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Few rock groups have relied on visual imagery, animation, and film as heavily as Pink Floyd. The group employed psychedelic backdrops during their early club shows before commissioning short films to project onto the signature circle shaped screen that loomed over their arena stages. All of which is no surprise—dating back to their formation in the mid-’60s, the band created created cinematic music that was perfectly suited to visual accompaniment.
This week Pink Floyd released The Endless River, their first album in twenty years. The album, recorded during the band’s 1993/4 Division Bell sessions and augmented this year, is almost entirely instrumental—and as a result is perhaps the most cinematic music they’ve produced.
Here is a list of what we consider to be the Essential VISUAL Pink Floyd, from their feature films to concert videos to promotional clips. Of course, such a guide MUST begin with…
PINK FLOYD: THE WALL
WHAT IT IS: A feature film based on the story told in The Wall album.
YEAR: 1982
Which one’s Pink? Why it’s Boomtown Rats (“I Don’t Like Mondays”) vocalist and Live Aid/Feed the World guy Bob Geldof, who portrays a supremely disaffected and disoriented rock star caught in a harrowing spiral. [Where to stream Pink Floyd: The Wall]
PINK FLOYD: LIVE AT POMPEII
WHAT IT IS: A ‘concert film’ of Pink Floyd preforming in an empty Roman amphitheater.
YEAR: 1972
The 60 or so minutes of live footage shot in the deserted ruins of a Pompeii amphitheater is Pink Floyd at its most epic, psychedelic, and otherworldly. Staged studio footage shot at Abbey Road during the recording of Dark Side Of The Moon was later added, which includes both gorgeous glimpses of “Us and Them” as well as odd yet amusing scenes of the band eating breakfast in the studio canteen. We’re grateful to Vimeo user Valhalla for posting a copy of it; you can watch it above.
“WELCOME TO THE MACHINE”
WHAT IT IS: Animation created for the In The Flesh (Animals) Tour.
YEAR: 1977
Gerald Scarfe’s bleakly abstract clip for this Wish You Were Here album track surveys the desolate dystopia left in the wake of music industry workings. Scarfe went on to work with Floyd songwriter Roger Waters on The Wall, providing the film’s iconic and savage animations.
“MONEY”
WHAT IT IS: Official promo video.
YEAR: 1973
This promotional clip features images of opulence as well as footage of actual piles of money, which is fitting, since piles of money is what the band were swimming in following the release of “Money” and its parent LP Dark Side Of The Moon. This video was used as a backdrop during live performances from the 70s on.
“ONE OF THESE DAYS”
WHAT IT IS: Unsolicited animation later approved by the band.
YEAR: 1972
British animator Ian Emes created this animation a year after the release of Meddle and its searing and sinister opening number. The clip features silhouettes dancing against abstract backdrops, including some Interstellar-worthy latticework at 1:30.
“TIME”
WHAT IT IS: Animated video played during live performances.
YEAR: 1973
More from Ian Emes, who created this spinning clock-depicting clip, as well as other films, for the 1973 Dark Side Of The Moon tour. The video was resurrected for the 1987-88 tours.
THE FINAL CUT
WHAT IT IS: A 19 minute short film.
YEAR: 1983
Waters wrote the storyline for this short film, which tells the story of a WWII veteran struggling to make sense of Thatcher’s Britain, and which serves as an extended video for four songs (“The Gunner’s Dream,” “The Final Cut,” “Not Now John,” and “The Fletched Memorial Home”) from 1982’s The Final Cut. The ex-soldier is played by Alex McAvoy, whose character here is far more sympathetic than the despotic school instructor he portrayed in The Wall film.
“SIGNS OF LIFE”
WHAT IT IS: Footage shot for the A Momentary Lapse Of Reason Tour.
YEAR: 1987
The video for the instrumental first track on the band’s first post-Roger Waters LP features hypnotic imagery of a single sculler on a serene River Thames—not far from the houseboat where the band recorded the song.
“MAROONED”
WHAT IT IS: Video shot for the 20th anniversary of The Division Bell.
YEAR: 2014
Hipgnosis, the Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell-founded design firm responsible for much of Pink Floyd’s artwork, produced this video for the Division Bell instrumental “Marooned” on the occasion of the album’s 20th anniversary. The clip, directed by Powell, is filled with low orbit Earth imagery before transitioning into footage of present-day Ukraine.
“LOUDER THAN WORDS”
WHAT IT IS: Video for the single from The Endless River.
YEAR: 2014
The video for this Rick Wright elegy continues the Floydian tradition of grand visual themes, weaving between images of the oarsman seen in the cover art of The Endless River as well as film of the rusted boat-ridden decaying Aral Sea, at the Uzbekistan/Kazakhstan border.
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