"The first is the rock band that in 1965 took the name the Pink Floyd Sound, an inven­tion of its newest mem­ber Syd Bar­rett. A gui­tar-play­ing singer-song­writer, the young Bar­rett soon became the group's guid­ing cre­ative intel­li­gence, albeit of a cracked kind. It was under his influ­ence that, two years lat­er, the Floyd released their first two hit singles,"Arnold Layne" and"
"This first Pink Floyd last­ed until part­way through the pro­duc­tion of their sec­ond album, A Saucer­ful of Secrets. Up to that point, Bar­ret­t's behav­ior had been turn­ing ever stranger and less man­age­able; even­tu­al­ly, he passed entire con­certs in a state of near cata­to­nia onstage (with the occa­sion­al spasm of a deep-seat­ed ten­den­cy to prac­ti­cal jokes). After con­sid­er­ing and find­ing unfea­si­ble the option to retain him"
Syd Barrett shaped early Pink Floyd with whimsical, eccentric songwriting and led the band to hits like "Arnold Layne" and the debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Barrett's behavior grew increasingly erratic and unmanageable, including onstage catatonia and practical jokes. After attempts to accommodate him failed, band members ejected Barrett during the making of A Saucerful of Secrets. The remaining members continued successfully, writing and recording landmark albums including Atom Heart Mother, The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall. Barrett later lived decades as a recluse and died in 2006.
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