(SOUNDBITE OF PINK FLOYD SONG, "WISH YOU WERE HERE")
ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
For 50 years, that lo-fi guitar riff has been the preamble to one of the most recognizable rock songs of all time.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WISH YOU WERE HERE")
PINK FLOYD: (Singing) So, so you think you can tell heaven from hell, blue skies from pain.
SCHMITZ: It's the title track of Pink Floyd's 1975 album "Wish You Were Here," an album that's become the universal soundtrack of loss and longing.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WISH YOU WERE HERE")
PINK FLOYD: (Singing) A smile from a veil?
SCHMITZ: And drumming like this is its beating heart.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WISH YOU WERE HERE")
PINK FLOYD: (Singing) Do you think you can tell? Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts, hot ashes for trees?
SCHMITZ: Pink Floyd drummer and founding member Nick Mason is responsible for so much of the band's improvisational and experimental percussion. Heading into the studio, Pink Floyd looked like it was riding high, coming off a successful tour and sales records with their previous album, "The Dark Side Of The Moon." But Mason says things were not as great for the band as they seemed.
NICK MASON: We were rather not at the top of our game by the time we went back into Abbey Road. And in fact, of course, we ended up spending an awful lot of studio time doing nothing or working on a project called "Household Objects."
SCHMITZ: "Household Objects." What was - tell me about that.
MASON: Well, the idea was to make a record using household objects rather than musical instruments.
(SOUNDBITE OF PINK FLOYD'S, "THE HARD WAY (FROM 'HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS')")
MASON: The only thing I remember playing was instead of using a bass drum, I had an ax and a large log of wood.
(SOUNDBITE OF PINK FLOYD'S, "THE HARD WAY (FROM 'HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS')")
MASON: It was a sort of useful exercise, from our point of view because I think if we'd stuck with it, we'd still be in Abbey Road now trying to finish. And I think, in a way, we were, you know, being wise after the event, we should have carried on touring "Dark Side" for another year. But we didn't. We thought we'd sort of had to get on, I suppose.
SCHMITZ: Interesting. So the feeling was more of, what are we doing?
MASON: Yeah. And the answer is not very much (laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF PINK FLOYD'S, "THE HARD WAY (FROM 'HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS')")
MASON: The only thing we really took out of the "Household Object" recording sessions was some - the stroked glasses, which reappeared.
SCHMITZ: I believe it was "Shine On You Crazy Diamond."
MASON: Yeah.
SCHMITZ: This is the opening track to the album. It sort of sets the tone of the album. It's a 13 1/2-minute song. The first nine minutes are purely instrumental. You would never get away with that today.
MASON: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF PINK FLOYD SONG, "SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND (PTS. 1-5)")
SCHMITZ: When we hear the vocals, finally, it's clear that this is about former band member Syd Barrett, who had a mental breakdown by this point and had left the band.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND (PTS. 1-5)")
PINK FLOYD: (Singing) Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun. Shine on, you crazy diamond.
SCHMITZ: And in some ways, you know, his absence seems to have had just as big an impact on Pink Floyd's music as his presence had had. Tell me a little bit about that.
MASON: I don't think we started recording on "I Wish You Were Here" with the idea that it was related to Syd. I think it was a much more general absence. And then there was this remarkable visitation from Syd. I hadn't seen him, I would say, for five years, something like that. And, I mean, for me, it was particularly alarming 'cause I think I was putting a drum track down that came back into the control room. And there was this guy there who was overweight, balding. And so I didn't recognize him as being Syd at all.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND (PTS. 1-5)")
PINK FLOYD: (Singing) Well, you wore out your welcome with random precision, rode on the steel breeze. Come on, you raver, you seer of visions. Come on, you painter, you piper, you prisoner and shine.
SCHMITZ: Now, I wanted to briefly talk to you about the rest of the band. You know, Pink Floyd is a band of big personalities, and at times it's been pretty contentious among the surviving members, and this continues to this day. I mean, do you have any regrets about how things have turned out between the members of the band?
MASON: Yeah. I think when - most of us would rather have a quiet life, whereby we just get on with whatever we want to do, and that benefits whatever you're doing, although there is a counter to that, which is that you need that sort of tension in order to achieve some of the ends of whatever the project is you're working on.
SCHMITZ: So in some ways, it actually - the tension kind of fueled the creativity.
MASON: Well, it can be that. The problem with it is you waste a lot of time.
SCHMITZ: Obviously, a lot of these tensions boiled up between Roger Waters and David Gilmore. What was your role in all of this?
MASON: Put the tin helmet on and get down in the bunker.
SCHMITZ: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF PINK FLOYD SONG, "HAVE A CIGAR")
SCHMITZ: You made this album at a time when album artwork was very important. And, you know, "Wish You Were Here's" album cover depicts two businessmen shaking hands. One of them is on fire. It's pretty striking. And it speaks to one of the themes of the album itself - corporate greed. We hear that on "Have A Cigar."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HAVE A CIGAR")
PINK FLOYD: (Singing) And did we tell you the name of the game, boy? We call it riding the gravy train.
SCHMITZ: How has the music industry changed? And I'm curious to know your thoughts on that.
MASON: Ah, I think it's much tougher now than it ever was, particularly for younger bands. Basically, in the '70s, you needed an agent, a manager and a record company. But now, the record companies will not pick up a starter band. They'll wait until that band is showing - you know, it's got a hundred thousand followers. I mean, some things are a lot easier. I mean, obviously, you can make any record you like and make it available, but that isn't necessarily much help when you're starting out.
SCHMITZ: So I grew up in the 1980s, and I remember that one of the biggest things around at that time - I grew up in the Midwest - was out in a lot of North American cities - was the Pink Floyd laser light show at the local planetarium. And I'm just curious. You know, I'm sure you know this whole phenomenon. You know, when you made these albums, did you imagine that this would be how your music would reach generations of teenagers to come?
MASON: Basically, if you're in the music industry and if you're making records, you're still believing that pop music is ephemeral and that any day now they can send you back to the worker - workhouse. Yeah. I mean, it's very curious, this business of reviewing a record that was made 50 years ago. I left college to spend a year in a band. How was I to know 50 years later, I'd still be in that band?
(SOUNDBITE OF PINK FLOYD SONG, "SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND (PTS. 6-9)")
SCHMITZ: That's Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. The reissue of a deluxe 50th anniversary of "Wish You Were Here" is out now. Thanks so much for speaking with us today, Nick.
MASON: You're very welcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF PINK FLOYD SONG, "SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND (PTS. 6-9)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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