There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that Pink Floyd was a top ten band. My mind – not my formula.
Pink Floyd scared me a bit. If there was going to be a time to really test how early work could damage a group, it was now. Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd was way different than the group I ranked in 2007. When you only hear the good stuff (“Wish You Were Here”, “Money”, “Have a Cigar”, etc…), you tend to think this group is awesome and easily should rank high. This is, of course, why I came up with an algorithm to stop this nonsense.
Another Tough Call
Not only did Pink Floyd have me worrying about the numbers matching up with my feelings, but I also had to determine how to score songs that had multiple parts. I have dealt with medleys from The Beatles and they were all individual songs. Pink Floyd had “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and although listed as Part I-V, it was one track. To make it worse, other albums had songs with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, etc… and they were separate tracks.
The conclusion: however I had the song and however it was broken down, that’s how I scored it. “Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part I-V” received a star rating and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part VI-IX” received another. “Sysyphus, Part 1″, Sysyphus, Part 2”, etc… all received their own rankings.
Not the best strategy, but this is how it will be – for now.
Did Pink Floyd Break the Ranks?
No. They did not. They received a very acceptable score, yet were punished enough for their lack of consistency from start to finish. They pushed Boston and The Moody Blues down, but couldn’t defeat Simon & Garfunkel. This makes sense, considering Simon and Garfunkel were consistent from day one.
I wasn’t sure where Pink Floyd would finish compared against Electric Light Orchestra, but Syd and his silly songs in the ’60s forced Pink Floyd to take a backseat. I imagine if we stared at Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd could beat “Weird Al”. Maybe that is a blog topic for another time.
| Up Next: Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young |
Read my artist breakdown of Pink Floyd.
