Shine on You Crazy Diamond: The Syd Barrett Story

Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here has often been regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time, and is one of the most celebrated albums in music history. Released in 1975, it was Pink Floyd’s fastest-selling album ever and hit number one in only a week. The album was unusual in its content, being a concept album with only five songs, but that wasn’t the only out-of-the-ordinary thing about it. The unordinary-ness had begun long before the album was released, when the band was still laying down tracks in Abbey Road Studios.

On June 5, 1975, the members of Pink Floyd filed into the studio, minds racing with creative ideas as they began to tune their instruments. It was that day that they would begin putting the vocals onto “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” a song written for and dedicated to ex-band member, Syd Barrett. Everyone was accounted for: Roger Waters, Rick Wright, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and the strange man sitting silently in the corner. The band was perplexed as they watched an overweight man waddle into the studio and sit quietly in the corner, fishing candies from a plastic bag while staring into space. He was heavyset and pale and had no hair or eyebrows, just a glassy-eyed stare as he popped pieces of candy into his mouth. Occasionally, he would stand up and attempt to brush his teeth in the middle of the room, but it almost seemed as if he lacked the motor skills to do even that.

Nobody was sure who this strange man was. Some assumed he was a friend of Roger’s, others that he was a staff member. It was David who finally understood. He’d recognized the familiar eyes of the man with the dead stare, the only familiarity he could find. “Roger, you don’t get it, do you?” He’d said after Roger had asked about the man. Roger furrowed his brows in confusion, wondering what he could mean, before David said, “It’s Syd.”

Roger fell into an inconsolable state of shock as he stared at his once close friend, now completely unrecognizable. Syd was now only twenty-nine, but he looked more like a middle-aged man suffering from a severe mental disability.

Syd had been the original frontman of Pink Floyd and the driving force behind their early success. He’d been their lead guitarist, vocalist, and primary songwriter, and had given the band a distinct sound from the other groups of the 60s. His whimsical tunes filled with cryptic mysticism and a distinctly English singing voice brought Pink Floyd to the forefront of the psychedelic rock movement. He was highly intelligent and marched to the beat of his own drum with a mind that worked in wonderfully strange ways while simultaneously being his downfall.

His distinctly psychedelic sound stemmed from his LSD usage, which, like everything else Syd did, was extreme. Syd’s brain did not agree with hallucinogens, but that didn’t stop him from abusing them. He was the driving force behind Pink Floyd’s first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, which had put the group on the map. The album soon reached number six on UK charts, and as the band’s success heightened, Syd’s mental health was deteriorating.

Syd soon fell into a fit of nervous exhaustion, forcing the band to cancel an upcoming appearance at the National Jazz and Blues Festival. When he made public appearances, they were strange. He would stand on stage strumming one chord throughout an entire concert, or he simply wouldn’t play at all. Sometimes, he didn’t even show up. In one instance, he slowly began to detune his guitar in the middle of a performance, and on other occasions, he stared blankly at hosts like Dick Clark and Pat Boone. Alarmed, the band’s managers canceled their upcoming tour of the United States, fearing Syd would pull another stunt.

The once exuberant Syd had become withdrawn and depressed, hearing voices and speaking incoherently. He suffered from hallucinations, mood swings, memory lapses, and periods of catatonia. A dead-eyed stare peeking out from his mass of dark, curly hair became his signature look, and he rarely knew where he was.

Pink Floyd soon embarked on a UK tour, on which Syd would either refuse to leave the tour bus or disappear entirely. Syd was becoming unreliable and desperately needed help. The band could not go on with their leader, a hollow shell of the man he’d once been. They reached out to David Gilmour to replace Syd during live shows, but intended to keep Syd as the primary songwriter. Roger, Rick, and Nick had loved Syd. Roger and Syd had grown up attending the same schools and becoming close friends long before the days of Pink Floyd. Now, Roger and the rest of the group watched as he fell apart in front of their very eyes. They hardly wanted to kick their friend out of his band, but as Syd’s behavior became more and more destructive, they were left with no other choice. Syd was removed from the band in 1968.

With David Gilmour as their new frontman, Pink Floyd rose to become rock legends, while Syd’s musical career had dissipated and he withdrew from the public eye. The next time the band would see him would be seven years later when a strange man wandered into Abbey Road Studios.