Random Pink Floyd Tried To Make An Album That Ended Up Being Too Trippy Even For Them (12 items)

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  (#3) None Of The Experiments Led To Any Finished Songs

  While the band members spent weeks experimenting with the "Household Objects" project, they grew frustrated with the lack of results. Nick Mason later claimed, "[We] never managed to produce any actual music... the most we ever achieved was a small number of tentative rhythm tracks."

  While this isn't exactly true, only a couple of tracks from these experimental sessions have been released, and they seem half-completed compared to the careful compositions on The Dark Side of the Moon.
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  (#6) Roger Waters Came Up With An Idea For An Album About Absence

  With a fresh start needed, Pink Floyd looked for inspiration. Roger Waters found it in the absences he was beginning to notice in his life. He and his wife were growing apart and on the verge of divorce, and he felt his bandmates weren't as committed to the art of music as he was. Waters also missed his friend, founding Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett.

  Waters felt these feelings of loneliness and the theme of missing those close to you would make a strong album concept, and his bandmates agreed. The album soon became known as Wish You Were Here.
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  (#4) The Project Was Inspired By Earlier Pink Floyd Songs

  The 1973-1974 sessions for "Household Objects" weren't the first time Pink Floyd had tried to use sound effects in place of conventional instruments. Their 1970 album Atom Heart Mother contains a track called "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast," where sounds including frying eggs and bacon and a dripping faucet were added to a musical riff.

  The band was pleased with the final result and started adding sound effects to future albums, including clocks and rattling bullets on The Dark Side of the Moon. They even made a shorter, less dedicated attempt at using household objects in place of instruments during some 1971 sessions. 
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  (#5) The Band Eventually Soured On The Project

  After months of sessions on "Household Objects," frustration had built up, and most of the band was ready to move on from the idea. "A lot of the time it would just be like plonky noises," guitarist David Gilmour said, calling the sessions "rather unsatisfying."

  Nick Mason came to feel the sessions were a "delaying tactic" keeping them from the hard work of writing real songs. Keyboardist Richard Wright remembered sitting down with Roger Waters and saying, "Roger, this is insane!"

  Eventually, everyone agreed a new direction was needed, and the band abandoned "Household Objects."
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  (#9) Tensions Threatened To Drive The Band Apart

  The frustrations that put an end to "Household Objects" didn't disappear when Pink Floyd put down the rubber bands and wine glasses. The increasingly dominant voice of Roger Waters began irritating the other band members, especially David Gilmour. Two of his songs were dropped and replaced with more of Waters's "absence-themed" tracks after Nick Mason and Richard Wright outvoted Gilmour.

  The song "Have A Cigar," meanwhile, was supposed to include Waters's vocals. When experienced rock singer Roy Harper dropped by, however, the others encouraged Harper to record the track. To Waters's annoyance, Harper's voice made it on the final cut of the album. 
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  (#10) The Man On The Album Cover Was Actually On Fire

  Wish You Were Here's famous album art was made by esteemed design studio Hipgnosis, who had created many of Pink Floyd's previous covers. Lyrics on the album inspired the central image of the handshake, and the man on fire represents the fear of "getting burned" when you expose your real emotions.

  The photo itself was shot at Warner Bros. Studios near Los Angeles, CA, with stuntmen Ronnie Rondell and Danny Rogers dressed as businesspeople. Rondell really was on fire, and during the first take, the wind blew flames into his face and burned his mustache. 

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