The one thing Nick Mason would change about his favourite Pink Floyd album
Eclecticism and curiosity are perhaps the two greatest virtues in the music world, and Pink Floyd was a band often praised for both. From humble, interstellar beginnings as an early psychedelic rock proponent, Pink Floyd approached the 1970s with new concerted efforts to push at the predetermined walls of musical tradition, thus ushering in the prog-era.
Accompanying Pink Floyd through thick and thin as its most constant member, drummer Nick Mason formed the band’s vital backbone, on and off stage. Like Ringo Starr, Mason has oft doubted his talent over the years under the blinding light of his bandmates. Beyond his role as mediator amid frequent spats, however, his drumming style supplied essential character to Pink Floyd’s music.
In a 2015 interview with The Drummer’s Journal, Mason answered: “I still feel that. I’m still learning to live with it,” when asked whether he really felt insufficient as a drummer. “It’s hard to know now, but if I’d had lessons, there’s an argument to say that I wouldn’t have played the way I did. The upside is I’m grateful to have developed my own style,” he added. Like so many drummers before and after him, Mason discovered that there’s much more to the art of drumming than virtuosity.
Later in the interview, Mason was asked, regarding Pink Floyd’s towering legacy, how much of a revolutionary potential music has. “I think it’s overrated, but there is an element there. Its ability to change perceptions is limited – it actually becomes quite partisan,” he replied.
“People often identify themselves by the music they like,” he added. “In the 1960s, if people were into certain bands it was usually a good indication as to what their politics were, where they were educated and even their social class. But sometimes, with someone like Bob Dylan, there are people who can send messages of considerable importance.”
When discussing the most consummate work in the Pink Floyd oeuvre, Mason’s eyes unsurprisingly turned to The Dark Side of the Moon. “It’s the most complete album,” he said. “There’re lots of others I like, but Dark Side has a lovely mix of everyone contributing to it. I think The Wall was a hell of a piece of work, but it’s probably too long”.
“What might have been nice is to have Dark Side a little longer and The Wall a little shorter,” he said, noting his one trifling critique.
“It’s got some great songs, and Roger’s [Waters] lyrics are extraordinary,” he continued. “The fact he was only 23 [29 when released] still amazes me. A question I get asked all the time is, ‘Why is Dark Side so successful?’ Apart from the marvellous Rototoms, which was obviously the main selling point [laughs], the truth is Capitol Records decided to make this record work – we had total support from the label.”
Indeed, despite the hippiest intentions of the psychedelic era, the looming reality of capitalism was omnipresent in the music industry. When recording The Dark Side of the Moon, money was ironically on their side. Thanks to the financial backing of Capitol Records, Pink Floyd were able to “grab that cash with both hands and make a stash,” so to speak.
“What was blindingly obvious pretty early on was that if you were successful, you could have more studio time, bigger shows, better equipment and better sound,” Mason told The Drummer’s Journal.
