Pink Floyd trivia

Pink Floyd references

TV shows references

The Simpsons

The Simpsons has made many references to Pink Floyd.

• Dark Side of the Moon - Consistently a poster in Homer's room in his flashbacks; in "Homer Goes to College," there is a poster of the album in the dean's office at Springfield University.
• Wish You Were Here - in "Old Man and the Lisa," Mr. Burns tells a Hippie recycler, "Shine on, you crazy diamond."
• Animals - In the "Hullabalooza" episode, Homer sets off a cannon and the Pink Floyd pig is fired out. Peter Frampton states, "You're damn right, I'm gonna be pissed off; I bought that pig at Pink Floyd's yard sale!"
• The Wall - Episode where Homer discovers his middle name and becomes a hippie. After making juice with drugged vegetables, Ned Flanders drinks some and sees a strange parade which includes the hammers from the movie of The Wall. In "Missionary: Impossible", Marge quotes the start of "Comfortably Numb" (saying, "Hello," and having it echo and then asking, "is there anybody in there?" when contacting Homer on a short wave radio. Also, in the episode "Make Room for Lisa," there is a poster of the marching hammers in the New Age shop.

It was also rumoured that Pink Floyd were set to appear as guests on the show due to a drawing of them, autographed by Matt Groening being distributed online. As of yet, they have not.

South Park

In the South Park episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die", Eric Cartman taunts the eponymous Radiohead-listening bully Scott Tenorman, saying, "Haha, charade you are," which is a reference to the song "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" from Animals. He also tells this to Stan's sister Shelly, in another episode after snapping a picture of her with her 22-year-old boyfriend while she was supposed to babysit him, as well as to his original fourth grade teacher, just before attempting to travel back in time to the third grade.

That '70s Show

In That '70s Show, Hyde is often seen wearing a Dark Side of the Moon t-Shirt. The show is approaching the release date of The Wall near the end of 1979.

Kelso is once seen handling the Animals album and jokingly asks the others, "Guess what part of my body is nicknamed Pink Floyd."

In another episode, Kitty is having a dinner party and forces the boys to come to it. Eric says several times that he wants to go see "Laser Floyd," in reference to a Pink Floyd laser light show.

Family Guy

In the Family Guy episode "The Story on Page 1", as Peter enters his house he says to Luke Perry, "I'm telling you, Dark Side of the Moon totally synchs up with the Wizard of Oz!" In "Stuck Together, Torn Apart", neighbor Mort Goldman mentions that he and his wife have been trying to see if any movies sync up with the Eagles' Hotel California.

Friends

In the Friends episode "The One with the Sonogram at the End", Chandler makes a statement about foreplay being like, "a stand up comedian you have to put up with before Pink Floyd comes out."

Futurama

In the Futurama episode "The Series Has Landed", when Fry and Leela are running from the mad moon farmer, they notice that the dark side of the moon is approaching them. Fry says, "Cool! Dark side of the moon!" and a music clip similar to the song "Breathe" from Dark Side of the Moon plays.

Also, in the episode entitled "30% Iron Chef" we see Bender and two hobos leap off the space tracks (which are rainbow colored) just before reaching a light reflecting prism. This is an homage to the album cover for Pink Floyd's 1973 album "Dark Side Of The Moon".

Seinfeld

In the Seinfeld episode "The Puerto Rican Day," Kramer remarks "Pump up the Floyd! It's a George laserium!" when George is being stalked by someone with a handheld laser pointer. This is a reference to Pink Floyd themed Laserium shows often held at planetariums.

I'm Alan Partridge

In the episode "The Colour Of Alan," Alan asks his P.A if he can get a "condensed Pink Floyd concert for £500."

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

In the episode "Hush", Giles says that in his younger days, he was telling the truth about monsters existing, but was lying when he said he was one of the original members of Pink Floyd.

Other references

School Of Rock

A Dark Side of the Moon CD is handed out to one of the vocalists in the band as Jack Black's character Dewey tells her to, "pay attention to the vocal solo on 'The Great Gig in the Sky'" '

Almost Famous

In the movie Almost Famous, a reflection of the cover of Dark Side of the Moon can be seen in the windshield while Penny Lane is driving William.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams was a fan of Pink Floyd, as well as a personal friend of David Gilmour. He chose the title for The Division Bell and made a guest appearance on guitar at one of their concerts for his 42nd birthday.

In the original radio series, as Arthur Dent, Trillian, Zaphod Beeblebrox and Marvin the Paranoid Android step out onto the lost planet of Magrathea, atmospheric music from Wish You Were Here (Shine on you Crazy Diamond part I of IX) plays. Arthur asks, "Did you know that robot can hum like Pink Floyd?" Marvin replies that the robot can also play Rock and Roll and then switches to some Beatles music. Note that this segment was cut from the released CDs.

The band Disaster Area (the loudest band and the loudest noise in the universe) were inspired by Pink Floyd. Their stage show involved crashing a spaceship into a sun. This could be inspired by Pink Floyd's crashing an aeroplane into the stage at some of their shows, and also by the song Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.

Friday Night Lights

In the movie Friday Night Lights, one of the characters is seen wearing a t-shirt with the Dark Side of the Moon album cover on it.

Crystal Voyager

The last section of Crystal Voyager, a 1975 documentary film about surfer George Greenough, consists of Greenough's distinctive surf camerawork, showing a surfer's-eye viewpoint of the waves whilst Echoes by Pink Floyd plays. The film is available on DVD.

Bubsy 2 (SNES Game)

In the Super Nintendo game Bubsy 2, one of the first levels in the game, named "Dark Side Of The Tomb," is a reference to the Dark Side Of The Moon album.

The Doors (film)

When the band is reheasing/practising their song "Break On Through (to the Other Side)", after Pam Morrison (Meg Ryan) states that their song is "hot", the guitarist plays a riff that sounds exactly like the begining of the song Wish You Were Here.

Franz Ferdinand

In their music video, "Do You Want To", it shows a man shaking hands with a mannequin who is on fire. This is a clear reference to the album cover of Wish You Were Here.

The Fairly Oddparents

In an episode where Timmy finds a genie at his hippie teacher's yard sale, he learns of a mystical power called The Smoof, similar to that of Star Wars' The Force. While browsing through his teacher's belongings, he sees many Smoof-related items. He comes across an album that he calls "Dark Side of the Smoof" which has a cover identical to that of the Dark Side of the Moon album, except that it has a square prism instead of a triangular one.

The Squid and the Whale

Jesse Eisenberg's character Walt Berkman plagiarized Hey You as his own.

Dazed and Confused

Jason London's character is Randall "Pink" Floyd.

American Beauty

When Lester buys pot off of Ricky, he (Lester) is amazed to find out that Ricky likes Pink Floyd.

Synchronicities

The Wizard of Oz

When the album Dark Side of the Moon is played simultaneously with the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, the images of the movie often appear to be synchronized with the music and lyrics. Many fans have explored this phenomenon, which band members deny was intentional. See Wizard of Oz-Dark Side of the Moon Synchronicity

2001: A Space Odyssey

Another interesting synchronization occurs between the song Echoes, from Meddle, and the last scene of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, titled "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite." Although the relationships are less literal than those of the synch for The Wizard of Oz, they flow together well in a way that suggests that Pink Floyd intended the synchronization. When the two are played at the same time, there are periods where they are so similar that it is not discernable whether the sounds are from the song or the movie. The synch is started by aligning the first note of "Echoes" (the high pitched "ping") with the appearance of the title "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite."

It has been suggested that Kubrick may have at one point contacted Pink Floyd to score the film using existing and new material ("Echoes" could have had its genesis there, as Pink Floyd rarely completely abandoned a composition). A Clockwork Orange and other Kubrick films may also have been considered for similar treatment in varying degrees.

Apocalypse Now

One further interesting synchronization is when the Kurtz/Caribou killing scene in Apocalypse Now is played along with the song One of These Days from Meddle [1]. The beginning of the song is about 1 minute of soft wind blowing and is included. The song is begun at the same time as track 34 from Apocalypse Now (Redux) entitled "Caribou Sacrifice".

• The dancing of the Montagnards appears consistent with the bass beat of the song.
• As Willard enters the temple to kill Kurtz with an axe, the only lyrics of the song occurs - "One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces".
• The Song finishes and segues into wind as Kurtz mutters "The Horror".

Cycles

Pink Floyd is known for including cycles or bookends in their albums. Some cycles include:

• The heartbeat in Dark Side of The Moon
• Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Wish You Were Here)
• Pigs on the Wing (Animals)
• "...came in?" "Isn't this where we..." on The Wall
• The radio news in The Final Cut
• The wind in Meddle

Lengthy recordings

Pink Floyd are known for their lengthy recordings:

• (25:40) "Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-9)" on Wish You Were Here (split into two parts)
• (23:39) "Atom Heart Mother Suite" on Atom Heart Mother
• (23:29) "Echoes" on Meddle
• (17:08) "Dogs" on Animals
• (16:46) "Interstellar Overdrive" (original version) on Tonite Let's all make Love in London - also (09:41) on The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
• (13:21) "Sysyphus (Parts 1-4)" on Ummagumma
• (13:00) "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" on Atom Heart Mother
• (12:17) "The Narrow Way (Parts 1-3)" on Ummagumma
• (11:52) "A Saucerful of Secrets" on A Saucerful of Secrets - also (12:48) on Ummagumma - also (09:45) on Live at Pompeii
• (11:28) "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" on Animals
• (10:24) "Sheep" on Animals
• (09:58) "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" on Live at Pompeii - also (09:12) on Ummagumma
• (8:50) "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" on Ummagumma
• (08:49) "Sorrow" on A Momentary Lapse of Reason - also (10:30) on P*U*L*S*E
• (08:44) "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party Parts 1-3" on Ummagumma
• (08:30) "High Hopes" on The Division Bell
• (08:28) "Astronomy Domine" on Ummagumma
• (07:40) "Us and Them" on Dark Side of the Moon
• (07:28) "Yet Another Movie/Round and Around" on A Momentary Lapse of Reason
• (07:26) "Grantchester Meadows" on Ummagumma
• (07:25) "Welcome to the Machine" on Wish You Were Here
• (07:13) "Quicksilver" on Music From the Film More
• (07:06) "Time" on Dark Side Of The Moon
• (07:04) "Poles Apart" on The Division Bell

Miscellaneous

• The 1988 live album The Delicate Sound Of Thunder is allegedly the first rock music to be played outside of Planet Earth. Cosmonauts of Soyuz TM-7 took an advance cassette (the album not being released until shortly afterwards) with them aboard their 1988 space mission. Pink Floyd were present at the launch [2].

• The giant inflatable pig that was to be used on the Animals album cover (floating over the Battersea Power Station) reportedly slipped its moorings and floated off, being spotted by airline pilots at 40,000 feet. It has been suggested that this was actually a deliberate publicity stunt [3].

• The original inflatable pig used in the Animals and Wall tours was designated intellectual property of Roger Waters that could not be used in the reformed (Gilmour, Mason and Wright) Floyd tours. They got around this by changing the sex of the pig, adding testicles.

• Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, a list of 150 songs circulated on the internet purportedly sent out by radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications that were recommended to be pulled from airplay (it was later determined that the original list was the work of a few program directors working independently, and that the list changed and grew as it was circulated). Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell" and "Mother" were on the list.

• On the song "Wish You Were Here", in the 44th second, a small cough can be heard, followed by an even quieter sniff at the 48th second. There are reports that this cough was what led David Gilmour to quitting smoking during the recording of the album, but some think the cough could just as easily be just to add to the 'person listening to WYWH coming onto the radio' effect.

• Meddle, released in 1971 and considered Pink Floyd's turning-point album, received mixed reviews upon its release. Michael Watts of Melody Maker passed off the album as "So much sound and fury signifying nothing". Drummer Nick Mason responded to Watts' review by sending him a gift box containing a boxing glove mounted on a spring.

• 19367 Pink Floyd is an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter. The minor planet was named to honor the band. The citation announcing the naming appeared on Minor Planet Circular 49281 issued on August 6th, 2003. It states the discovery was on December 3rd, 1997.

• In "Have A Cigar" from Wish You Were Here, the line "by the way, which one's Pink?" was reportedly said by one of the execs that signed them.

• The album Dark Side of the Moon ends with a quote said very quietly "there is no dark side of the Moon really... as a matter of fact it's all dark" Also afterwards, there is thought to be a nearly inaudible clip of music playing. There have been several theories on what the song may be, one of which says it is The Beatles song Day Tripper playing somewhere else in the studio, unknowingly being recorded by the microphones.

The Beatles and Pink Floyd were both well-known patrons of EMI's Abbey Road Studios; however, Dark Side Of The Moon was recorded well after The Beatles' breakup. Other theories is that the song was an orchestral version of The Beatles' "Ticket To Ride."

• In June of 2002, Bill Clinton replaced his previous dog Buddy with a chocolate Labrador retriever puppy which he named Seamus.

Tributes

Notable tribute bands

A multitude of tribute bands for Pink Floyd appeared in the 1990s. They include:

• Crazy Diamond, The Real Reflections Of Pink Floyd, The Tribute show [4]
• The Surrogate Pink Floyd Show [5]
• Pig Floyd [6]
• Which One's Pink? [7]
• The Australian Pink Floyd Show
• The Machine
• The Great Gig in the Sky
• The Pink Floyd Experience (New Zealand)
• Think Floyd
• Pink Fraud
• Pink Void
• Off The Wall [8]
• The End (Argentinian band) [9]
• Ummagumma (Argentinian band) [10]
• Out Of Phase
• Pink Froyd
• Final Cut (German band)
• Floydian Slip
• Brain Damage [11]
• Blue Floyd
• The Pink Tones (Spanish band) [12]
• The Floydian Propulsion Project [13]
• Dúndurfréttir (Icelandic band) [14]
• Alwijn (French band) [15]
• The Surrogate Band [16]
• Comfortably Numb - Canada's Pink Floyd Show [17]
• The Pink Floyd Experience (Canadian) [18]

Covers, remixes tributes by notable artists

• In the mid-1990s, several people (supposedly including Trent Reznor and Jim Cauty of the KLF) released pirate trance remixes of More, Atom Heart Mother, Meddle, Obscured By Clouds, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here (which was later reissued), Animals, The Wall, A Collection of Great Dance Songs, The Final Cut, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, and The Division Bell.

• The Orb did a complete ambient dub remix of the Wish You Were Here album as tribute to one of their favorite bands.

• Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade recorded a complete live performance of the Pink Floyd classic album, Animals on a CD titled Live Frogs Set 2

• Luther Wright and the Wrongs made a country/bluegrass version of The Wall titled Rebuild the Wall [19]

• Jam band Phish performed Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety during a November 2, 1998 concert in Utah.

• Other bands like Nightwish, Marilyn Manson, At the Drive-In, KoЯn, Dream Theater, Velvet Revolver, Primus, Voivod, PROBOT, Scissor Sisters, Kittie, Mushroomhead, Type O Negative, System of a Down, Stone Temple Pilots, David Bowie, Unified Theory, Class of 99, Anathema, Wyclef Jean and Foo Fighters have recorded covers of Pink Floyd.

• Easy Star All-Stars have recorded a reggae/trip hop version of Dark Side of the Moon entitled Dub Side of the Moon [20].

• Eminem tributed "Another Brick in the Wall" in D12's Revelation. Also Eminem's "Brain Damage" is the same length as Pink Floyd's song of the same name

• There's a tribute album by the name of "Pink Floyd" featuring eg. Dweezil Zappa former members of Yes, King Crimson, Styx, Kiss. The album has cover versions of some of the best known Pink Floyd songs, most cut in length (longest being "Welcome to the Machine", 7:51).

Original tributes by notable artists

• Electronic musicians Klaus Schulze and Pete Namlook recorded a series of ten collaborations albums entitled The Dark Side of the Moog (1994-2005, completed) [21]. Those ambient and dark ambient albums were loosely inspired by the moodiest electronic parts of Pink Floyd (such as on Echoes and Wish You Were Here). They feature ten playful tracks names such as "A Saucerful Of Ambience", "Obscured by Klaus", "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Mother", etc.