1973 when there was far far less entertainment options in general. Fast forward to now and it still sounds fresh and modern and transports me somewhere else for an hour.
[+] [-] ks2048|2 years ago|reply
If you're just looking for "part of a song" to get you hooked, then maybe it's not for you. You don't need to be on drugs and I'd say it's combination of lyrics and music (but probably more music part, because they do have some great songs with few or no lyrics).
[+] [-] scojomodena|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tylerag|2 years ago|reply
Some people like the lyrics, I think Roger Waters bloviates too much. Weed certainly makes it more enjoyable, but it isn't necessary.
[+] [-] Mystery-Machine|2 years ago|reply
But let's say you don't like those two. Another great whole-life-story-of-a-person song is Time. It sums up a majority of people's lives. You go through your life trying to figure out what you need/want to do in life...and then it's over, you never figured it out. Great introspection song. Makes you ask yourself...
[+] [-] jccalhoun|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dave333|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] greggh|2 years ago|reply
I just love the music, the lyrics, the points being made. And I am a big fan of whole albums. I dont like singles much. I want songs that blend into each other, an hour long experience. That is why I like Pink Floyd so much.
[+] [-] lapcat|2 years ago|reply
It helps. ;-)
IMO here are some of the more "accessible" Pink Floyd songs:
Money from Dark Side of the Moon
Wish You Were Here (title track)
Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 (AKA We don't need no education) and Hey You from The Wall
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