On this day in 1973, Pink Floyd released "Dark Side of the Moon," which became one of the best–selling albums in music history.
It spent only a week at the top of the U.S. Billboard's charts, but it remained on Billboard's charts for more than 14 years.
I didn't get it when it first came out. I was still kind of young and still interested in many things that I liked as a child — my list of interests did not include Pink Floyd until several years later.
But I more than made up for it after I discovered Pink Floyd. "Dark Side of the Moon" has been in my music collection for a long time now.
I guess I always knew that the track "Brain Damage" was inspired by the experiences of Syd Barrett, founding member of the band who went into seclusion to battle his demons. It was just one of the themes of the album, along with the passage of time and greed, but the inspiration for that particular song was always clear to me.
Thus, it came as no surprise to me when Roger Waters, also a founding member, confirmed in an interview that "Brain Damage" was inspired by Barrett's tragic tale of drug abuse.
"Brain Damage" was a good song, as were the two hits from the album — "Time" and "Money" — but if I had to pick my absolute favorite, it would probably be "Us and Them."
"Dark Side of the Moon" doesn't necessarily lend itself to the discussion of favorite tracks. To me, each song on the album is a jewel, perfect in its own right.
They are not now and never were in competition with each other.
