Comparison of Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree
Siddharth.V
BA.6.FEP
08d4412
Paper Code: OEN642a
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Objectives
3. Synesthesia
3. Synesthesia
4. Analysis
5. Conclusion
6. Bibliography
Introduction
A deep understanding of Psychedelic Rock
evokes similarities that are hidden beneath layers of sound. Comparisons
between artistes in this genre cannot be done by the basis of sound alone as
the genre of Psychedelic rock is varied and scattered; incorporating a lot of
other genres into it too. It is more of a notional concept rather than a
unified music that truly categorises these bands into such a style of playing.
This paper will focus on the tools used to analyse such music.
Music is a form of sound that is organised
and structured, but at the same time has the essence of life which relates to
even the middle of a crowded noisy mall. Arranging notes into identifiable
patterns, emanating from different instruments in cohesion automatically sets
the soul into a groove. Music is so therapeutic that we as people can merely
admire the timeless qualities of emotive passion that it carries.
Songs change in feel and type of sound
depending on geography, age, sex, social and political status, time-period etc.
Like anything else, music has a deeply ingrained culture. The artists
responsible for creating the music are influenced by their lifestyles and
cultures. What they create is based on many psychosocial factors- the instruments
available to play on, the lyrics they write, the way they choose to play
together and the final sound they decide to bring out. Another large part is
audience feedback. Any band inherently responds to ideals set out by a music
listening audience, whether positive or negative response.
The evolution of music as a commercial
venture requires it to be viewed by artists as an independent financial entity
responsible for their income. This is a very hard thing to do, especially if a
lot of you life and passion goes into making the music. It demands a detachment
of the musical mindset from the artist. Historically, music always had deep
societal roots, and thus was always at some level the cause of financial
income, whether it be the town-criers announcing the legendary Tansen’s music
show at Akbar’s palace, the bass-drone of Shamanic healing music, or simply the
multi-crore advertised rock concert in Bangalore .
The evolution of the i-pod, web downloads
and record companies have greatly aided the distribution of music, as well as
its commercial income. These advances have been looked at by many musicians as
unnecessary and divergent from the true aspects of good music. However it is
undeniable that newer, better instruments have been made only due to its commercial
aspect. Thus, technology, and its effect on new music has a great deal of
duality in nature.
As Steven Wilson, composer of Porcupine Tree
writes, “an entertainer is someone who caters to the demands of an audience,
while a true artiste creates his own audience.”
Objective
My personal interest in music started from
the very basic sound of Classic Rock in America and England in the
1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. Blues originated as a black man’s response to slavery,
and eventually grew to accommodate electric instruments and loud percussion. It
is evident to see how many international bands have been influenced by the
simple feel of blues, which follow mellow, easy-to-follow time structures, not
entirely unlike old Bollywood songs. One band in particular, Pink Floyd,
revolutionised the perception of Classic Rock with their unorthodox,
psychedelic sound. The introduction of alternate noises into rock changed the
landscape of that particular genre to become more accommodating to a more
diverse variety of sound. Pink Floyd stuck to the standard rock/blues roots,
but at the same time had an open mind to allow a whole range of other sounds
into their music, using the very limited musical equipment that they had.
Similarly,
Porcupine Tree, a more recent band which has been going strong for the past 2
decades comprises of a similar mindset, but with changes brought about in the
time. Long songs and complex structures inside a simple backing track increase
the intricacy of the music, but at the same time retain the common man’s
impression of a first-time listen. Advancements in audio technology allow them
to produce more naturally synthetic sounds, however the concept behind these
sounds runs parallel to Pink Floyd’s ideaology.
This is the base objective of this research
paper- a comparative analysis of the bands Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree.
Music
encompasses all aspects of life into the sound-whether consciously or not, thus
key motifs like violence and identity can be easily observed in Ghetto Rap for
example. Similarly, it is not difficult to see how modern concepts like
cyberspace, metropolitan life and blind intelligence can be applied to the
success of recent pop artists like Britney Spears. Another more related example
would be the effect of psychedelia on Classic Progressive rock. This
comparative paper will be looking at key aspects behind the music, such as
Politics, Sociology, Semiotics, Cyberculture, Urban Transformations, Screen
Culture, Media Piracy and how they emerge in the relative contextual
backgrounds of each band.
Synesthesia
A brief introduction to Psychedelia:
The term “psychedelic” originated in
correspondence during the early 1950s between two pioneers in the study of
psychoactive drugs: Humphry Osmond, a British psychiatrist who studied the
effects of mescaline and LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide; “acid”) on alcoholics
in Canada ,
and Aldous Huxley, the English author of Brave New World (1932) and The Doors
of Perception (1954). These men needed a word to describe the effects of the
drugs they themselves were taking, and Osmond suggested “psychedelic” from the
Greek words psyche (soul or mind) and delein (to make manifest) or deloun (to
show or reveal). He illustrated its use in a rhyme: “To fathom hell or soar
angelic, just take a pinch of psychedelic.” From the beginning, scientists
studying the effects of psychedelic drugs remarked on the way they enhanced the
experience of listening to music, sometimes causing “synesthesia,” or the
illusion of seeing sounds as colours. Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who
first synthesized LSD, noted that under its influence, “every sound generated a
vividly changing image with its own consistent form and colour.”
On a psychedelic “trip”, the notion of “identity
in a network society” starts to disappear. As you meld slowly into the
cosmos, your consciousness disintegrates into the tiny pieces that made you.
Every part of your body is aware, receptive, and not willing to conform to any
norm or social protocol that is of a historically oppressive nature. Basically
musicians derived the basis for their sound from Blues, but the heart and soul
of the sound comes undoubtedly with the near-death experiences that
psychedelics inherently bring with it.
Listening to such admittedly beguiling albums
as Sixteen Tambourines (1982) by the Three O’Clock and Emergency Third Rail
Power Trip (1983) by the Rain Parade (both members of the “paisley underground”
scene of mid-1980s Los Angeles), as well as Wonder Wonderful Wonderland (1985)
by Plasticland of Milwaukee, Auntie Winnie Album (1989) by England’s Bevis
Frond, and the work of British cult heroes Porcupine Tree, you’d be
hard-pressed to prove they weren’t recorded during the Summer of Love(hippie
era). During the middle of the second set of a Grateful Dead concert throughout
the late 1970’s to 1990’s, the band would go into a drum solo to a space rock
section. David Bowie's "Space Oddity" (1969) is probably the best
example of a space rock song achieving mainstream recognition
.
By transcending the ordinary, psychedelic
musicians and their listeners attempt to connect with something deeper, more
profound, and more beautiful. As Jerry Garcia, guru of the Grateful Dead, once
said, “Rock ‘n’ roll provides what the church provided for in other generations.”
And no form of rock music attempts to nourish more souls than psychedelia.
Analysis
A simple deconstruction of the sound of
psychedelic rock reveals that it is characterised by slow, lengthy instrumental
passages dominated by synthesizers, experimental guitar work and science
fiction lyrical themes. A heavy bass and drum line are usually running parallel
to this, producing an epic, complete sound. As a listener picks up a reference
point in the music, the point will slowly change and shift, as is the nature of
a progressive sound. We are not meant to fix a tight leash on the rhythms, but
instead slide in its indeterminacy.
The first example is based on historical
context, and involves the song “Voyage 34” by Porcupine Tree, and “The Wall” by
Pink Floyd. The Wall refers to the Iron Curtain, which was a prominent
oppressive tool during the Cold War between USA and Russia . Written in 1979 before the
actual collapse of the Berlin Wall, the lyrics focus on narrow-minded school
teachers propagating needless information during a time of world crisis. The
song can literally be looked at as a wall, engraved with the history and
failure of the 70’s. Essentially, Pink Floyd’s music has always depicted the
unrest with society, for example, the main line of the chorus from The Wall
is-“Hey, Teacher! Leave them kids alone!!”, then moving on to-“all in all
you’re just another brick in The Wall”.
Similarly,
Voyage 34, Porcupine Tree’s first commercialised attempt at an album(1993)
focuses on a similar musical scale to The Wall and has an almost identical bass
and drum line.
The
lyrics emphasise heavily on the use of psychoactive drugs and its possible
influence on a “bad trip”, and the introductory commentary to the song states
just that.
The
single consists of just one song divided in two phases, clocking in at 30
minutes, where a narrator's voice describes the LSD trip of a young man called
Brian in real time. It also features testimonies provided by other people
supposed to be LSD habitué consumers. This was the first song of the band to
explore the ground of trance music. As an instrumental song, it lashes out at
mainstream society and the addiction to prescription pills that Americans
clearly need to sort out. This evolutionary motif is an important one as Wilson keeps coming back
to it on almost every album since.
We can see how the audience’s notion of “violence”
can so easily be brought out contextually, through their music. Thus the
relation between the two bands can be seen by this example of comparison.
Another comparison would be the innate sound
produced by Porcupine Tree despite advancements in technology. As the 60’s
moved into the new millennium, instruments became far more advanced, with the
scope of writing a full-scale rock song merely on the computer. Steven Wilson
was a prodigy at unravelling the deepest sounds possible to be created by this
new technology, yet however; his music still reflects the ideals and pychedelia
of the hippie era. Pink Floyd, with their limited technology never sought to
cater to a crowd appeal, but instead used their primitive computers to create a
SPACE effect, into which anything could literally be added. This is
characteristic of an “Oppositional Public Sphere” as stated by Henry
Giroux.
In musical terms it represents the
distribution of a mind altering, unconventional sound through the use of mind
altering drugs.
As far as “visual culture” goes, both
bands were the propagators of the concept of visuals, each in their own time.
The ambivalence of their music, along with the continuous psychedelic
association necessitated the influence of moving pictures corresponding to the
music. Both bands have several long concerts, and a few movies each to their
credit.
In
the 70’s, Pink Floyd journeyed to Pompeii ,
Rome , the city
ruined centuries ago by the volcano Vesuvius. In an isolated, massive
amphitheatre, among blocks of lava, they recorded live video footage of the
song “Echoes”. The acoustics of the amphitheatre provided astounding acoustics
and the direction of the whole documentary is seamless. With faulty equipment,
travelling across the continent, other songs include primitive graphics to
enhance the psychedelic spirit of the moment. Right from the influence of
founder Syd Barrett, visual mediums have always been associated with Floyd,
right up to their 1994 epic concert “Pulse”.
“Fear
of a Blank Planet”, Porcupine Tree’s 2005 release focused heavily on the flaws
and imperfections in today’s culture- prescription pills, marauding cyberspace
and gaming, aggressive teenagers, American commercialism, globalisation, and
the inevitable FEAR that it provokes. The music video release shows Wilson ’s admirable
mentality. The video is highly edited, parts of the song cut out, reemphasising
the droning, monotonous feel that the song is intended to convey to the “new
commercial man”. This album was one of the most socially important context
albums by them(the others focused on psychedelic experiences). This album has
deeper motifs that reflect the composer’s experiences in today’s world. His
hatred to unnecessary technological advancement is clearly visible, although he
does use it too, in his music production. He detests i-pods, the concept of “social
cyberspace”, and the constant “surveillance” that the common man
endures.
Another example is the song “Every Home is
Wired”, in which Wilson
clearly portrays the ever watchful eye of government and society. Similarly,
Floyd has a song called “Welcome to the Machine”.
Lyrically too, both bands venture into
futuristic motifs, which in duality also represent the down-side to
technological advancement.
Pink Floyd
|
Porcupine Tree
|
Overhead
the albatross hangs
motionless upon the air
And
deep beneath the rolling waves
In
labyrinths of coral caves
The
echo of a distant tide
Comes
willowing across the sand
And
everything is green and submarine.
Strangers
passing in the street
By
chance two separate glances meet
And
I am you and what I see is me
And
do I take you by the hand
And
lead you through the land
And
help me understand the best I can
Cloudless
everyday you fall upon my waking eyes
inviting
and inciting me to rise
And
through the window in the wall
Come
streaming in on sunlight wings
A
million bright ambassadors of morning
And
no-one sings me lullabies
And
no-one makes me close my eyes
And
so I throw the windows wide
And
call to you across the sky
|
Sunlight
coming through the haze
No
gaps in the blinds
To
let it inside
The
bed is unmade,
Some
music still plays
TV,
yeah it's always on
The
flicker on the screen
A
movie actress screams
I'm
basking the shit flowing out of it
I'm
stoned in the mall again
Terminally
bored
Shuffling
round the stores
And
shoplifting is getting so last year's thing
X-Box
is a god to me
A
finger on the switch
My
mother is a bitch
My
father gave up ever trying to talk to me
How
can I be sure I'm here?
The
pills that I've been taking confuse me
I
need to know that someone sees that
There's
nothing left, I simply am not here
|
Conclusion
The
parallels run deep between the two bands, not intentionally, but subliminally.
It was not Steven Wilson’s intention for Porcupine Tree to sound like Pink
Floyd as he constantly states, even though they were undoubtedly one of his
early influences. However, the similarities are obvious to the deep music
listener. A follower of either of the two bands has at least some knowledge of
the other too. Thus we can see the strength of resistance that these
individuals like Wilson
and Gilmour(guitarist-Floyd) have to the normative patterns of life. We can
also see the effect of these “abnormal” patterns on the prospective listener,
who indulges in not-so-normal behaviour as a by-product of grooving to the
music. This sort of “blind intelligence” is mutually beneficial both to
artiste and audience as a sort of symbiosis and transmission of ideas and
pychedelia in rock music.
Thus,
we can deduce that Porcupine Tree somewhat represents a “repeating of history”
with relation to Pink Floyd, but in complete different contextual terms; in
such a way that Porcupine Tree not only seem like a modern version of Floyd,
but have also incorporated the values and lifestyles we live with today into
their sound. Thus both bands stand out clearly and individually under the
sub-category of Space Rock.
Bibliography
- DMT:The Spirit Molecule – Dr .Richard Strassman
- Rock And Roll Essay, Research Paper Britannica_com — My Best Essays.mht
- Space rock - Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia.mht
- Sample research paper topic Pink
Floyd.mht
- The British Music Invasion
The Effects On Society And Culture - Research Paper - Iffwbr95.mht
- Downloaded videos on Psychedelic
discussion by: Terence McKenna, Humphry Osmond, Albert Hoffman,
Timothy Leary, Aldous Huxley and Richard Allpert(Baba Ram Dass)