When you think about who the absolute greatest bands and artists of all time are, who comes to mind?

Maybe The Beatles, Bob Dylan, or The Rolling Stones are names that you instantly think of, which wouldn’t be the least bit surprising. They are all music icons who’s impact on various genres can be felt even to this day.

There’s one band that has been getting a little more respect in the last few years, and I think they might be the greatest rock band of all time.

The band in question? Pink Floyd.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzMIWxFrqBG/

Pink Floyd were innovators, creating soundscapes and passages unlike anyone else from their time. Many would try to copy them, but no one could do it with the pure, luscious elegance that Pink Floyd had.

On the flipside, however, the band had the ability to completely crush your soul with a combination of their production, as well as lyricism (mainly from Roger Waters) that can sometimes hit a little too close to home. 

I have had my fair share of existential crises to songs in the band’s catalogue, including many that I will highlight later in this very article. 

I think I have led into this enough already, let’s get into the band’s entire discography, spanning a whopping fourteen albums!

Ok, not actually. 

When I did my starter’s guide to The Replacements, I covered their entire discography, including seven albums and one EP. I’m not gonna make this as long-winded as that one was, so I’m only going to cover the four albums that Pink Floyd had during their run of absolute insanity in the mid-late 70s.

I’d recommend listening to them in chronological order to fully gauge how they evolved from album to album, but for this story, I’m going to rank them from worst to best. 

Alright, NOW we can get underway. Here’s my analysis of what the best Pink Floyd records have to offer. 

The “Ohhhhh I’ve seen that album cover before!” Tier

The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

https://www.instagram.com/p/Crdb-DwoS3f/

What many have touted as the greatest rock album of all time is what lands in this tier. 

I can’t remember who originally said it, but there’s one quote about this record that makes zero sense, while simultaneously making a ton of sense at the same time. “The Dark Side of the Moon is the greatest rock and roll album of all time, and it’s not even the best Pink Floyd album.”

I don’t want to harp on this album at all. It’s a near flawless record, and one that has stood the test of time for generations. What I think makes this record so special is its lyrical themes and concepts, with the band’s main theme going in being “things that make people mad.” 

For instance, the album’s most popular track, Money, is a piece that is rather critical about corporate exploitation and capitalism. Not everyone might know that because the bassline in that song is just so damn groovy. 

Time is another classic, this one covering an ever-relevant topic: the concept of time. It’s a rather somber and depressing perspective on the matter, and how years could fly by without even realizing.

This might be Roger Waters’ greatest lyrical achievement if I’m being totally honest. 

The highlight of the record is definitely Us and Them, which is also my favourite Pink Floyd track. Musically, this is one of the band’s finest moments. The chorus on this one is just so grand. I really don’t know how else to describe it. 

The highlights on The Dark Side of the Moon are sky-high, and while there aren’t any lows on the record, there are some songs that are just kind of… there? It all comes together as an album wonderfully, but it’s clearly not their best work in my view.

This album is the band officially finding their sound and showing their chops, and I feel that they expanded and improved on it with the three records that followed. 

The “True Pink Floyd fan’s pick” Tier

Wish You Were Here (1975)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CrbI79sovGM/

Man, this album rules. 

Wish You Were Here had the unfortunate task of following up the absolute monster that was The Dark Side of the Moon, and it definitely shows the band going in an even more experimental direction, leading to mixed reception once it initially dropped. 

Well, the critics were wrong. This album is undoubtedly an all-timer. 

The record only consists of five songs, but don’t be fooled as its run time spans forty-four minutes and twelve seconds, with two tracks bookending the album, each surpassing the ten minute mark. I’m of course referring to the absolute masterpiece that is Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1-5) is widely considered to be one of, if not the best Pink Floyd track, and is definitely the best of the two songs. It kicks off the record with some beautiful ambience, played by keyboardist Richard Wright, with David Gilmour’s beautiful guitar playing following suit shortly after. This lasts for about three and a half minutes, and after a brief moment of pause, Gilmour comes back to play maybe the most chilling four notes in music history. The song officially kicks in after a buildup, and the vocals come in shortly after the eight minute mark. 

If you’re going to start listening to Pink Floyd but just want to hear one song to start with, this is the one.

The following three tracks are all great, too, including Welcome to the Machine, which is one of the band’s more sinister and unsettling songs, and the title track, which remains one of Pink Floyd’s biggest songs. 

I love this album. It’s crazy to think that there are two better than this one. 

The “…What do you mean he’s a fascist?” Tier

The Wall (1979)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZJrr9erLLm/

The final record during the band’s insanity run will unfortunately have to settle for second best on my tier list. This was my favourite Pink Floyd record for a long time, but it has been surpassed.

The lore behind this album is wild. After a show in Montreal during their tour (for the record that’ll be number one on this tier list,) lead singer and bassist Roger Waters was fed up with the Montreal crowd, which led to him reportedly spitting on a fan. 

Waters felt like he and the band were isolated from the crowd during the shows that followed, almost as if an invisible wall had been standing between them, leading to this album’s birth. 

The Wall may not be my favourite anymore, but I still want to give the record its flowers, as it is still an absolutely incredible listen.

But before I do that, I just want to give a disclaimer as to why this album has fallen down the ranking, because there’s a very simple reason. 

It’s bloated. Like… “an hour and twenty minutes” bloated. 

There are too many moments on this record that don’t stand out, especially towards the middle of the record. Not every moment in the second and third sides of this record are boring, with songs like Hey You, Nobody Home, One of My Turns, and of course, Comfortably Numb.

The Wall starts off strong and closes even stronger. The first leg includes classics like Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2, Mother, and Goodbye Blue Sky, the latter being one of the band’s most chilling ballads. 

The last leg of the album is stellar. Run Like Hell’s dark lyrics contrast perfectly with the song’s groovy, disco-infused rhythm, creating one of the more unique songs in the band’s catalogue. 

The Trial is the album’s penultimate track, but it really should be viewed as its last, since it’s followed by a short interlude-type track. It’s an epic, theatrical track, where Roger Waters basically puts himself on emotional trial, which features many characters from previous points of the album weighing in.

An album that created a film adaptation and an incredibly theatrical and successful tour, The Wall is a multi-media giant, and one of the greatest rock records of all time.

The “Take that, punk-rock!!!” Tier

Animals (1977)

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci2ca1LDBWe/

During a time where punk-rock was taking off (especially in the UK,) Pink Floyd were still arguably the biggest band in the world, even if punk was almost a direct response to band’s like Pink Floyd.  

The band responded with one of the greatest records in music history. 

I want to keep this short and sweet. Five songs, but unlike Wish You Were Here, the two songs bookending the record are the two shortest, with the other three (Dogs, Pigs, and Sheep) all spanning over ten minutes. 

Dogs is maybe Pink Floyd’s darkest song. The song goes over the people who feel stuck working for big corporations, and how those types of jobs can suck the soul out of someone. Pigs (Three Different Ones) is about the people at the top of the food chain, the big corporations that take advantage of the people below them, and Sheep caps off the trifecta with a track for the more ordinary civilians. 

Sheep is my personal favourite from the album. The guitar riff during the outro is probably the most rockin’ moment in the band’s history, and is a perfect way to end the trio of monster songs. 

Animals remains as an absolute all-timer, and is, I think, Pink Floyd’s greatest artistic statement. A record that is just as relevant now than it was in 1977.