PF History

Alright, so in 1963, two fellows had met at the London Polytechnic at Regent Street, which is now the University of Westminster, by the name of Roger Waters and Nick Mason. Both architecture students shared a love of music, Waters a guitarist and Mason a drummer. Together, they joined a band set up by Keith Noble and Clive Metcalfe with Noble's sister Sheilagh involved. Roger Waters on lead guitar, interesting thing to note there really. Soon, a Keyboardist named Richard Wright joined, although as there was often not a keyboard available, he was the Rhythm guitarist and thus, Sigma 6 was born.

September, 1963, Roger and Nick moved into an apartment, although Nick moved out early 1964 and in came a guitarist named Bob Klose, which prompted Roger Waters to become a bassist. Sigma 6 went through a whole bunch of other names, before settling on Tea Set. However, out came  the loss of Noble, Metcalfe and Sheilagh, and incame two people. Moving in with Waters and Klose was a childhood friend of Roger Waters, a guitarist by the name of Syd Barrett. Mason said this about Barrett: "In a period when everyone was being cool in a very adolescent, self-conscious way, Syd was unfashionably outgoing; my enduring memory of our first encounter is the fact that he bothered to come up and introduce himself to me." Oh, and Bob introduced them to a singer named Chris Dennis, a technician with the Royal Air Force. Shorten this down, Dennis got called up to serve and Syd became the front man of the band. That was 1965.

1965, The Tea Set were permenant residents of Countdown Club, and played 3 sets each night that lasted 90 minutes in all.  Bob Klose quit the band after pressure from his tutors and parents, leading Barrett to take over the lead guitar. There's your four, in mid 1965, the Tea Set were Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright. Then, sadly, the Tea Set were not called the Tea Set anymore, no, they became the Pink Floyd Sound. Let us mourn the loss of the great name, The Tea Set. The Pink Floyd Sound name came from two Blues Musicians that Syd Barrett had in his collection, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Still, I like The Tea Set as a name..

By 1966, Pink Floyd Sound was still mostly rhythm and blues songs. They weren't out of College (as far as I could tell.) But, they were receiving bookings and after playing the Marquee Club in 1966, Peter Jenner saw them. A lecturer at the London School of Economics, Jenner was impressing with Pink Floyd Sound's er, sounds. Moreso, the sonic effects that Barrett and Wright had set up. Jenner got his friend and buisness, Andrew King involved, and a business known as Blackhill Enterprises was set up using King's inheritance money. Despite the pair having little music buisness experience, King and Jenner, or moreso Blackhill Enterprises, began Pink Floyd Sound's managers. Following this, several things happened. First, the band got new equipment to use instead of the ones that most of them got second hand, or brought by Nick Mason (who apparentally used to buy all their instruments.) Secondly, the dropping of Sound from the band's name, making them Pink Floyd. This suggestion from Jenner was the end of the name saga..

We're nearly done with this history wrapup, don't worry! Pink Floyd became part of the underground scene, in which continued the experimentation of the long instrumental sections, as well as a crude but very effective light show apparentally. The Sunday Times stated: "At the launching of the new magazine IT the other night a pop group called the Pink Floyd played throbbing music while a series of bizarre coloured shapes flashed on a huge screen behind them ... apparently very psychedelic." Of course, not everyone was a fan, seeing  as following a performance at a Catholic youth club, the owner refused to pay them, claiming that their performance wasn't music. When their management filed suit in a small claims court against the owner of the youth organisation, a local magistrate upheld the owner's decision. That was 1966.