Lineup changes aren’t uncommon for bands. However, in the grand history of music, has there ever been a lineup addition as fate-changing as the moment David Gilmour joined Pink Floyd?
Fate-changing is correct for two reasons. The first is a simple one; the band were headed towards complete disaster. Initially Pink Floyd was made up of Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Richard Wright and, crucially, Syd Barrett, their founder and leader.
The group was forged in Barrett’s image, conducted by his songs and creative inner world. It was led by his experimental spirit, and then backed up by the tight band of musicians keen to push their instruments to new places.
But obviously, that meant that when Barrett succumbed to addiction and became a less-than-helpful hand in the group, they were suddenly without vision. As he became less and less present and reliable, it not only caused logistical chaos for a band whose singer often went walkabout or couldn’t perform, but it meant that the foundation they were built on was crumbling.
In most instances, that would mean the end. How do you survive without the person who started it all?
The second reason comes down to the rarity of the fact that they did survive. Gilmour was fate-changing for the group because he allowed them to survive, coming in with his own vision that didn’t ignore the past, but undeniably elevated it. He wasn’t shy. It was clear that the guitarist had bold ideas and wanted to lead the band, even being slightly ruthless in order to be at the helm.
It was necessary, though. Without the addition of Gilmour, there would perhaps not only be no Pink Floyd, but there certainly wouldn’t be Pink Floyd as we know them today, because albums like The Dark Side Of The Moon or Wish You Were Here simply would not exist. Without his guidance, the band likely would never have hit those epic, cinematic heights, partially because they needed his influence but mostly because they likely would not have lasted as a band.
And so the moment when Gilmour joined Pink Floyd, after being invited in December 1967, changed everything. Initially just brought in as another guitarist, his first job was to simply help try to keep things together while Barrett was spiralling. As their initial leader’s mental state worsened and his reliability on stage and in the studio weakened, Gilmour was brought in to bolster them. Quickly, though, it became more than that.
Why was Syd Barrett replaced in Pink Floyd?
According to the band, the moment that Syd Barrett was cut loose was during a journey to a gig. After months of the frontman becoming harder to handle and less present, they’d simply had enough, and when they piled in the car in order to go pick him up for a show, Gilmour recalled that they simply said, “Nah, let’s not bother.”
That was basically it. In hindsight, it was callous and deeply uncaring given that Barrett was clearly in the midst of an intense mental health crisis spurred on by drug abuse. By now, the band know that. “I think we’re still very sort of conscious of that and of the past,” Mason explained once, “I think, looking back now, what’s rather sad is how little we understood or knew how to deal with it.”
Adding, “And it’s not that we were unsympathetic, but I just don’t think we had a clue as to what was happening or why it was happening.” Even in the group’s lyrics, soon after the singer was fired, Barrett’s memory always seemed to float in as an embodiment of regret.
But they couldn’t make it work anymore. Barrett was disconnected, impossible to work with, unreliable and to put it plainly, a burden, especially when Gilmour was now there and clearly full of bright ideas for the future. So, the decision was made. Barrett was out and Gilmour would step up, heralding in a new era and saving the group from the brink of collapse had they merely have gone down on the ship of their old captain.
