Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

The Creativity of the Band Members in Their First Album

May 12, 2009

Pink Floyd is one of the few rock bands in which all of the band members are among the top rock musicians. From the first album, Pink Floyd was based on team work.

Despite the absence of the famous guitarist David Gilmour and powerful Roger Waters leadership, the first album of Pink Floyd is among the most influential albums of rock music. Furthermore, Pink Floyd fans like this early album as well as the other records.

The most interesting feature about this album is the creativity of the band members to offer something new in their professional instruments. All four members performed somehow pioneering works in a 1967 rock album.

Nick Mason’s Drum

Drum is usually the last instrument a listener pay attention to, probably because it mostly provides a background rhythm in rock music. However, Nick Mason broke this norm in The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and subsequent albums of Pink Floyd. Nick Mason’s drum is not a background rhythm but a lead in the whole music composition. It should be emphasized that Nick Mason’s drum leads the music where needed, not simple drum solo piece in the middle of a song, as became so popular in the later rock records.

If one exclusively listens to the Nick Mason’s drum in Pink Floyd works (it is not the case for his solo albums), he will hear a complete music piece rather than a constant drum rhythm (a good example is the famous song ‘One of These Days’). Rarely, one can find something like this in the realms of rock music.

Richard Wright’s Keyboard

When legendary keyboardists like The Doors’ Ray Manzarek developed the organ-like keyboard in rock composition (as discussed in The House of the Rising Sun, the prototype of this style was The Animals’ Alan Price), Richard Wright developed rock keyboard for providing the background of music; it was essential in lyrics-oriented structure of the later Pink Floyd works.

Instead of fast rhythm comparable with rock guitar rhythm, Richard Wright focused on long notes making a complete background for the whole music. Nevertheless, Richard Wright had an amazing talent for performing fast organ-like pieces, like the song, Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk, in The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

Syd Barrett’s Guitar

The guitar pieces in The Piper at the Gates of Dawn are not similar to similar ones recorded in 1967; some believe it was due to his drug overdose. The early works of David Gilmour, who took the place of Syd Barrett in Pink Floyd, were also similar to the Syd Barrett’s style; though soon he found his own unique style, which made him one of the most famous guitars of all times.

Syd Barrett's style of guitar playing is somehow similar to the style later followed in alternative music during 1990s. Although many of Pink Floyd fans may believe that preliminary works of Syd Barrett is not comparable with legendary pieces performed by the leading guitarist David Gilmour, the pioneering works of Syd Barrett were invaluable in the progress of rock music.

Roger Waters’ Bass

Although Roger Water has mainly devoted himself to other musical activities like songwriting and vocal rather than his professional Instrument, he is indeed one of the best bassists in the rock history. His strong bass rhythms in The Piper at the Gates of Dawn can be considered as the pioneering works in the development of bass in rock music, as bass was indeed obsolete in the early rock records, and even the leading band The Doors totally ignored bass.

The song, Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk, in which Roger Waters has the full official credit for songwriting, vividly shows his tendency in making the first album. The lyrics is not comparable with Syd Barrett's lyrics. On the other hand, the heavy music suggests that other heavy songs like Interstellar Overdrive are based on Roger Waters tendency, particularly as this style remained after the Syd Barrett departure. Noticeably, post-works of Syd Barrett were similar to the slow songs of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

In general, Roger Waters showed his talents in creating mysterious lyrics and strange music from the first album, and in fact, his incredible ability in songwriting has somewhat obscured his brilliant works as an instrumentalist.

References and Further Readings

Nicholas Schaffner, Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey, Delta, 1992.

Mark Blake, Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd, Da Capo Press, 2008.

The copyright of the article Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn in Rock Music is owned by Ali Eftekhari. Permission to republish Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.