Pink Floyd and Philosophy: Careful with that Axiom, Eugene!

by George A. Reisch (Editor)

Overview

Pink Floyd’s sound and light shows in the 1960s defined psychedelia, but their later recordings combined rock, orchestral music, literature, and philosophy. Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall ignored pop music’s usual strictures to focus on themes of madness, despair, brutality, and alienation. Here, 16 scholars set delve into the heart of Pink Floyd by examining ideas, concepts, and problems usually encountered not in a rock band's lyrics but in the pages of Heidegger, Foucault, and Sartre. These include the meaning of existence, the individual's place in society, the contradictions of art and commerce, and the blurry line between genius and madness. The band’s dynamic history allows the writers to explore controversies about intellectual property, the nature of authorship, and whether wholes, especially in the case of rock bands, are more than the sum of their parts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812696363
Publisher:	Open Court Publishing Company
Publication date:	11/28/2007
Series:	Popular Culture and Philosophy , #30
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Pink Floyd: From Pompeii to Philosophy     ix
Pink Floyd in Popular Culture     1
"I Hate Pink Floyd," and other Fashion Mistakes of the 1960s, '70s, and Beyond   George A. Reisch     3
Life and Death on The Dub Side of the Moon   Cari Callis     17
Dark and Infinite   Sue Mroz     25
Pigs Training Dogs to Exploit Sheep: Animals as a Beast Fable Dystopia   Pat Croskery     35
Exploring the Dark Side of the Rainbow   Andrew Zimmerman Jones     43
Mashups and Mixups: Pink Floyd as Cinema   Josef Steiff     49
Alienation (Several Different Ones)     59
Dragged Down by the Stone: Pink Floyd, Alienation, and the Pressures of Life   David Detmer     61
Roger Waters: Artist of the Absurd   Deena Weinstein     81
Theodor Adorno, Pink Floyd, and the Psychedelics of Alienation   Edward Macan     95
I and Thou and "Us and Them": Existential Encounters on The Dark Side of The Moon (and Beyond)   David MacGregor Johnston     121
Apples and Oranges? Or just Apples?     139
Pulling Together as a Team: Collective Action and Pink Floyd's Intentions   Ted Gracyk     141
The Dinner Band on the Cruise Ship of Theseus   Michael F. Patton, Jr.     163
Perception, Non-Being and other Empty Spaces     177
Distorted View: A Saucerful of Skepticism   Scott Calef     179
Wish You Were Here (But You Aren't): Pink Floyd And Non-Being   Jere O'Neill Surber     191
It's All Dark: The Eclipse of the Damaged Brain   Randall E. Auxier     201
The Art of Insanity: Nietzsche, Barrett, and Beyond     229
Wandering And Dreaming: The Tragic Life of Syd Barrett   Erin Kealey     231
Submersion, Subversion, and Syd: The Madcap Laughs and Barrett between Nietzsche and Benjamin   Brandon Forbes     243
The Worms and the Wall: Michel Foucault on Syd Barrett   George A. Reisch     257
Living Pink   Steven Gimbel     271
Selected Pink Floyd Discography     279
In the Flesh...     283
Index     287

Editorial Reviews

A collection of 19 essays dissecting Floyd, musically, lyrically and conceptually, always informed, occasionally witty but sometimes, long-winded. Academics combine analytical techniques with their own appreciation, study and experience of enjoying Floyd… Educational, entertaining, at times perplexing, it had me playing those CDs with new insights; I would re-title it: Think Floyd! – Classic Rock Society, January 2009

From the Publisher