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

Description

With their early experiments in psychedelic rock music in the 1960s, and their epic recordings of the 1970s and '80s, Pink Floyd became one of the most influential and recognizable rock bands in history. As "The Pink Floyd Sound," the band created sound and light shows that defined psychedelia in England and inspired similar movements in the Jefferson Airplane's San Francisco and Andy Warhol's New York City. The band's subsequent recordings forged rock music's connections to orchestral music, literature, and philosophy. "Dark Side of the Moon" and "The Wall" ignored pop music's ordinary topics to focus on themes such as madness, existential despair, brutality, alienation, and socially induced psychosis. They also became some of the best-selling recordings of all time. In this collection of essays, sixteen scholars expert in various branches of philosophy set the controls for the heart of the sun to critically examine the themes, concepts, and problems—usually encountered in the pages of Heidegger, Foucault, Sartre, or Orwell—that animate and inspire Pink Floyd's music. These include the meaning of existence, the individual's place in society, the interactions of knowledge and power in education, the contradictions of art and commerce, and the blurry line—the tragic line, in the case of Floyd early member Syd Barrett (died in 2006)—between genius and madness. Having dominated pop music for nearly four decades, Pink Floyd's dynamic and controversial history additionally opens the way for these authors to explore controversies about intellectual property, the nature of authorship, and whether wholes—especially in the case of rock bands—are more than the sums of their parts.

Get the book

Amazon.com

Search the book

eBay.com

Search the book

Other editions

• 

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

  • 2007
  • 284 pages
  • Paperback
  • Open Court Publishing

Similar books

• 

  Roger Waters and Pink Floyd: The Concept Albums

  By Phil Rose

  Beyond its elucidation and critique of traditional ‘notation-centric’ musicology, this book's primary emphasis is on the negotiation and construction of meaning within the extended musical multimedia works of the classic British group ...

• 

  Pink Floyd Trivia Book

  By Dale Raynes

  To help you connect, or perhaps reconnect, with the lives, music, and legacy of this fascinating band, interesting facts and historical moments are highlighted in this book, Pink Floyd Trivia Book.

• 

  Rush and Philosophy: Heart and Mind United

  By Jim Berti, Durrell Bowman

  VOLUME 1 Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing (2000) VOLUME 2 The Simpsons and Philosophy: The ... or Mission Frakked Up? (2008) Edited by Josef Steiff and Tristan D. Tamplin VOLUME 34 iPod and Philosophy: iCon ...

• 

  Making Meaning in Popular Song: Philosophical Essays

  By Theodore Gracyk

  if we can recognize that she sounds like someone who is aggressively taunting, but we can remain in a third-person perspective in our make-believe engagement. On my view, we should embrace elements of both accounts.

• 

  Led Zeppelin and Philosophy: All Will Be Revealed

  By Scott Calef

  For full details of all Popular Culture and Philosophy® books, visit www.opencourtbooks.com. ... VOLUME 18 Harley-Davidson and Philosophy: Full-Throttle Aristotle (2006) VOLUME 19 Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think!

• 

  Philosophy at 33 1/3 Rpm: Themes of Classic Rock Music

  By James Franklin Harris

  There was a certain amount of " escape " from the present involved in drug use - escape from perceived oppression by parents and society ; however , there was also a strong theme of escaping into the freedom of the present .

• 

  Leonard Cohen and Philosophy: Various Positions

  By Jason Holt

  VOLUME 1 Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing (2000) VOLUME 2 The Simpsons and ... God Bites the Dust (2009) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison VOLUME 44 Led Zeppelin and Philosophy: All Will Be Revealed ...

• 

  'Speak to Me': The Legacy of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon

  By Russell Reising

  This collection of essays provides indispensable studies of the monumental 1973 album from a variety of musical, cultural, literary and social perspectives.

• 

  The Routledge Handbook of Pink Floyd

  By Chris Hart, Simon A. Morrison

  By July 1978, during the last North American leg of the Pink Floyd Animals In the Flesh tour, in support of the Animals album (1977), Waters grew increasingly frustrated with playing live. e idea of building a wall between the band ...

• 

  Pink Floyd FAQ: Everything Left to Know ... and More!

  By Stuart Shea

  Nicholas Schaffner's Saucerful of Secrets, a delightful narrative history of the Pink Floyd's first twenty years. ... This philosophy publisher has collected works from sixteen writers on the subtext and deeper meanings of Floyd songs.