Reversing us and them : anti-psychiatry and The Dark Side of the Moon

Spelman, NJ

Abstract

This chapter presents a close reading of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon exploring their indebtedness to anti-psychiatric ideas, and analyzing the ways in which those ideas are embodied in specific songs both verbally and musically. An appreciation of the way in which perceptions of madness have changed throughout history is crucial when examining the relationship between a musical text and contemporary medical, social, and cultural beliefs surrounding mental illness. The opinion that madness could possibly constitute a heightened state of awareness certainly became more prevalent during the late 1960s and early 1970s when, for once, the stark opposition between reason and unreason was used not to ostracize the madman. But to draw attention to the sickness within a society seemingly bent upon its own destruction. The light that illumines the madman is an unearthly light. It is not always a distorted refraction of his mundane life situation.

Citation

Spelman, N. (2005). Reversing us and them : anti-psychiatry and The Dark Side of the Moon. In R. Reising (Ed.), Speak to Me: The Legacy of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon (123-142). London: Routledge (originally by Ashgate Publishing). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351218146

• Online Publication Date: Oct 3, 2017
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2005
• Deposit Date: Mar 27, 2019
• Pages: 123-142
• Series Title: Ashgate Popular and Folk Music
• Book Title: Speak to Me: The Legacy of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon
• ISBN: 9781351218139
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351218146
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351218146