The Dark Side of the Moon

The album features metronomic sound effects during "Speak to Me", and tape loops opening "Money". Mason created a rough version of "Speak to Me" at his home, before completing it in the studio. The track serves as an overture and contains cross-fades of elements from other pieces on the album. A piano chord, replayed backwards, serves to augment the build-up of effects, which are immediately followed by the opening of "Breathe". Mason received a rare solo composing credit for "Speak to Me".[nb 3][35][36]

The sound effects on "Money" were created by splicing together Waters' recordings of clinking coins, tearing paper, a ringing cash register, and a clicking adding machine, which were used to create a 7-beat effects loop (later adapted to four tracks in order to create a "walk around the room" effect in quadraphonic presentations of the album).[37] At times the degree of sonic experimentation on the album required the engineers and band to operate the mixing console's faders simultaneously, in order to mix down the intricately assembled multitrack recordings of several of the songs (particularly "On the Run").[7]

Along with the conventional rock band instrumentation, Pink Floyd added prominent synthesisers to their sound. For example, the band experimented with an EMS VCS 3 on "Brain Damage" and "Any Colour You Like", and a Synthi A on "Time" and "On the Run". They also devised and recorded unconventional sounds, such as an assistant engineer running around the studio's echo chamber (during "On the Run"),[38] and a specially treated bass drum made to simulate a human heartbeat (during "Speak to Me", "On the Run", "Time" and "Eclipse"). This heartbeat is most prominent as the intro and the outro to the album, but it can also be heard sporadically on "Time" and "On the Run".[7] "Time" features assorted clocks ticking, then chiming simultaneously at the start of the song, accompanied by a series of Rototoms. The recordings were initially created as a quadraphonic test by Parsons, who recorded each timepiece at an antique clock shop.[35] Although these recordings had not been created specifically for the album, elements of this material were eventually used in the track.[39]

Several tracks, including "Us and Them" and "Time", demonstrated Richard Wright's and David Gilmour's ability to harmonise their voices. In the 2003 Classic Albums documentary The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon, Waters attributed this to the fact that their voices sounded extremely similar. To take advantage of this, Parsons utilised studio techniques such as the double tracking of vocals and guitars, which allowed Gilmour to harmonise with himself. The engineer also made prominent use of flanging and phase shifting effects on vocals and instruments, odd trickery with reverb,[7] and the panning of sounds between channels (most notable in the quadraphonic mix of "On the Run", when the sound of the Hammond B3 organ played through a Leslie speaker rapidly swirls around the listener).[40]

The album's credits include Clare Torry, a session singer and songwriter, and a regular at Abbey Road. She had worked on pop material and numerous cover albums, and after hearing one of those albums Parsons invited her to the studio to sing on Wright's composition "The Great Gig in the Sky". She declined this invitation as she wanted to watch Chuck Berry perform at the Hammersmith Odeon, but arranged to come in on the following Sunday. The band explained the concept behind the album, but were unable to tell her exactly what she should do. Gilmour was in charge of the session, and in a few short takes on a Sunday night Torry improvised a wordless melody to accompany Wright's emotive piano solo. She was initially embarrassed by her exuberance in the recording booth, and wanted to apologise to the band – only to find them delighted with her performance.[41][42] Her takes were then selectively edited to produce the version used on the track.[4] For her contribution she was paid £30, equivalent to about £400 in 2020.[41][43] In 2004, she sued EMI and Pink Floyd for 50% of the songwriting royalties, arguing that her contribution to "The Great Gig in the Sky" was substantial enough to be considered co-authorship. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, with all post-2005 pressings crediting Wright and Torry jointly.[44][45]

Clare Torry in 2003

Snippets of voices between and over the music are another notable feature of the album. During recording sessions, Waters recruited both the staff and the temporary occupants of the studio to answer a series of questions printed on flashcards. The interviewees were placed in front of a microphone in a darkened Studio 3,[46] and shown such questions as "What's your favourite colour?" and "What's your favourite food?", before moving on to themes more central to the album (such as madness, violence, and death). Questions such as "When was the last time you were violent?", followed immediately by "Were you in the right?", were answered in the order they were presented.[7] Roger "The Hat" Manifold proved difficult to find, and was the only contributor recorded in a conventional sit-down interview, as by then the flashcards had been mislaid. Waters asked him about a violent encounter he had had with another motorist, and Manifold replied "... give 'em a quick, short, sharp shock ..." When asked about death he responded "live for today, gone tomorrow, that's me ..."[47] Another roadie, Chris Adamson, who was on tour with Pink Floyd, recorded the snippet which opens the album: "I've been mad for fucking years – absolutely years".[48] The band's road manager Peter Watts (father of actress Naomi Watts)[49] contributed the repeated laughter during "Brain Damage" and "Speak to Me". His second wife, Patricia "Puddie" Watts (now Patricia Gleason), was responsible for the line about the "geezer" who was "cruisin' for a bruisin'" used in the segue between "Money" and "Us and Them", and the words "I never said I was frightened of dying" heard halfway through "The Great Gig in the Sky".[50]

Perhaps the most notable responses "I am not frightened of dying. Any time will do: I don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying? There's no reason for it – you've got to go sometime" and closing words "there is no dark side in the moon, really. As a matter of fact it's all dark" came from the studios' Irish doorman, Gerry O'Driscoll.[51] Paul and Linda McCartney were also interviewed, but their answers were judged to be "trying too hard to be funny", and were not included on the album.[52] McCartney's Wings bandmate Henry McCullough contributed the line "I don't know, I was really drunk at the time".[53]

Following the completion of the dialogue sessions, producer Chris Thomas was hired to provide "a fresh pair of ears". Thomas's background was in music, rather than engineering. He had worked with Beatles producer George Martin, and was acquainted with Pink Floyd's manager Steve O'Rourke.[54] All four members of the band were engaged in a disagreement over the style of the mix, with Waters and Mason preferring a "dry" and "clean" mix which made more use of the non-musical elements, and Gilmour and Wright preferring a subtler and more "echoey" mix.[55] Thomas later claimed there were no such disagreements, stating "There was no difference in opinion between them, I don't remember Roger once saying that he wanted less echo. In fact, there were never any hints that they were later going to fall out. It was a very creative atmosphere. A lot of fun."[56] Although the truth remains unclear, Thomas's intervention resulted in a welcome compromise between Waters and Gilmour, leaving both entirely satisfied with the end product. Thomas was responsible for significant changes to the album, including the perfect timing of the echo used on "Us and Them". He was also present for the recording of "The Great Gig in the Sky" (although Parsons was responsible for hiring Torry).[57] Interviewed in 2006, when asked if he felt his goals had been accomplished in the studio, Waters said:

When the record was finished I took a reel-to-reel copy home with me and I remember playing it for my wife then, and I remember her bursting into tears when it was finished. And I thought, "This has obviously struck a chord somewhere", and I was kinda pleased by that. You know when you've done something, certainly if you create a piece of music, you then hear it with fresh ears when you play it for somebody else. And at that point I thought to myself, "Wow, this is a pretty complete piece of work", and I had every confidence that people would respond to it.[58]

Much of the album's early American success is attributed to the efforts of Pink Floyd's US record company, Capitol Records. Newly appointed chairman Bhaskar Menon set about trying to reverse the relatively poor sales of the band's 1971 studio album Meddle. Meanwhile, disenchanted with Capitol, the band and manager O'Rourke had been quietly negotiating a new contract with CBS president Clive Davis, on Columbia Records. The Dark Side of the Moon was the last album that Pink Floyd were obliged to release before formally signing a new contract. Menon's enthusiasm for the new album was such that he began a huge promotional advertising campaign, which included radio-friendly truncated versions of "Us and Them" and "Time".[82] In some countries – notably the UK – Pink Floyd had not released a single since 1968's "Point Me at the Sky", and unusually "Money" was released as a single on 7 May,[72] with "Any Colour You Like" on the B-side. It reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1973.[nb 4][83] A two-sided white label promotional version of the single, with mono and stereo mixes, was sent to radio stations. The mono side had the word "bullshit" removed from the song – leaving "bull" in its place – however, the stereo side retained the uncensored version. This was subsequently withdrawn; the replacement was sent to radio stations with a note advising disc jockeys to dispose of the first uncensored copy.[84] On 4 February 1974, a double A-side single was released with "Time" on one side, and "Us and Them" on the opposite side.[nb 5][85] Menon's efforts to secure a contract renewal with Pink Floyd were in vain however; at the beginning of 1974, the band signed for Columbia with a reported advance fee of $1M (in Britain and Europe they continued to be represented by Harvest Records).[86]

The Dark Side of the Moon became one of the best-selling albums of all time[87] and is in the top 25 of a list of best-selling albums in the United States.[45][88] Although it held the number one spot in the US for only a week, it remained in the Billboard album chart for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988.[89][90] The album re-appeared on the Billboard charts with the introduction of the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart in May 1991, and has been a perennial feature since then.[91] In the UK, it is the seventh-best-selling album of all time and the highest selling album never to reach number one.[92]

In the US the LP was released before the introduction of platinum awards in 1976. It therefore held only a gold disc until 16 February 1990, when it was certified 11× platinum. On 4 June 1998 the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album 15× platinum,[45] denoting sales of fifteen million in the United States – making it their biggest-selling work there (The Wall is 23× platinum, but as a double album this signifies sales of 11.5 million).[93] "Money" has sold well as a single, and as with "Time", remains a radio favourite; in the US, for the year ending 20 April 2005, "Time" was played on 13,723 occasions, and "Money" on 13,731 occasions.[nb 6] Industry sources suggest that worldwide sales of the album total about 45 million.[94][95] "On a slow week" between 8,000 and 9,000 copies are sold,[87] and a total of 400,000 were sold in 2002, making it the 200th-best-selling album of that year – nearly three decades after its initial release. The album has sold 9,502,000 copies in the US since 1991 when Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales for Billboard.[96] To this day, it occupies a prominent spot on Billboard's Pop Catalog Chart. It reached number one when the 2003 hybrid CD/SACD edition was released and sold 800,000 copies in the US.[45] On the week of 5 May 2006 The Dark Side of the Moon achieved a combined total of 1,716 weeks on the Billboard 200 and Pop Catalog charts.[58] One in every fourteen people in the US under the age of 50 is estimated to own, or to have owned, a copy.[45] Upon a change in methodology in 2009 allowing catalogue titles to be included in the Billboard 200,[97] The Dark Side of the Moon returned to the chart at number 189 on 12 December of that year for its 742nd charting week.[98] It has continued to sporadically appear on the Billboard 200 since then, with the total at 950 weeks on the chart as of May 2020.[99]

"The combination of words and music hit a peak," explained Gilmour. "All the music before had not had any great lyrical point to it. And this one was clear and concise. The cover was also right. I think it's become like a benevolent noose hanging behind us. Throughout our entire career, people have said we would never top the Dark Side record and tour. But The Wall earned more in dollar terms."[100]

1978 transparent vinyl edition, playing on a Technics turntable

In 1979, The Dark Side of the Moon was released as a remastered LP by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab,[101] and in April 1988 on their "Ultradisc" gold CD format.[102] The album was released by EMI and Harvest on the then-new compact disc format in Japan in June 1983,[nb 7] in the US and Europe in August 1984,[nb 8] and in 1992 it was re-released as a remastered CD in the box set Shine On.[103] This version was re-released as a 20th anniversary box set edition with postcards the following year. The cover design was again by Storm Thorgerson, the designer of the original 1973 cover.[104] On some pressings, a faintly audible orchestral version of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" can be heard after "Eclipse" over the album's closing heartbeats.[45]

The original quadraphonic mix[nb 9], created by Alan Parsons,[105] was commissioned by EMI but never endorsed by Pink Floyd, as Parsons was disappointed with his mix.[28][105] To celebrate the album's 30th anniversary, an updated surround version was released in 2003. The band elected not to use Parsons' quadraphonic mix (done shortly after the original release), and instead had engineer James Guthrie create a new 5.1 channel surround sound mix on the SACD format.[28][106] Guthrie had worked with Pink Floyd since co-producing and engineering their eleventh album, The Wall, and had previously worked on surround versions of The Wall for DVD-Video and Waters' In the Flesh for SACD. Speaking in 2003, Alan Parsons expressed some disappointment with Guthrie's SACD mix, suggesting that Guthrie was "possibly a little too true to the original mix", but was generally complimentary.[28] The 30th-anniversary edition won four Surround Music Awards in 2003,[107] and has since sold more than 800,000 copies.[108] The cover image was created by a team of designers including Storm Thorgerson.[104] The image is a photograph of a custom-made stained glass window, built to match the exact dimensions and proportions of the original prism design. Transparent glass, held in place by strips of lead, was used in place of the opaque colours of the original. The idea is derived from the "sense of purity in the sound quality, being 5.1 surround sound ..." The image was created out of a desire to be "the same but different, such that the design was clearly DSotM, still the recognisable prism design, but was different and hence new".[109]

The Dark Side of the Moon was also re-released in 2003 on 180-gram virgin vinyl (mastered by Kevin Gray at AcousTech Mastering) and included slightly different versions of the original posters and stickers that came with the original vinyl release, along with a new 30th anniversary poster.[110] In 2007 the album was included in Oh, by the Way, a box set celebrating the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd,[111] and a DRM-free version was released on the iTunes Store.[108] In 2011 the album was re-released as part of the Why Pink Floyd...? campaign, featuring a remastered version of the album along with various other material.[112]

The Dark Side of the Moon frequently appears on professional rankings of the greatest albums.[124] In 1987, Rolling Stone listed the record 35th on its "Top 100 Albums of the Last 20 Years",[125] and in 2003 the album polled in 43rd position on the magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time",[126] and was voted 43rd again on the magazine's 2012 list.[127] Both Rolling Stone and Q have listed The Dark Side of the Moon as the best progressive rock album.[128][129]

In 2006, it was voted "My Favourite Album" by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's audience.[130] NME readers voted the album eighth in their 2006 "Best Album of All Time" online poll,[131] and in 2009, Planet Rock listeners voted the album the "greatest of all time".[132] The album is also number two on the "Definitive 200" list of albums, made by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers "in celebration of the art form of the record album".[133] It came 29th in The Observer's 2006 list of "The 50 Albums That Changed Music",[134] and 37th in The Guardian's 1997 list of the "100 Best Albums Ever", as voted for by a panel of artists and music critics.[135] In 2014, readers of Rhythm voted it the seventh most influential progressive drumming album.[136] It was voted number 9 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).[137]

Based on such rankings, the aggregate website Acclaimed Music lists The Dark Side of the Moon as the 19th most acclaimed album in history, the seventh most acclaimed of the 1970s, and number one of albums from 1973.[124] The album's cover has also been lauded by critics and listeners alike, with VH1 proclaiming it the fourth greatest in history.[138]

One of the more notable covers of The Dark Side of the Moon is Return to the Dark Side of the Moon: A Tribute to Pink Floyd. Released in 2006, the album is a progressive rock tribute featuring artists such as Adrian Belew, Tommy Shaw, Dweezil Zappa, and Rick Wakeman.[139] In 2000, The Squirrels released The Not So Bright Side of the Moon, which features a cover of the entire album.[140][141] The New York dub collective Easy Star All-Stars released Dub Side of the Moon in 2003[142] and Dubber Side of the Moon in 2010.[143] The group Voices on the Dark Side released the album Dark Side of the Moon a Cappella, a complete a cappella version of the album.[144] The bluegrass band Poor Man's Whiskey frequently play the album in bluegrass style, calling the suite Dark Side of the Moonshine.[145] A string quartet version of the album was released in 2003.[146] In 2009, The Flaming Lips released a track-by-track remake of the album in collaboration with Stardeath and White Dwarfs, and featuring Henry Rollins and Peaches as guest musicians.[147]

Several notable acts have covered the album live in its entirety, and a range of performers have used samples from The Dark Side of the Moon in their own material. Jam-rock band Phish performed a semi-improvised version of the entire album as part their show on 2 November 1998 in West Valley City, Utah.[148] Progressive metal band Dream Theater have twice covered the album in their live shows,[149] and in May 2011 Mary Fahl released From the Dark Side of the Moon, a song-by-song "re-imagining" of the album.[150] Milli Vanilli used the tape loops from Pink Floyd's "Money" to open their track "Money", followed by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch on Music for the People.[151]

Dark Side of the Rainbow and Dark Side of Oz are two names commonly used in reference to rumours (circulated on the Internet since at least 1994) that The Dark Side of the Moon was written as a soundtrack for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Observers playing the film and the album simultaneously have reported apparent synchronicities, such as Dorothy beginning to jog at the lyric "no one told you when to run" during "Time", and Dorothy balancing on a tightrope fence during the line "balanced on the biggest wave" in "Breathe".[152] David Gilmour and Nick Mason have both denied a connection between the two works, and Roger Waters has described the rumours as "amusing".[153] Alan Parsons has stated that the film was not mentioned during production of the album.[154]