40 Years on The Dark Side of The Moon... (heartbeat... heartbeat... heartbeat...)

On March 1st, 1973, Pink Floyd released an album which had already been heard by of thousands of people for over a year. Like the beam of light and resulting color spray of its album sleeve, it focused and coalesced the sound and creativity of the preceding years of the band. It went on to become the longest running entry on the Billboard Album charts, setting a record for a record which is virtually unbreakable. It became a radio staple, the inspiration to create laser rock shows and 1 in 14 people under the age of 50 in the US are estimated to have or previously had a copy. Imagine the rhythm of a heartbeat, subtly placed in the mix, starting here...

Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon is an album that anyone who dares to write about music should be all at once fascinated by and terrified of. Why? (Level 5 meme alert here.) Because one does not simply write about The Dark Side of the Moon. In fact, I wasn't planning on posting this particular article at all, until I realized something while interacting with music fans on Twitter last night. Despite being on the Billboard charts for an unbeatable run of 741 weeks (and a combined total of 1500 weeks), despite selling north of 50 million copies and unfathomable numbers of plays of key songs from the album on rock radio, there are still people who have never listened to The Dark Side of The Moon in its entirety.

Now this would of course not be a surprise for younger music fans, but there was at least one older fan who said they'd surprisingly never heard it. In truth, a copy of TDSoTM should probably be included with every new music player and stereo purchase in perpetuity so that consumers can properly test their new equipment purchase. Or at least up until the time our brains are wired into a Cloud-based celestial jukebox ("The Great Gig in The Sky" if you will.

If you are among those who have never listened to experienced The Dark Side of The Moon in its entirety, I would like to invite you tonight to a listening party. All you need is a copy of album (it's under $10 as of press time on Mega Retailer Named After a Mighty River). To make the experience better I do recommend a decent pair of headphones to enjoy the production wizardry of Alan Parsons and the band. It makes it much easier to hear the snippets of voices placed throughout the album. A beanbag chair wouldn't hurt. Shine a laser pointer or other pretty light sources at your ceiling if you want to have a DIY Laserium show. You don't have to be on Twitter to join in, but if you are, we will be live tweeting the listening party via @LinerNotes and the hashtag #TDSoTM. The fun starts some time after 8pm PST. In the tradition of bands keeping us waiting for a show to start, no exact start time will be given. (I'm kidding, but a specific time will be tweeted as the hour approaches).

Even if you are not a denizen of the Twitterverse, if you have never let the music of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of The Moon into your mind, there is no better day than today to do so.

For further enjoyment, check out my unboxing video of the Immersion Edition box set of The Dark Side of The Moon and for those already familiar with the album, take this full length chiptunes cover of it for a spin.

Remember, tonight, after 8pm PST. Join us on Twitter. And I will see you on the dark side of the moon... (heartbeat... heartbeat... heartbeat...)

Tweet

Follow @LinerNotes