Syd Barrett, Founder of Pink Floyd, Dies

(AP) On the threshold of stardom, members of the psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd leap from the steps of EMI House in London in this March 3, 1967 file photo. From left: Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Syd Barrett and Richard Wright. (AP Photo)

Syd Barrett will always be one of rock's great might-have-been mysteries. When Pink Floyd made their startling debut in 1967 straight out of Cambridge, England, with first single Arnold Layne and debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the band sounded like nothing else on earth. And Barrett, make no mistake about it, was Pink Floyd. The other members -- bassist Roger Waters, drummer Nick Mason, keyboardist Rick Wright -- supplied instrumental coloration, but they were fulfilling the singular vision of Barrett.

In songs such as See Emily Play (a top 10 UK hit), Gnome, Lucifer Sam and Scarecrow, he devised a peculiar mix of classic British whimsy and avant-garde psychedelic pop, a style that set the tone for a key stream of British music for the next five years and onward.

The remarkable Astronomy Domine set Floyd's outer-space-rock agenda, but Barrett's explorations of inner space caused a frighteningly quick crash, as follows.

The hit 'Shine on You Crazy Diamond', from the 1975 album 'Wish You Were Here', was said by many to be written about Barrett, whose use of LSD was well-documented.

Gilmour said earlier this year he thought Barrett's breakdown would have happened anyway, even without the drugs.

"It was a deep-rooted thing. But I'll say the psychedelic experience might well have acted as a catalyst," Gilmour told reporters.

"Still, I just don't think he could deal with the vision of success and all the things that went with it."

A legendary consumer of LSD and other drugs, Barrett rapidly fell into a state of virtual catatonia, standing motionless onstage, contributing only occasional vocals and random guitar slashings. The rest of the band first hired Cambridge chum David Gilmour to augment Barrett's role, then simply decided to carry on without their putative leader. Barrett shows up ephemerally on Floyd's second album, A Saucerful of Secrets (the fascinatingly disjointed Jugband Blues is his, and a couple of outtakes exist), but that was the end of his Floydian legacy.

Somehow, with the assistance of erstwhile bandmates Gilmour and Wright, he managed to complete two cult-adored solo albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett, released in 1970, both by turns fascinating and frightening in their raw glimpses of a fragmenting mind still illuminated by flashes of musical genius. But that last burst of creativity, apart from scattered outtakes and an abortive 1972 band called Stars that played a few gigs, was it. He retired to his family's Cambridge home and spent his last three decades in virtual anonymity.

Pink Floyd struggled at first without him, but found their way with 1973's alltime prog-rock chart champ, Dark Side of the Moon. They memorialized Barrett on the follow-up, 1975's Wish You Were Here, with the fitting tribute Shine On You Crazy Diamond, and the rest of the Pink Floyd story is too well-known (and too complicated) to go into here.

But it's endlessly fascinating to speculate what would have happened to the band had Barrett not psychedelically imploded. It's doubtful that Waters and Gilmour would have come to the fore as songwriters, so we would not have had Dark Side or The Wall or all the other Floyd landmarks in rock's geography.

But you know what? I'd trade 'em all for another few albums led by a relatively healthy Barrett. During his brief peak, he was as brilliant an innovator and songwriter (and as fascinatingly quirky a guitarist) as anyone during that most creative era. Obviously, we'll never know what he could have done. But spare a kind thought for one of the great, tragically underdeveloped talents of rock's golden era.

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now theres a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom, blown on the
Steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on you stranger, you legend,
You martyr, and shine!

You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision, rode on the
Steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper,
You prisoner, and shine!

Nobody knows where you are, how near or how far.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Pile on many more layers and Ill be joining you there.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
And well bask in the shadow of yesterdays triumph, and sail
On the steel breeze.
Come on you boy child, you winner and loser, come on you miner
For truth and delusion, and shine!

David Bowie pays tribute to Syd Barrett

--The star calls his hero a 'diamond'--

David Bowie has paid tribute to his songwriting hero Syd Barrett, who has died aged 60.

It was revealed today that the former Pink Floyd singer passed away on Friday (July 7).

Bowie has long declared himself a massive fan of Barrett-era Floyd. He showed just how much by singing their debut single 'Arnold Layne' at guitarist David Gilmour's solo show at the London Royal Albert Hall last month. It was Bowie's first live appearance in two years following a serious illness.

He said on hearing today's news: "I can't tell you how sad I feel. Syd was a major inspiration for me.

"The few times I saw him perform in London at UFO and the Marquee clubs during the 60s will forever be etched in my mind. He was so charismatic and such a startlingly original songwriter. Also, along with Anthony Newley, he was the first guy I'd heard to sing pop or rock with a British accent.

"His impact on my thinking was enormous. A major regret is that I never got to know him. A diamond indeed."

Graham Coxon was also among those paying tribute, telling NME.COM: "For bang on 20 years Syd led me to better places."

Elbow's Guy Garvey also cited Barrett as a huge influence on his career, and revealed: "Bizarrely enough, Jimi Goodwin (Doves) gave me a Syd Barrett record for Christmas. I wonder what music would be like if he'd never lived."

Tributes continue to flood in across the musical spectrum - Steve 'Chadrasonic' Savale from Asian Dub Foundation told NME.COM: "I play the way I do because of Syd. May he rest in peace."