Page 26

For a band who put the mind-altering mayhem of psychedelic music on the map, the entrance to Pink Floyd’s first international retrospective seems surprisingly literal. But the Victoria and Albert Museum’s eagerly awaited exhibition celebrating one of the most influential and successful groups of our times defiantly begins in the Bedford van that Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright took on their very first tour in the 1960s. Those early days of Pink Floyd might sound rather prosaic. But just a decade later they released a multimillion-selling concept album, Animals. On its sleeve is the image of a pig that literally – and iconically – flew over Battersea Power Station. Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains attempts to make sense of how Pink Floyd went from a fixture of London’s nascent underground psychedelic scene in 1967 to, with The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973) and The Wall (1979), recording some of the best-selling albums of all time. Beyond the wallPink Floyd are well known as musical pioneers, but their impact on the visual arts was no less infl uential. Ahead ofa dedicated exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Ben East uncovers the stories behind their creative experiments1 Pink Floyd in 196726PINK FLOYDThe Arts Society ReviewSummer 2017