Pink Floyd’s “Amazing Disaster” of U.S. Debut Began This Week in 1967

The last few months of 1967 were a busy time for the United States: the Summer of Love had just come to a close, the Vietnam War was in full swing, the music industry was booming, and Pink Floyd had just landed on the West Coast to make their official U.S. debut. The mini-tour in promotion of the band’s first release, Pipers at the Gates of Dawn, was a tumultuous week-long affair Roger Waters later called an “amazing disaster.”

Interestingly, some historians suggest this tour was when a business-minded record exec asked the band, “By the way, which one’s Pink?” Eight years later, the band would immortalize this question in “Have a Cigar” from Wish You Were Here.

The Man Behind The Chaos Of Pink Floyd’s U.S. Debut

Pink Floyd made their American debut with their original lineup: Roger Waters on bass, Nick Mason on drums, Richard Wright on keys, and Syd Barrett on guitar. The trip was Barrett’s first and last tour of the United States with Pink Floyd. Following his erratic behavior on the road in November 1967, the band invited David Gilmour to replace Barrett the following month. Gilmour’s replacement was “unofficial” until April 1968, when the band finally announced Barrett was no longer in the group.

But before their personnel change, Pink Floyd enjoyed a tour of some of the States’ finer musical club offerings of the time. They started their mini-tour at the Fillmore Auditorium and Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, California. Pink Floyd played these West Coast shows with Big Brother and the Holding Company and Richie Havens. Pink Floyd performed at Santa Monica’s Cheetah Club with The Candymen and Smokestack Lightnin. The promotional run also included a performance at the Cheetah Club in New York City, where Pink Floyd was the sole billing.

In between these performances, Pink Floyd made television appearances, mingled with Californian musicians and groupies alike, and tried their best to babysit Syd Barrett, whose behavior would grow increasingly erratic and unhinged over the week.

Melting Hairdos and Catatonic Television Appearances

According to Barry Miles’ Pink Floyd: The Early Years, Syd Barrett had a fresh perm when the band arrived in the States. Minutes before their performance at the West Coast Cheetah Club, Barrett—apparently unhappy with his look—emptied an entire jar of hair gel and a container of quaaludes onto his head, mixing the two to create an unsettlingly slimy and bumpy hairdo. Under the hot glow of the stage lights, the gel began to melt down Barrett’s face, taking the pills with it.

“Girls in the front row screamed with horror as Syd’s lips and nostrils bubbled and ran with the gel as rivulets oozed down his cheeks,” Miles wrote, “the mixed-in sleeping pills looking like tiny gobbets of flesh as if he was discomposing before their eyes in the moving lights. He detuned the strings of his guitar and stared out into space, his right hand hanging limply at his side, too out of it to sing any of the lyrics.”

Barrett’s performances on television weren’t much better. The guitarist either refused to perform, forcing a bandmate to step in and take over as the “lead” lip-syncer, or he would only half-heartedly commit to the song in a sort of catatonic state. During an appearance on the Pat Boone Show, the host asked Barrett about things he liked. After staring at the host for what probably felt like hours to his bandmates, Barrett stoically replied, “America,” to the roaring delight of the TV audience.

With Barrett showing no signs of improvement, Pink Floyd’s management cut their tour short and sent the psych-rock band back across the pond. David Gilmour joined the following month, and by April, Barrett was officially out of the band.

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