He see nothing wrong however, with other groups breaking into the singles field nor does he feel it will do them any harm. If we got a single that went to No 1 it might be nice but it wouldn’t be important because that’s not what we are about.” “I find the whole business of pop and Top Of The Pops a drag, and the singles scene is a dying market anyway. “Then we came to realise that it was not important to get hits and that, in fact, a No 1 for us might be a bit of a drag. “Well we had that one hit and then two after that didn’t make it,” he replied.
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I asked Richard if the group had any inclinations to return to singles, with the successes of Fleetwood Mac and Jethro Tull in mind. Their double set, “Ummagumma,” is at No 9 in this week’s NME Chart. “It is very encouraging to find that what you believe in is commercial.”Īfter a couple of medium successes with singles, the Floyd dropped away from the market to make their name through albums. “It’s nice too that what has happened in the past three-four years has encouraged really good musicians to care about what is happening in pop and to form their own bands. I should think it’s pretty hard to establish yourself as a teenybopper group now. “Audiences now demand that you must he able to play your instrument - it’s not just a question of having a pretty face or wearing way out clothes. Now because of it even straight pop is becoming better. “And because the pop thing was then so shallow and empty and people wanted better things. It was UFO it was groups like us and the whole hippie philosphy that was connected with it. “Even Glasgow, which you might expect to be an incredibly bad scene for a group like us, is a really beautiful place to play.” “Yes I would agree that it is today’s pop music, and it is really nice because there are so many groups playing good music and it is accepted everywhere.”Įverywhere? “Well there are still a few places where a few people will walk out, but generally speaking it just gets better and better. “I don’t think we could have seen it happening to such an extent where today the Underground is now the overground and Underground groups are getting better money than the teenyboppers. “I’ll never forget Pete Murray saying on ‘Juke Box Jury’ that we were just a cult and would last for six months.”įrom the groundwork laid by the Floyd and their contemporaries the whole Underground network, along with the University circuit, built up.Ĭould Richard forsee the progressive boom? “I knew it would happen some time but I didn’t know if it would happen quickly or slowly.
“They saw us as a lot of freaks getting up on stage and playing freakish music. “People just didn’t believe in us I think they regarded us as a huge joke,” continued Richard without bitterness. Instead we came along with this strange music they didn’t understand. “At the same time we had a slight hit with See Emily Play and people expected us to play Top 20 stuff. “But when we went outside London nobody wanted to know. “When we started in UFO it was a beautiful place to play,” recalled Floyd keyboard wizard Richard Wright when we spoke last week.
Three or so years back when it was all starting, Pink Floyd were getting a rough ride from the pop pundits… but went on to do perhaps more than any other group to open the way for the new breed of pop musicians who in 1969 have made their presence felt in no uncertain manner.Īs far as last laughs and all that, Pink Floyd have plenty to chuckle about. When the Tremeloes can talk about playing progressive material then the day is dawning for the complete establishment into pop of a stream of music once laughed at and contemptuously dismissed as a short-lived fad. Label: EMI Records, Harvest Records (UK), SHDW 1, SHDW 2
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