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Bruce Springsteen rivela la sua grandezza cantando Dream baby dream dei Suicide, un pezzo di un gruppo semisconosciuto che viene reinterpretato con l’umiltà che si riserva ai classici Non soffro di particolare sudditanza culturale nei confronti degli americani. Ma ci deve essere un motivo per cui, insieme agli inglesi, da cinquantanni a questa parte sono i migliori nel campo delle arti visive e sonore. Il motivo lo si può ricercare nei percorsi formativi, nell’ambiente culturale, nei sogni e negli incubi che riescono a concretizzare. Lo si può ricercare nei fondi che mettono a disposizione, nell amore e nel rispetto delle loro tradizioni, ovunque. Lo si può ricercare ovunque, ma il dato di fatto è che ci sfugge la ragione vera di tale superiorità. La possiamo ritrovare parzialmente nel finale di “Kill Bill”, o meglio ancora in quello di “Jackie Brown”, oppure nelle musiche che i Tuxedomoon hanno composto per un balletto di Maurice Bejart. Oppure nei titoli di testa di “Twi...

Se ne stava seduto su uno sgangherato sgabello a un distributore di benzina sulla Pacific Coast Highway, con lo sguardo perso nel vuoto, il volto scavato e segnato da tante overdose. Era il commesso di quel distributore, crocevia di mille destini ignoti. Il pasciuto avvocato che si fermò a chiedergli il pieno senza nemmeno guardarlo in faccia, si accorse ad un tratto -ora che fissava quel volto straziato e assente- che era lui. Doveva essere lui. Glielo chiese, e per tutta risposta, senza una parola, l'uomo spalancò senza pudore la bocca a mostrare una dentatura distrutta e una mascella spaccata. Sì, era proprio lui: due mesi prima cinque spacciatori gli avevano frantumato denti e mascella a sprangate per una questione di droga e di soldi. L'avvocato decise di aiutarlo, gli pagò le cure per ricostruire la mascella e per impiantare una dentiera in quella bocca spezzata. Sì, doveva tornare a suonare quella tromba in quel modo in cui nessuno suonava, un inno d'amore e un la...

di Gianni Lucini Il 14 giugno 1972 nel corso dello show organizzato da Warren Beatty al Madison Square Garden per raccogliere fondi da destinare alla campagna elettorale di McGovern, il candidato della sinistra democratica alla presidenza degli Stati Uniti, Simon & Garfunkel tengono quello che, nella loro biografia ufficiale, verrà indicato come l’ultimo vero concerto del duo. Da tempo i rapporti interni alla coppia non sono più idilliaci ed entrambi i musicisti stanno ormai rincorrendo progetti solistici. Il Coniglio Bianco e il Gatto del Chesire Finisce qui, in questa sorta di convention politica e musicale un sodalizio iniziato sui banchi di scuola recitando insieme in una versione scolastica di “Alice nel paese delle meraviglie”: Paul Simon nella parte del Coniglio Bianco e Art Garfunkel in quella del Gatto del Chesire. Nel 1957, sempre in coppia, pubblicano il loro primo disco sotto lo pseudonimo di Tom & Jerry. La delusione per i risultati li spinge a cercare ...

46. Pink Floyd sued label EMI in 2010 when it sold tracks separately on iTunes (the band stipulated in their contract that tracks had to be sold as a whole album or nothing at all). The judge agreed that separate songs could not be sold without the group’s consent. 47. While Pink Floyd don’t perform anymore, there’s a whole industry of lucrative covers bands who will take their songs around the world. The Australian Pink Floyd have sold more than 3 million tickets playing in 35 different countries, and they even made an appearance at David Gilmour’s 50th birthday party. 48. Roger Waters caused an international furore in December last year and was accused of antisemitism when he compared modern day Israelis to the nazis. Speaking about “oppression” of the Palestinians in a magazine interview he said: “The parallels with what went on in the 1930s in Germany are so crushingly obvious.” 49. Adrian Maben, who directed Pink Floyd’s concert film ‘Live at Pompeii,’ sai...

41. Novelist and journalist Polly Samson described the new album as keyboard player ‘Rick Wright’s swansong’ when she announced it on Twitter. She also said it was ‘very beautiful’. Richard Wright died from cancer in 2008. Samson is married to Dave Gilmour. 42. Everyone thinks problems between Roger Waters and David Gilmour surfaced around 'The Wall.' In truth, friction already existed during the run-up to 1969's 'Ummagumma.' Each member had been tasked with constructing a solo contribution. When Gilmour asked Waters for some lyrical help, his response was a simple "no." 43. Sampson co-wrote seven of the eleven songs on ‘The Division Bell’. She has also contributed lyrics to the forthcoming ‘The Endless River’. 44. Pink Floyd made their music available on Spotify last year, and in anticipation of the big event they streamed one song, ‘Wish You Were Here’. Once fans streamed the song one million times, access to the whole back catal...

36. The last Pink Floyd album Roger Waters appeared on was ‘The Final Cut’ - a work he conceived and wrote with no help from the others (David Gilmour expressed misgivings about the record later). 37. Waters took the other members of Pink Floyd to court in the mid-80s in the hope of barring them from continuing with the name. He recently admitted regretting the litigation. 38. Russian astronauts took ‘Delicate Sound of Thunder’ with them when they boarded the MIR space station in 1989, making it the first album to be played in space (that we know of). 39. The album ‘The Division Bell’ was named by The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams. 40. Richard Wright was sacked from the band during ‘The Wall’ sessions for not pulling his weight. He returned to Pink Floyd for their 1987 Gilmour-led ‘A Momentary Lapse of Reason’ album, but for legal reasons was not reinstated as a full member again until the group toured ‘The Division Bell’ in 1994...

31. Kubrick asked Floyd to collaborate on more than one occasion, but word has it Roger Waters was trying to distance the band from Space-rock and reluctantly declined. Waters said later that it was a decision he regretted. 32. If the Beatles had Peter Blake and Factory Records had Peter Saville, then Pink Floyd had Gerald Scarfe, an artist whose iconoclastic work has become as synonymous with the Floyd as it has scything satire. 33. That’s not forgetting art director Storm Thorgerson of course, who collaborated almost as an auxiliary member of the band and came up with the iconic album cover for ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’. As well as writing ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, bringing the world Live Aid and taking a song about classroom shootings to no.1 (the Boomtown Rats’ ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’), Bob Geldof also starred in the lead role for Pink Floyd’s filmed version of ‘The Wall’. 35. In 1977, the inflatable pig caused havoc with air traffic control ...

26. The laughter heard on ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ tracks ‘Speak to Me’ and ‘Brain Damage’ came from Peter Watts, a Pink Floyd road manager at the time. Watts died of a heroin overdose in 1976. 27. Dark Side of the Moon is said to sync perfectly with The Wizard of Oz and led to conspiracy theories that the band had written it with that purpose in mind. To quell the rumours, Nick Mason said they’d intended to soundtrack The Sound of Music instead. 28. On the cover of ‘Wish You Were Here’, two businessmen shake hands, one of whom is on fire. He was actually on fire, if only briefly. Played by a stuntman in a fire retardant suit under his actual suit (a wig covered a hood too) the shot was done for real (and the wind blowing the wrong way apparently singed the stuntman’s moustache). 29. One of Pink Floyd’s most iconic covers is ‘Animals’ - Pink Floyd’s 10th studio album - featuring Battersea Power Station and in the distance a flying pig. The porcine balloon an...

21. Nick Mason is certainly the silent but violent one in Pink Floyd; ie. he hits things for a living and doesn’t open his mouth much. Despite the drummer being the only band member to play on everything the group have ever made, he only ever contributed one vocal - on ‘One of These Days’ from 1971’s ‘Meddle’ - and it was just one line, slowed down to scare the pants off the listener. 22. Hipgnosis, the team behind most of Pink Floyd’s album covers, actually presented the band with the inverted swimmer that would eventually become the cover of Def Leppard’s iconic ‘High ‘n’ Dry’ album, for ‘Atom Heart Mother’. The band rejected it and opted for the cow instead. 23. Recorded in 1973, ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ stayed on the Billboard Chart (top 200) for more than 800 weeks straight, a record that will take some beating. 24. ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ was the best selling album in the world for a while (it is still third best seller ever), shifting so many unit...

16. Pink Floyd also played as The Tea Set in their earlier incarnation. This moniker was settled upon for a while at least after a plethora of name changes, which included: Sigma 6, Meggadeaths, the Abdabs and the Screaming Abdabs, Leonard's Lodgers, and the Spectrum Five. 17. A film of their 1967 Alexandra Palace show - part of the legendary ‘14 Hour Technicolor Dream’ - still survives and is available on DVD. Yoko Ono is there performing an art installation, and John Lennon is captured among the crowd, although at the time the pair had not met. 18. In 1968, Pink Floyd headlined the first ever free gig in Hyde Park with Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in support. Not a bad bill... and nada as well! 19. The 1970 album name ‘Atom Heart Mother’ was apparently inspired by a newspaper headline about a woman being fitted with the first ever atomic pacemaker. 20. The cow on Pink Floyd’s ‘Atom Heart Mother’ album had a name too, which was L...

11. ‘See Emily Play’ was their first song to crack the top 10 in 1967, and they didn’t manage another until ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ topped the charts in 1979. As a “serious” albums band in the 70s, singles were considered low priority to a group like Pink Floyd (Led Zeppelin, for instance, never released a single). 12. During the second part of the 60’s, The Pink Floyd (as they were known then) became regulars at the Roundhouse in Camden as well as the legendary UFO Club. 13. The name The Pink Floyd was used right up to the late 60’s - the ‘The’ disappeared not long after the departure of Syd Barrett. Syd’s acid-induced schizophrenia got so bad that the band had no option to go on without him, and they parted company on the way to a show in 1968 14. Syd moved back in with his parents in Cambridge and became a recluse. He recorded two solo albums with the help of his replacement, David Gilmour: ‘The Madcap Laughs’ and ‘Barrett’. 15. Barrett famously ...

6. Pink Floyd recorded their first album ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ in Abbey Road studios while a band of Moptops toiled next door making ‘Sgt Pepper...’ The latter Beatles record blew minds on its release, though it could be said that the former was even further out there... 7. ‘Arnold Layne’ - their first single and a minor hit at the time (it has subsequently achieved classic status) was based on a real life person Roger Waters knew who would steal women’s clothes and knickers from washing lines. 8. The b-side to ‘Arnold Lane’ - the psychedelic ‘Candy and a Currant Bun’ - was faithfully covered by Mars Volta and given away free with ‘The Bedlam in Goliath’ album via the mildly pointless VinylDisc format (vinyl on one side, CD on the other). 9. Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, the two Americans who inspired the band’s title were both early blues singers. Both musicians died within a year of the release of Pink Floyd's seminal album, ‘Wish You Were H...

Pink Floyd were an English rock band formed in London in 1965 by students Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright. They achieved international acclaim with their progressive and psychedelic music. Distinguished by their use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, extended compositions and elaborate live shows, they are one of the most commercially successful and musically influential groups in the history of popular music. Here are 50 fascinating facts about the band via NME. 1. Pink Floyd have confirmed that new album ‘The Endless River’ will be their final album. Made up of tracks started during the ‘Division Bell’ sessions that formed the basis of a Nick Mason side project (it had the working title ‘The Big Spliff’), it was finished off latterly by singer and guitarist David Gilmour. Refresh yourself of Pink Floyd's majestic career in 50 fascinating facts. 2. Pink Floyd founder members Roger Waters and Nick Mason met while studying architect...