by Tom Honest

Created on: May 27, 2007   Last Updated: July 20, 2010

Any topic like this requires a tedious yet ever so necessary mention that in a debate such as this one, no one answer can ever really be "right" per se. An opinion is an opinion, and the only thing that lends weight to an opinion is agreement. However, the hope is that every person expressing their opinion on this subject lends a bit more to the discussion than just their opinion. We hope that certain characteristics of music are held by a vast majority of people, all with a similar musical interest in mind, and those are the characteristics we use to judge the debate.

So, with that lengthy piece of introduction in place, I make my choice. The big winner has got to be, "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd. No other song in American culture has so embodied the mood of a nation, the rarely discussed spirit of the youth after the spiritual revolution. When the governments of the world continued to war, and the fairy tale lifestyle with which the youth had put all their faith in crumbled in front of their eyes, a little piece of the world faded from existence. As the world settled like water after a small stone has hit the surface, ripples fading quickly away, the hippie revolution slowly faded, defeat in it's tired eyes.

The song has some inexplicable ability to guide a whole set of thoughts through the listeners head, its melody and execution, flawlessly perfect. It is not the most complex or catchy song ever written. It does not appeal to the mindlessness crap that exists in the worlds of the k-mart hooks in corporate “alternative” bands, nor to the rowdy gangsta yelling of “Soulja Boy”. I am a fan of rap in general, just not ridiculous interpretations such as yelling your name over a beat 300 times in a song.

Pink Floyd has a way of appealing to the very best in all of us. Listening to the wisdom with which this music was made, we realize the depth of emotion and experience that these songs were written with. It gains a status in our mind that not even our most ridiculous or arrogant thoughts of superiority of some other less celebrated musician who just isn’t getting the credit they deserve. As much as that may happen in some cases, we know that only a few people in the world can claim to have created music as spectacular as that found in the endearing and overwhelming albums “The Wall”, and “The Dark Side of the Moon”. Nor can we fully interpret the raw genius that Syd Barrett put into the “Piper” album.

Pink Floyd impacts us in a way that we cannot deny, nor ignore. We can only appreciate the simple genius with which these masters of music gave to us the greatest music of our time.

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