Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth album of Pink Floyd, the British rock quartet. Since 1973 when it was released, it has been regarded as one of the greatest rock albums in the history of music. In the present day, it definitely deserves listeners’ attention, and its analysis may substantially contribute to self-assessment and self-development. The purpose of this paper is to investigate Dark Side of the Moon from the positions of meanings, sounds, and influence on individuals. Characterized by an extraordinary thoughtfulness, clear conception, and the coherence of lyrics and sounds, Dark Side of the Moon still has a massive impact on human society, reflecting people’s attitude to life, death, madness, money, violence, choice, and social norms.
Dark Side of the Moon may be justly regarded as one of the greatest albums in the history of rock music, if not the most outstanding one. According to Epstein, who wrote for Rolling Stone magazine, “there are hit albums, and then there’s Dark Side of the Moon ” (par. 1). Recorded in several sessions from May 1972 to January 1973 at London’s Abbey Road Studios, Pink Floyd’s eighth album has become commercially successful after its release, with more than 45 million copies sold worldwide (Epstein par. 1). At the same time, Dark Side of the Moon is more than a top bestseller that stayed in charts for breathtakingly many weeks – it has managed to affect its creators and the rock music of the next generations as well. First of all, it was the artistic achievement of Pink Floyd that defined the British quartet’s career and turned an experimental and jam-oriented band loved by college students into worldwide renowned top-echelon rockers. At the same time, the album’s rich songwriting, heavy lyrical musings, and cerebral soundscapes led to people’s countless listening sessions, set quality standards for future albums, and inspired other musicians.
One of the major values of Dark Side of the Moon lies in its conception and thoughtfulness. In comparison with the majority of studio albums that imply a series of unrelated or unconnected songs, Pink Floyd’s well-written masterpiece includes a general theme addressed by all songs. As a matter of fact, there are multiple theories and disputes concerning the album’s concept and general meaning. Although Pink Floyd has partly provided the explanation of particular songs, listeners have been mostly given an opportunity to reflect and decide for themselves.
From a personal perspective, Dark Side of the Moon is about life and its shortness, the importance of living and being human, finding the purpose in life, factors that may impact its fulfillment, and death. At the same time, the album may be regarded as a warning to people about challenges in life that may affect its fragility and lead to insanity and destruction. In other words, “Breathe,” “Speak to Me,” “Time,” “The Great Gig in the Sky,” and “On the Run” are tracks that may be grouped according to their focus on people’s perceptions and multiple aspects of life including its futility and shortness, fear of death, the boredom of routine, parenthood, luck, and the freedom of choice.
In turn, other tracks, such as “Us and Them,” “Money,” “Any Colour You Like,” “Eclipse,” and “Brain Damage” address ideas and concepts that cause destruction, madness, and uncertainty or despair related to life reflected in the album’s other tracks. They are selfishness, greed, social pressure, violence, wars, racism, common insanity, and hidden negative feelings. Thus, Dark Side of the Moon helps listeners realize that the pursuit of material things, social approval, and public acceptance lead to dissatisfaction with life and recognition of its futility.
The meaning of the album corresponds with the ideas of individualism that were spread in the 1970s. According to Thompson, “by the 1970s, society had lost its constraining power and individualism became a matter of self-absorption and the quest for self-development” (851). Thus, concepts reflected in Dark Side of the Moon helped young people to understand themselves better and perceive the ways in which their lives could be fulfilled.
At the same time, listening to the album may be highly beneficial for individuals today, especially millennials who “more than any other generation, are searching for purpose and purposeful work” (Grant 1). Regarded as materialistic, narcissistic, and individualistic, they are concentrated on ambitions, achievements, and competitiveness. However, young people are frequently confused about life balance and their purpose in this world. For them, the album may serve as a source of wisdom and consistency, reminding that searching for truth is natural. It shows that life itself is highly important and appreciating every moment of it is paramount. In turn, there are multiple detrimental concepts, ideas, and events that may limit life fulfillment and lead to despair and madness – they should be understood to be avoided.
In general, the album’s reflection of society may be defined as timeless. In the present day, pandemic-related circumstances limit people’s ability to enjoy life. Tragic news, the lockdown measures, misinformation, global tiredness from multiple restrictions, and isolation lead to anxiety, helplessness, anger, and more serious health problems. The album’s message resonates with individuals’ emotional state – for example, “The Great Gig in the Sky” reflects people’s attitude to death, either acceptance of fear, “Us and Them” is about conflicts that prevail in the modern world due to restrictions, discrimination, and inequities, while “On the Run” express stress, anxiety, fear, and the senseless of life. All in all, Pink Floyd’s album emphasizes the inconstancy of life. Although there are bright and positive moments, they are inevitably changed by bleakness and even horrors that will pass as well. However, listeners can interpret songs in numerous different ways finding individual meanings that describe what they feel in a particular life period.
The whole album may be perceived as a journey for people who want to understand the importance of being a human, being alive, and life in general, uncover it, and find their purpose. It opens with a relatively long and cinematic introduction with the crescendo of heartbeat accompanied by distant voices, ticking clocks, and sound effects that resemble an airplane propeller, automobile motor, cash register, and arcade machine. It is possible to say that “Speak to Me” introduces life both within and outside a human being with its rhythm, dynamic, and pace. Listeners may identify a clear phrase, “I’ve always been mad,” that indicates society’s influence on the development of its members’ mental issues (“Speak to Me” 00:00:44). However, when “Breathe” starts, slide and chorused guitars, ride-cymbal drum kit, and bass enter all together, creating warm and delicious merging tones (“Breathe” 00:01:09). They replace the sounds of life, offering listeners to distract their attention from routine and explore another dimension in search of truth.
In general, “Breathe” represents the ideas of the shortness of life and its futility at the same time when people focus on the endless achievement of non-existing ideals, competition, and toil. On the basis of its message, the may be divided into parts, and one may be regarded as a parent’s guidance:
Run, rabbit, run
Dig that hole, forget the sun
And when at last the work is done
Don’t sit down it’s time to dig another one
For long you’ll live, and high you’ll fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race towards an early grave (“Breathe”)
In these lines, the importance of continuous hard work is emphasized, however, it is senseless as even if success is achieved, non-stop “race” will inevitably lead to early death. In turn, the author states that the purpose of a person is in an everyday living as life is positive and negative moments that constitute it, and only they should be valued:
Breathe, breathe in the air
Don’t be afraid to care
Leave, don’t leave me
Walk around and choose your own ground
Long you live and high you fly
Smiles you’ll give and tears you’ll cry
All you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be (“Breathe”)
Although the next track, “On the Run,” is predominantly instrumental, the theme of time passage is clearly recognizable. At the same time, the message of this song is controversial. On the one hand, it expresses people’s constant “race” for career achievements, money, or fame and related anxiety and stress. Moreover, airport announcements and a person’s steps scattered throughout it reflect the dynamic and rhythm of life. In other words, people forget to live being constantly on the run. On the other hand, this tempo symbolizes living on the spot, and a person’s words “Live for today, gone tomorrow” support this theory (“On the Run” 00:01:52). In any case, life is short and may finish suddenly and unexpectedly – in this song, life is probably compared with a plane that has crashed in the end.
In a genuine masterpiece, “Time,” various concepts of time are explored. In addition, this song may be regarded as a person’s attitude to time during his life.
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun (“Time”)
In the beginning, a young person feels unprepared for life, waiting for a mentor who will guide him. In addition, he may feel unsecured due to the pressure of society and organized power structures. At the same time, when a person is young, he does not realize how time passes and believes that the whole life is still in front of him.
So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I’d something more to say (“Time”)
Finding himself in the middle of life, a person starts to run, trying to achieve success and do things he was always dreaming about. However, the majority of opportunities have already been missed due to aging. In general, “Time” is a song about the fragility and shortness of life, every moment of which should be valued. The tragedy of missed opportunities due to the ignorance of the importance of time is majorly reflected in this track.
“The Great Gig in the Sky” is another predominantly instrumental work, and it is dedicated to the theme of death.
And I am not frightened of dying, any time will do, I
don’t mind. Why should I be frightened of dying?
There’s no reason for it, you’ve gotta go sometime (“The Great Gig in the Sky”)
People may accept dying or be afraid of death and hide this feeling. In this song, there are two contrasting positions – the first one belongs to a confident person whose attitude to death and the absence of fear is convincing. The second person admits that she accepts dying as well, however, her voice is less confident as if she conceals her genuine attitude to death.
The next song, “Money,” opens the series of tracks that present various things that may destroy life and lead to madness. Obviously, money and money-related greed are some of them, however, not all people understand this truth. For the majority of them, money implies multiple opportunities and life pleasure:
Money, get away.
Get a good job with good pay and you’re okay.
Money, it’s a gas.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I’ll buy me a football team (“Money”)
At the same time, when a person has more and more money, he cannot stop and wants more and more things. Money leads to debauchery and a lack of self-control. However, money is never enough, and that is why they become a source of multiple global problems:
Money, it’s a crime.
Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise it’s no surprise that they’re
giving none away. Away. Away. Away…. (“Money”)
“Us and Them” explores the themes of conflict, violence, and fighting that derive from people’s intolerance and inability to accept the existence of more than one opinion.
Us, and them
And after all we’re only ordinary men.
Me, and you.
God only knows it’s not what we would choose to do (“Us and Them”)
This song tries to show the senselessness of the black-and-white mentality that leads to struggles. Addressing a conflict’s physical aspect, “Us and Them” states that ordinary people will suffer while powerful ones will promote violence staying safe. Thus, people should reject being guided by ideas and opinions that aim to instigate a confrontation.
Finally, “Brain Damage” and “Eclipse” may be regarded as the album’s most somber compositions that address insanity, mental health disorders, a mental breakdown, and darkness to which they lead. It reflects both the insanity of a society obsessed with money, conflicts, competition, and success and the insanity of a person who ignores life and merges into his own reflections and concerns. The dark side of the moon symbolizes life’s unfulfillment and dissatisfaction that may destroy all – all hopes, all dreams, all love, all happiness.
Throughout Dark Side of the Moon, all songs are connected with each other, not only lyrically emphasizing the themes of life fragility, alienation, and insanity. Tracks have seamless musical coherence flowing into one another smoothly and symphonically s parts of one single harmonious melody. In general, the album may be regarded as a concert divided into pieces during which listeners have an opportunity to indulge themselves with spatialization, new electronic sounds, and the array of tones and pitches. Moreover, various sound effects, including alarms, chimes, footsteps, clocks, and cash registers, create a sense of presence. The inclusion of them into the traditional rock melodies of a quartet reminds that the perception of life, self-development, and self-assessment are included in everyday reality.
As previously mentioned, the album’s songs are coherent from the position of lyrics. This accordance is partly justified by the fact that the bassist Roger Waters is Dark Side of the Moon ’s sole lyricist (Epstein par. 4). Thus, he wanted to create a comprehensive, powerful message related to the power of life and its significance. The album is primarily based on emotions in response to concepts that affect society. According to him, he has suddenly realized that postponing life for education or career is wrong. It is not possible to prepare for life that is supposed to start later as life is happening now. That is why people should take responsibility for it and guide their destiny, trying to avoid things that limit life fulfillment.
Along with its songs’ lyrics and sounds, Dark Side of the Moon has a highly recognizable logo which meaning and history deserve attention as well. Richard Wright, Pink Floyd’s keyboard player, asked Storm Thorgerson, the graphic designer, to create the artwork requesting it to be elegant and simple. In turn, Thorgerson “along with his team of artists of Hipgnosis, a London-based art-design group, returned with what still remains, one of the most iconic and memorable designs for an album” (Wardle par. 2). From a personal perspective, the prism that disperses light symbolizes a person who understands life and aims to fulfill it.
As a concept album, Dark Side of the Moon reflects the fragility of life and how people are pressured by despair, mental illnesses, social norms, coming of age, conflicts, and weariness from routine. A dismal life flow is presented as a single light, however, spectral light is a symbol of life’s positive moments. As the objects of mythologized geometry, pyramids and triangles are “sacred shapes, somehow randomly appearing in the systemized chaos of the very fabric of life” (Wardle par. 6). Thus, it is in the power of every individual to turn hopelessness into new opportunities, dreams, and happiness. The dark side of the moon as a symbol of destruction may impact life, however, moonlight is only an illusion.