Pink Floyd has a secret, troubled, and fascinating history that begins in Cambridge, England, during World War II, when its members were still children, and extends to the recent past. The life and music of Roger Waters, David 
Gilmour, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and Syd Barrett, along with their conflicts, neuroses, fears, passions, and victories, are dissected in a narrative that impresses with its wealth of detail. Featuring interviews with dozens of people close to the musicians – friends, girlfriends, work partners, witnesses, music critics – as well as testimonies from the band members themselves. Behind the Scenes of Pink Floyd follows step by step the genesis of Pink Floyd and their entire career.
The story of the band Pink Floyd begins in the mid-60s when a group of friends formed a band that had various names and lineups, but it was only in 1965, when they were still called “Tea Set”, that they discovered they needed to change their name, as there was already a band with the same name. It was then that Syd Barrett suggested they call themselves The Pink Floyd Sound, in a clear homage to the blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. For a while, they used that name, but soon changed to The Pink Floyd and shortly after just Pink Floyd.
With the name resolved, it was time to forge new paths in the music world, and despite many difficulties and even a certain “opposition” from Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd released their first album on August 5, 1967. The Piper At the Gates Of Dawn received all kinds of reviews, but throughout history, the album became a landmark of art rock and psychedelic rock. For the band, it garnered attention and gave them a certain status in the underground scene. However, while The Piper At the Gates of Dawn was a ticket for the band into the world of commercial music, for Syd Barrett, who practically led the entire album, it marked the beginning of his vertiginous 
decline, from which he never recovered.
If on one hand Syd Barrett’s departure was a blow to fans of psychedelic Pink Floyd, on the other, it gave Roger Waters the chance he was waiting for to shape the band’s sound as he pleased, which in turn was also due to the merit of David Gilmour, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason. This marked the beginning of the band’s meteoric rise to stardom as the most iconic band of Progressive Rock.
Pink Floyd was and still is one of the greatest bands of all time in the realm of World Progressive Rock. One of the bands that most influenced others, whether in the same genre or not, and that, even with their “break”, continues to influence dozens, hundreds, and even thousands of people around the world.
Mark Blake’s Behind the Scenes of Pink Floyd shows us how a successful career is not easy; and even when one reaches the top, things become even more difficult. Blake dissects each member of the Floyd in each phase of the band through their record releases.
It is also through friends, roadies, and people who were closely linked to the band that the development of the book unfolds, showing us the facet of each musician. Perhaps for some, the personalities displayed in the book may be shocking, as one thing is to be a fan in the audience and another is to delve into each person’s story and realize that their idols were not, were not, and will never be the models of perfection that, in our role as fans, 
we thought they were.
The fights, intrigues, and disagreements are all meticulously reported throughout the book, especially the one related to the legal dispute between Roger Waters and David Gilmour over the rights to use the name. Drugs are also widely demonstrated throughout the story and, as in Barrett’s case, their consequences.
It is extremely interesting and often frustrating to know that musicians of the caliber of Richard Wright and Nick Mason were often relegated to the background and at times were not even acknowledged at all. Not that both were not at fault for the events of each within and outside the band, but discovering certain things that the book reports can be frustrating.
Mark Blake also managed to show the great importance that the band had in the global music market, recounting how the recording sessions, creations, rehearsals, shows, and much more of absolute classics like Animals, Wish You Were Here, The Final Cut, and the gigantic The Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wall unfolded.
Blake also shows us how Roger Waters became the band’s great composer and also its great dictator. His fixation on his father’s death in the war, his political engagements, and his disdain for the press are tirelessly demonstrated throughout his “reign”, which due to his frustrations ultimately resulted in his break with Floyd and a petty legal dispute with David Gilmour.
The author also brings to light all the difficulties Gilmour faced with Waters’ departure and the immense pressure he had to endure to show that he could be the new, and only, frontman of Floyd, which throughout history proved to be exactly that. But it is very interesting to see what he had to go through to establish himself as the “boss”.
But in any case, Pink Floyd managed to survive after all the setbacks the band suffered, leaving its mark in history, now still led by the affable Gilmour, and bringing much emotion to fans, whether they are old or new, who discover the power of this spectacular band every day.
The author Mark Blake is a writer, journalist, and music critic passionate about rock. He was the editor of Q magazine, the best-selling music publication in the UK, and is currently the editor-in-chief of special editions of Q and Mojo magazines. For years he has written about great rock bands for important music magazines and has interviewed personalities such as Roger Waters, Paul McCartney, Kurt Cobain, Bono, Ozzy Osbourne, and Robert Plant. The first show he attended was Pink Floyd in London in 1980. (Bio taken from the back cover of the book Behind the Scenes of Pink Floyd).
Jeffa Koontz
Literary Critic
www.sagaliteraria.com.br