Why was early Floyd not embraced by America?

Hmm....I started college in the fall of '69 and the first Floyd things I heard was Atom Heart Mother and Ummagumma....the two guys in my dorm who turned me on to those then played Piper and Saucer for me.

Svetonio wrote: SteveG wrote: Most Americans did not even know that Pink Floyd existed prior to the release of Dark Side of the Moon. But in the wake of DSotM, in an effort to play catch up, ignored albums like Atom Heart Mother, Piper..., Meddle and Relics were gobbled up, and soon after, quickly ignored again. Why didn't the American public ever warm up to early Pink Floyd? Perhaps American audience was saturated of that garage psychedelia whose British counterpart was Freakbeat what PF's debut actually was.

If the American public was sick of anything it was Mellow Yellow Donovan and Walrus era Beatles, not garage psych, which was a nitch.

I remember having this early Floyd conversation with my cousin back around '75 when I was just getting into prog.  He was about 10 years older than me and was moving in temporarily and gave me full access to his record collection.  We both distinctly saw Floyd's catalog split between DSoTM and after vs pre-DSoTM.  I was saying (in the infinite wisdom of a teenager prog snob who clearly knew everything but actually knew nothing) that I was going to stick with DSoTM forward and not bother with that early weird stuff.  Thankfully, my opinion changed a few months later when a friend was telling me about this crazy song called "Bike" and that I just had to hear it.  I bought Relics and loved it then picked up Piper at the Gates and it was like discovering the psychotic half brother of Sgt Peppers.  

Edited by The.Crimson.King - July 28 2015 at 20:14

Svetonio wrote: SteveG wrote: Svetonio wrote: SteveG wrote: Most Americans did not even know that Pink Floyd existed prior to the release of Dark Side of the Moon. But in the wake of DSotM, in an effort to play catch up, ignored albums like Atom Heart Mother, Piper..., Meddle and Relics were gobbled up, and soon after, quickly ignored again. Why didn't the American public ever warm up to early Pink Floyd? Perhaps American audience was saturated of that garage psychedelia whose British counterpart was Freakbeat what PF's debut actually was. If the American public was sick of anything it was Mellow Yellow Donovan and Walrus era Beatles, not garage psych, which was a nitch. Then the reason could be that freakbeat Pink Floyd simply had no chance in competition with the acts as Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream.

Dean wrote: Svetonio wrote: SteveG wrote: Svetonio wrote: SteveG wrote: Most Americans did not even know that Pink Floyd existed prior to the release of Dark Side of the Moon. But in the wake of DSotM, in an effort to play catch up, ignored albums like Atom Heart Mother, Piper..., Meddle and Relics were gobbled up, and soon after, quickly ignored again. Why didn't the American public ever warm up to early Pink Floyd? Perhaps American audience was saturated of that garage psychedelia whose British counterpart was Freakbeat what PF's debut actually was. If the American public was sick of anything it was Mellow Yellow Donovan and Walrus era Beatles, not garage psych, which was a nitch. Then the reason could be that freakbeat Pink Floyd simply had no chance in competition with the acts as Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream.

^Ah, I see, said the blind man. Thanks.

Far out

Right on was more about black power than hippies. Far out and groovy were the hippie catchwords

Sure the black culture had to borrow from the hippies, except in 1925 right on was in their culture. Were you a hippie back then too Steve

Right arm