Pink Floyd had heaviness of their DNA from day one — simply not at all times the head-banging kind.
Again of their early days, psych-rock classics like “Set the Controls for the Coronary heart of the Solar” provided a visceral energy maximized through cranked-up amplifiers. And after the 1968 exit of authentic mastermind Syd Barrett, as they moved from small golf equipment to stadiums, the band organically inched towards the flash and muscle of arduous rock. Whereas they had been by no means virtuosos, a few of their signature songs — together with highlights from The Wall and The Darkish Facet of the Moon — had been carried by David Gilmour’s bluesy, lyrical lead guitar. When the temper struck (and the idea supported it), they may rip with the most effective of them.
Whereas we’ve not essentially rounded up their greatest tunes, this checklist does level to a fascinating intersection of depth and high quality. Listed here are the ten Heaviest Pink Floyd Songs.
10. “Cash”
The Darkish Facet of the Moon is the definitive psychedelic album, however its most well-known monitor is tethered to Earth, not drifting in area. “Cash,” a seething critique of unquenchable greed set partly in 7/4, is jackhammer blues rock from begin to end — even the quiet bits, just like the descending chromatic riff within the instrumental part, have impressed many years of steering-wheel drumming. Gilmour’s smoldering guitar solo, stuffed with gently pinched harmonics and bent prospers, sounds prefer it’s really on fireplace.
9. “Have a Cigar”
Ever listened to the stilted alternate model of hard-funk heavyweight “Have a Cigar”? The one Gilmour and Roger Waters sang in unison after which, dissatisfied with the outcomes, introduced in folk-rock pal Roy Harper to complete off? If not, do your self a favor and keep away. Harper’s gleefully unhinged supply makes this music tick — from his falsetto break on the road “everyone else is simply inexperienced” to the full-on belting of “using the gravy practice.” It’s the proper franticness they wanted, channeling the slimy fits and dollar-driven executives roasted in Waters’ lyrics.
8. “When You’re In”
Gilmour’s grinding blues riff pairs properly with Wright’s Hammond organ on this two-minute instrumental. Like a lot of Obscured by Clouds, the band’s hit-or-miss soundtrack to the mysterious French movie La Vallee, it feels half-finished — the early fade-out here’s a complete buzzkill. However “When You’re In” made extra sense onstage: Floyd performed it 47 occasions, throughout their Paris exhibits with the Roland Petit Ballet, and paired it with “Obscured By Clouds” through the Darkish Facet tour.
7. “Pigs (Three Completely different Ones)”
Waters lashes out with righteous fury at society’s smarmiest and most hypocritical elite. And the association matches that spirit, together with his crunching rhythm guitar ricocheting off Gilmour’s funky fretless bass. (It is a distinctive instrumental function reversal — one they need to have tried extra usually.) The latter seals the heavy take care of a squawking, slimy talk-box solo.
6. “Within the Flesh?”
Pink Floyd launch their sprawling psychodrama with woozy, stadium-sized arduous rock punctured by gusts of the waltzing choir. Waters presents the primary glimpse of his Pink persona, a jaded rock star performing for an enviornment of stoned followers basking in “that area cadet glow.” Towards the top, with Hammond organ purring into the stratosphere, our protagonist requires the crew to “roll the sound results” and “drop it on them,” blurring fantasy and actuality amid plane sounds.
5. “One in every of These Days”
Nobody made rock music higher suited to headphones. “One in every of These Days” opens 1971’s Meddle with dimensions of results that followers are nonetheless decoding many years later: the echoing bass guitars that conjure helicopter propellers, the slide guitars that rev like bike engines, the organs that stab like sonar pings. Instantly we hear a pitch-shifted Nick Mason shout out a menacing warning: “One in every of as of late, I’ll minimize you into little items!” After which the dam breaks.
4. “Cautious With That Axe, Eugene”
This droning, quiet-loud psych epic has a historical past longer than Richard Wright’s swirling organ solo: Pink Floyd first recorded it because the B-side to 1968 single “Level Me on the Sky,” and that model later appeared on the 1971 compilation LP Relics; they additionally rerecorded the piece for Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1970 drama Zabriskie Level, utilizing the brand new title “Come In Quantity 51, Your Time Is Up.” However the most effective, heaviest model is an prolonged stay rendering featured on 1969’s Ummagumma — Waters’ horror-film scream at 3:08 is without doubt one of the most horrifying moments in rock historical past.
3. “Not Now John”
It’s no coincidence that 1983’s “Not Now John,” the one Last Reduce monitor largely fronted by Gilmour, can also be its heaviest: Nobody belts out a raspy rock vocal fairly like him. Because the album’s lone single, it was a little bit of a misnomer — its thick distortion and stacked backing vocals contrasting with the opposite tracks’ densely crafted atmospheres. “Fuck all that!” How nasty!
2. “The Nile Tune”
Gilmour shared a few vocals on his Pink Floyd debut, A Saucerful of Secrets and techniques — however he didn’t showcase his full singing potential till 1969’s Extra, their soundtrack to Barbet Schroeder’s drug-addiction drama of the identical identify. Whereas the folky “Inexperienced Is the Color” highlighted his sweetness and heat, the maniacally heavy “Nile Tune” allowed him to shout his lungs out. It’s not a lot of a music: a handful of distorted guitar chords, some bombastic drum fills, lyrics so dumb they’re hardly price writing down (“I used to be standing by the Nile / After I noticed the woman smile / I’d take her out for some time”). However the aggression, which spills into the sorta-reprise “Ibiza Bar,” is intoxicating nonetheless.
1. “Younger Lust”
Essentially the most overtly arduous rock second on Floyd’s ultimate masterpiece, “Younger Lust” is one in every of three Wall tunes cowritten by Gilmour. His presence carries your entire monitor, from squealing leads and distorted riffs to a full-throated holler that rivals “The Nile Tune” in physicality. Waters made the identical comparability in 1979, telling the BBC, “It jogs my memory very a lot of a music we recorded years and years in the past known as ‘The Nile Tune.’ It’s very related. Dave sings it in a really related manner. I believe he sings ‘Younger Lust’ terrific — I like the vocal.” The music’s attractive lyric provides to the depth — however as Waters famous in the identical interview, this story of informal intercourse was supposed as a “pastiche of simply any younger rock ‘n’ roll band out on the street.”
David Gilmour and Roger Waters Solo Albums Ranked
They each laid declare to the Pink Floyd legacy, whereas solely hardly ever stepping out with solo works.
