This is a different kind of post for me. But Syd Barrett was a different kind of person.

Born Roger Keith Barrett in 1946, “Syd” was one of the founding members of the rock band Pink Floyd, and at the beginning he was the creative force driving their early, psychedelic sound. But it wasn’t long until the massive amounts of hallucinogenic drugs he was ingesting daily wreaked havoc on his sanity. Syd Barrett was removed from Pink Floyd in the late sixties and was rarely heard from again.

From the Times Online Obituary:

He was a wonderfully instinctive guitarist, and his highly original use of slide and echo was able to translate the hypnotic atmosphere that Pink Floyd generated on stage to the albums they created in the studio. These are memorable as few others of their era are.

But Barrett then fell victim to the darker side of those heady times, as his copious indulgence in hallucinogenic drugs pushed an already fragile psyche over the edge.

After dominating Pink Floyd’s early material and writing their first two hit singles, by 1968 he found himself forced out of the group on account of his erratic behaviour. Without him, they went on to become one of the biggest-selling acts of the 1970s and 1980s, while his output was restricted to two strange but compelling solo albums, which reflected his precarious mental state and are today regarded as cult classics.

After that, the rest was silence, as he became a recluse and abandoned all involvement in music. Yet although he did not release another record after 1970, he continued to exert an eerie fascination for generations of future musicians – perhaps because his fate reminded them of the slender thread by which creative talent can hang.

It is said that during the recording of Pink Floyd’s 1975 album Wish You Were Here a pudgy, balding man showed up at Abbey Road studios. The man was Syd Barrett, but no one recognized him.

And now he is gone. It’s a sad story of insanity and wasted talent, but I pray that Syd found his peace with God through Christ before the end.