The Floyd toured for several years in the London "underground" scene with several revoultionary stage techniques, namely the use of lights to match their music, 30+ minute "freak out" jams, and the use of movies on stage. They eventually caught the eye of Peter Jenner and Andrew King, who became their managers. Pretty soon they also landed a recording contract with Capitol Records.

At their first recording session in 1966 Pink Floyd recorded several songs including Nick's Boogie and an early version of Interstellar Overdrive (later released on the London '66 '67 album). Later, they released their first single Arnold Layne, which became a hit on the British charts. See Emily Play came next and went Top 10. The third single Apples and Oranges didn't fare nearly as well but their new album did.

The Piper At the Gates of Dawn (after a chapter in Kenneth Graeme's book The Wind In The Willows) was released in 1967, with Norman Smith producing. It too was successful in England and sold respectably in the United States. Barrett however, (due to his acid use among other things) was becoming increasilgly less stable. Many times on stage he would play out of key, play the same note for the entire concert, and even not play at all. The rest of Pink Floyd knew that something needed to be done about this, so they got in touch with a friend of theirs David Gilmour who was playing in the band Jokers Wild.

The original plan was to have Gilmour "shadow" Barrett, stepping up when he made mistakes. This however, was clearly not working so they made another plan in which Barrett would write songs and contribute to the studio albums and Gilmour would play live. This too, didn't work out, and Syd was forced out of the band. Jenner and King, who couldn't see the band working without Syd and jumped ship. True, losing Barrett was a big loss in England, but in America it meant next to nothing, Syd and the band itself weren't yet well known there, knowing this Pink Floyd with Gilmour in as the new guitarist/vocalist set out to record their sophomore effort.

Again with Smith at the controls, a Saucerful of Secrets was released in 1968. Saucerful was a far cry from the mostly "poppy" sounding Piper, with most of the songs being more like the Piper instrumental Insterstellar Overdrive. It was a transitional album, sowing the seeds for what was to come.

In 1969, Pink Floyd released a soundtrack to the French hippie movie More. They were now producing themselves, due to their ever-increasing experimentation, and More was not entirely well-received. It is still considered by many to be the worst PF album, but it is also liked by many people.

Later that year the Floyd released their most experimental album so far. Ummaguamma consisting of 4 live tracks and 12 tracks of solo experimentation by the 4 band members was released, and is generally considered one of the worst Pink Floyd albums.

In 1970 the Floyd released their first substantial "hit" album in the U.S., Atom Heart Mother. Consisting of a mere 5 tracks including the 23+ minutes orchestrated title track, as well as 4 other songs showed that the Floyd were on their way.

Meddle was released in 1971, this time with another 23 minute epic, the legendary Echoes, as well as concert favorite One of These Days. Meddle was the first appearance of the Pink Floyd "sound", with atmospherics (mainly Wright's organ work) and Gilmour's guitar style taking the forefront. Waters' lyrics were also becoming a bigger and bigger part of Pink Floyd.

On their '72, '73 tour the Floyd were devoloping a new concert piece that was drawing rave reviews from critics, it was called Eclipse. They were set to record it in '72, but were approached to do another film soundtrack. This album, Obscured By Clouds: Music From La Velle, was released in 1972 and generally draws rave reviews from fans.

Eclipse was altered somewhat during this period and renamed The Dark Side of The Moon. That album was released in 1973 and was Pink Floyd's breakthrough record. The Pink Floyd sound had asserted itself fully by now and Waters' lyrics had reached thematical status. Also sound effects were becoming a bigger part of the band's sound. Dark Side went on to ride the Billboard charts until 1987, when it finally dropped off, accumulating the most weeks of any lp ever, and becoming one of the bestselling all-time albums.

Pink Floyd had difficulty making a commercial follow-up to Dark Side and used this fact, along with the absence of the long-departed Barrett to create what many fans consider their magnum opus in 1975, Wish You Were Here. WYWH contained the epic Shine On You Crazy Diamond, a song about Syd, who ironically showed up at the studio during it's recording. The title track has also gone on to become on the of the most-known PF songs.

By 1977 Waters had almost complete artistic control of the group and Pink Floyd was becoming more and more lyric-oriented, based mostly on Roger's strong political and social views. Animals released that year, contained 4 songs (two holdovers from WYWH) and went on to become one of the most popular of the band's albums, but friction within Pink Floyd was increasing.

On the Animals tour Waters was becoming increasingly frustrated with the audience at Pink Floyd's large staduim shows saying that most of them were "just there for the beer" among other things. This came to a climax in Motreal, Canada where Waters spat in a fans face who was cheering loudly during "Pigs On The Wing". This, along with his feeling that there was an invisible wall between him and his audience inspired him to write Pink Floyd's first full-blown concept album.

In 1978, Dave and Richard Wright released their first solo albums "David Gilmour" and "Wet Dream".

That album, The Wall, released in 1979 was a huge commercial success. Bob Ezrin was brought in as an outside producer to what was now essentially a two man band, with Wright forced out of Pink Floyd by Roger during these sessions, and Nick Mason being viratually nothing more than a session drummer. Still, The Wall with it's #1 single Another Brick In The Wall Part II as well as other major Floyd tracks, like Comfortably Numb (widely considered their best song, closing with it's now legendary guitar solo), Hey You, Run Like Hell, and more sold incredibly. It went #1 in every country except Japan and of all places, the U.K. Nonetheless, the battles between Gilmour and Waters were ever-increasing.

A movie version of The Wall was released in 1982, directed by Alan Parker, starring Bob Geldof, with screenplay by Roger Waters, it later went on to become a cult favorite.

The next "real" Pink Floyd album wasn't released until 1983, when The Final Cut came out. Essentially Roger's solo album, TFC sold well, but nothing on the scale of The Wall. Frictions within the band were at an all-time high and Waters eventually left Pink Floyd thinking that Gilmour and Mason would follow suit.

1984 saw the release of many Floyd solo albums, David Gilmour's About Face, Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports, Waters' The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, and Wright's collaboration with Dave Harris, Zee: Identity. Dave and Roger also toured to support their albums.

A few years later, Roger heard word that Dave and Nick were recording a new album under the name Pink Floyd, furious, he filed a lawsuit. Throughout many legal battles, Gilmour and Mason were awarded the name Pink Floyd, as well as the use of "Mr. Screen", "the pig" and others. Waters got the rights to the stage presentation of The Wall, among other things. Both sides also received (and still do receive) royalties when one plays songs credited to the other.

Eventually the new Floyd album from Gilmour and Mason (with Wright and many other sessionists) was released in 1987. Fans were split: Some couldn't bear listening to the band without Waters, but many others were glad to hear the return of the Pink Floyd "sound". Momentary went on to sell more albums than The Final Cut, despite mixed reviews from fans and critics. A live document of their first Waters-less tour was released the following year, Delicate Sound of Thunder (and it's video), considered by many to be the best live Floyd album. This tour, their longest ever at 200 shows, climaxed with their appearance at the Knebworth benefit show.

During this time Waters also released his fourth solo album Radio KAOS, which he toured for. He also released another one in 1992, the critically acclaimed Amused To Death.

After nearly 4 years of inactivity Pink Floyd returned in 1994 with a stadium tour and a new album. The Divison Bell (with Wright back up to full-member status) went to #1 on the Billboard charts, and is drew far better reviews than did Momentary Lapse, some fans even consider it the best Floyd album. The tour only lasted about half a year, and a live document of it was released in 1995 called Pulse. The album and it's video went on to become multi-platinum sellers.

Richard Wright released his second "real" solo album in 1996 title Broken China, a concept album themed on clinical depression.