Pink Floyd’s iconic album Dark Side of the Moon celebrated its 50th anniversary this month.
The LP is the band’s most successful, having sold more than 50 million copies around the world. It continues to appeal to different generations and Dark Side of the Moon was still the sixth best-selling album of 2022.
The iconic cover has a prism spectrum, designed by Storm Thorgenson of Hipgnosis and created by George Hardie. It’s so distinctive that even if you’re not a Pink Floyd fan you would recognise it from a mile away.
The album was ever-present in the charts from 1973 to 1988. David Gilmour, who lives in Hove, was the guitarist and lead singer.
When he joined Pink Floyd in 1967, replacing Syd Barrett, he played a momentous role in transforming the band and taking it to a new level of success and stardom along with bandmates, Roger Waters (bass guitarist and main songwriter), keyboardist Richard Wright and drummer Nick Mason.
He bought the Astoria, a houseboat which he converted into a studio, and docked it on the side of the River Thames.
Having split in acrimonious circumstances following the success of subsequent albums such as Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall and The Final Cut, Gilmour elected to keep the band afloat, much to the fury of Waters.
Under his leadership, the band produced the albums A Momentary Lapse of Reason in 1987, The Division Bell 1994 and Endless River in 2014, which was the band’s last studio album.
Despite Dark Side of the Moon’s incredible global success and many claiming it is the greatest album of all time, there are many who don’t agree with that assessment.
Oliver “Ollie” Cherer, co-owner of record shop Music’s Not Dead in the foyer of the De La Warr Pavilion, says Dark Side of the Moon’s enduring success is partly due to its “classic status” and added that it’s a regular best seller in the shop.
He said: “Once a piece of art has attracted that level of attention it becomes a ‘must-have’ by default. That’s not to say it didn’t deserve its reputation in the first place but after 50 years it seems impossible to separate the art from the baggage.”
When asked to explain why Dark Side of the Moon attracts younger record buyers 50 years after its initial release, Ollie believes young people think possessing a copy of the album is a prerequisite for a classic collection of vinyl.
He said: “It’s part of the ‘vinyl starter pack’, along with Sgt Pepper and Abbey Road by The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours.
“Mostly it sells to older men (rarely women) who are getting back into vinyl after two or three decades of buying CDs.”
Ollie picked up his first guitar during the heyday of The Sex Pistols and said at the time, Pink Floyd didn’t influence his style of play
But now he admits subsequently did adopt some of David Gilmour’s choice of instrument including the Fender Strat, Phaser, Big Muff and DynaComp.
Ollie, however, concedes the album is still as popular as ever.
He said: “Truthfully, I think it shows its age a little. It’s a very well rounded, complete sounding record for sure and I can hear why it made such an impact and remained on people’s radar for so long.
“I think they got the whole package right for the time too – the sleeve and the concept helped to cement it as a classic quite early on.
“I listened to it quite closely recently for the first time since I was about 14 and I think it stands up as a solid piece of work – it would be daft to suggest otherwise, but I can’t help thinking I’ve heard it enough now.
“Of course I have a string of customers who will strongly disagree!”
