Syd Barrett

extremely blessed...

unfortunately, some people are predisposed to extreme mental health issues... and psychoactive drugs can "trigger," for lack of a better word/description, these things.


But, yes, the music he made was fucking amazing. "Astronomy Dominae" will always be my favorite song.
 
oneswtwld said:
extremely blessed...

unfortunately, some people are predisposed to extreme mental health issues... and psychoactive drugs can "trigger," for lack of a better word/description, these things.
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Never took that stuff too seriously. Could you provide some reading material on Syd's mental issues and how drugs affected them? I thought he just got way too withdrawn into himself and his art, and was a bit shy at most.
 
Just loved him.


I've got a bike you can ride it if you like.



I heard he was so out of it on Acid that he used to brush his teeth by holding the toothbrush still and jump up and down.:)
 
Love Syd. I can remember my phone going crazy with messages of condolence when he died. Thinking about it, I received far fewer when my mother died.

Regarding Syd and LSD (Syd and 'cid if you must) I recall reading an account in a biography (I think it was called Madcap) from a personal friend of Syd's which states (believe it or not) that Syd only took acid a handful of times (we're talking single figures) during 1967.

Granted, after '67 it's anybody's guess. I do know that he was a round-the-clock weed smoker though, and had a problem with quaaludes (and later heroin). I agree, however, that regardless of the drugs something was going to trigger his problems eventually.

As for the story about the toothbrush, I believe that's true. The best one I heard was about him shitting on the front doorstep of the holiday home in which he was staying, whilst shouting 'Wa-heeeey!' in the throes of apparent joy... a complicated and tragic figure, but one who left a wonderful (if scant) body of work.
 
Johnny Boy said:
Never took that stuff too seriously. Could you provide some reading material on Syd's mental issues and how drugs affected them? I thought he just got way too withdrawn into himself and his art, and was a bit shy at most.
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what did you not take seriously?

Yes, he did withdraw "into" himself and his art...

I won't touch that word shy right now...


I need a more elaborated question before I get you some "reading material;" which I can provide.


one love
 
Fact: Syd received some kind of outpatient mental health treatment in the years after Pink Floyd. He referred to it as "getting the yellow bus" or something similar.

It's hypothesised that he was either schizophrenic or he had Asperger's but nobody except his family know for sure. So 'withdrawn' and 'shy' yes, but clearly troubled above and beyond that.
 
Syd was a musical hero of mine! His contributions to the early Pink Floyd albums was visionary and his solo stuff in the Madcap Laughs is a favourite of mine. It's a great shame how mental health problems gradually eroded him away and I was genuinely upset when he died.
 
oneswtwld said:
schizophrenia and aspergers aren't exactly similar...
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Well, yes... and no. Certain symptoms in certain cases are markedly similar though. Unless you were on completely familiar terms with the person in question you'd only be able to observe said symptoms and even then only at a distance. Very few people outside Syd's family had any dealings with him after the early seventies. Hence the rather vague and nebulous speculation.

In fact, what we now know as Asperger's was originally branded 'childhood schizophrenia' by some professionals at the time. A chilling fact, but one that shows how far our understanding of both neurology and mental health has come.

Still a long way to go though, sadly.
 
Maybe you are confusing Asperger's with Autism... which isnt hard... and I do not want to get into this discussion bevause I know what you are going to "argue" brfore you say it


I think what is now considered to be "Autism" was once branded "Childhood schizophrenia" and Ive read many documented cases of the latter and worked with documented cases of a wide area of the spectrum of the former (and the latter I guess)

I've also worked with a wide area of the sectrum of those with the label "Asperger's Syndrome" and they are EXTRRMRLY different than those with "Autism."

For instance, my 2nd uncle has Autism. He is similar to some of the people with whom I worked with in mental institutions who were branded as "Schizophrenic"

My father, I would diagnose as having Asperger's Syndrome because of his lack of social/emotional understanding....


shit.. I got into the discussion.


The point is, these two spectrum disorders, which the line can be blurry on at times, admittedly, have only been researched, and barely in an effective fashion, for a small amount of time when you consider how young most behavior has truly been "Studied" scientifically...



SYD WAS THE MAN!!!!!
 
Anyone ever listened to his solo stuff after Pink Floyd? Evidence of his mental health issues can be found by listening to The Madcap Laughs and reading about the difficulties people had working with him on the album, and during his later time with Floyd. The Madcap Laughs is weird stuff, I don't like it much, but I love his stuff with Pink Floyd. He was indeed good.
 
oneswtwld said:
what did you not take seriously?

Yes, he did withdraw "into" himself and his art...

I won't touch that word shy right now...


I need a more elaborated question before I get you some "reading material;" which I can provide.


one love
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I didn't believe had "extreme" mental issues, that's what I was trying to say.
by reading material I meant any info on it, preferably online because its hard to find any books on Syd where I live in.
 
psychomimetic said:
Anyone ever listened to his solo stuff after Pink Floyd? Evidence of his mental health issues can be found by listening to The Madcap Laughs and reading about the difficulties people had working with him on the album, and during his later time with Floyd. The Madcap Laughs is weird stuff, I don't like it much, but I love his stuff with Pink Floyd. He was indeed good.
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I actually like his solo stuff better than his PF stuff. Although, his BEST stuff is was the stuff he did right before getting kicked out of PF. Jugband Blues, Scream Thy Last Scream, and Vegetable Man (last two can only be found on bootleg).
 
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Read that. Debunks a lot of the 'crazy' myths surrounding Syd.
 
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psychomimetic said:
Anyone ever listened to his solo stuff after Pink Floyd? Evidence of his mental health issues can be found by listening to The Madcap Laughs and reading about the difficulties people had working with him on the album, and during his later time with Floyd.
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I think his mental state has been greatly exaggerated over the years. The other members of Floyd didnt know exactly what was up with him so let that put into perspective our knowledge of what was really going on. I'll just call him a peculier person and a quirky musician :)

I have his PF albums and both solo albums. I think I like his solo stuff better than his work in PF.
 
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