Cult icon, enigma, recluse… the life of Syd Barrett, founding member of Pink Floyd, is full of unanswered questions. Until now. Piecing together his comet-like rise to pop stardom, his creative and destructive impulses, breakdown, exit from the band and subsequent life alone, this feature length documentary is set against the social context of the explosive sixties. Directed by Storm Thorgerson (Hipgnosis) and award-winning director Roddy Bogawa, it features new interviews with Syd’s friends, lovers, family and band mates Roger Waters, David Gilmour, and Nick Mason.
Syd Barrett, founding member of world famous rock group Pink Floyd and its initial songwriter and leader, led a life full of unanswered questions. Was he a drug casualty of the sixties? Did he walk away from the pressures of the commercial music world? Did he suffer from an undiagnosed mental illness?
Pink Floyd were caught in the epicentre of the ‘underground’ explosion of the 60s as the psychedelic house band of the UFO club in London, with Syd Barrett its enigmatic figurehead, inspiring such musicians as David Bowie and Marc Bolan. Though he named the group, wrote the first two hit songs and was the lead vocalist and guitarist, Barrett was pushed out of the band by its members who were convinced he was having an LSD induced psychotic breakdown.
After leaving Pink Floyd, Barrett struggled to record two solo records but eventually dropped out of the music industry completely, living as a recluse for thirty years – while Pink Floyd went on to worldwide fame as one of the biggest selling bands of all time. Many Pink Floyd works examined themes of genius and madness.
The film includes iconic screen footage for Shine On You Crazy Diamond, rarely seen excerpts of Syd backstage, never-before seen photographs and a soundtrack full of Floyd’s music, Have You Got It Yet? will thrill fans and newcomers to Syd’s legend alike.
