The band was founded in 1965 in London by classmates Richard Wright, Nick Mason, Roger Watres and their friend from Cambridge, Sid Barrett. The name Pink Floyd is made up of the names of two bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd Cauncil. Originally the band was called The Pink Floyd, but after 1970 the article was removed from the name. It is worth noting that before Pink Floyd, the band changed many other names, among which are The Tea Set, The Pink Floyd Sound.

The foundations of the band’s formation were laid back in 1963, when Mason and Waters joined the band of Cliff Metcalfe and Keith Noble. Wright soon joined them as well. Rehearsals were held at Mason and Waters’ apartment. Bob Close soon joined the band, and Metcalfe and Noble left it. In 1963 Roger’s buddy Sid Barrett came to London and joined the band. In 1964 Sid changes the name of the band from Tea Set to The Pink Floyd Sound, because they were playing together with the other Tea Sets at one of their concerts. Chris Dennis was the lead singer for a while, and after his departure Barrett took his place.

In December 1964, thanks to Wright’s connections, the Pink Floyd band got into the recording studio. During the break 4 songs were recorded – a cover of I’m A King Bee, and 3 Sid songs – Lucy Leave, Butterfly and Double O Bo. During this time, the band performs at the Countdown Club and participates in Ready Steady Go! In 1965, Close leaves the band.

Pink Floyd’s first recordings
In January 1967, the first pro recordings took place on Polydor.Pink Floyd at this time is signed to EMI and singles are released on this label. March 11th the single Arnold Lane / Candy And A Currant Bun was released and reached the 20th place in the chart.

But the success turned Syd Barrett’s head, and due to a drug addiction, David Gilmore joins the band after disrupting concerts in January. At first it was planned that Sid would continue to write songs, but it did not lead to anything good. Syd began to lead a reclusive lifestyle, occasionally releasing songbooks. During the following time Pink Floyd and Barrett met only once. In 1968, the band released their second album with only one song of his on it.

In 1969 Pink Floyd recorded the soundtrack to the movie More and the album Ummagumma, which contained a live performance by the band. The album hit the U.S. charts, reaching #70 and becoming #5 in Britain.

Pink Floyd continued to record albums every year. So in 1970 “Atom Heart Mother” was released with a 20-minute title track. The longplay was the first in Britain.

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“We Are the Champions”, “The Show Must Go On”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Innuendo”, “We Will Rock You” and “Radio Ga Ga”. Well, who of the music lovers doesn’t know these outstanding compositions that made Queen a cult and reference group. They also became innovators in the production of music videos, for the first time using original special effects and testing editing techniques.

Musical dystopia
The history of the band began with the student band 1984, featuring Queen listeners Brian May and Tim Staffell of Ealing College of Art. Back in 1967, fascinated by the work of their compatriot George Orwell, they named their band after his famous dystopian novel 1984. After a year of performances in front of school audiences the guys renamed the band Smile. At that time the youngsters realized that it was time to expand and started looking for a drummer. Roger Taylor, who was studying to be a dentist, responded to the vacancy announcement.

Together they managed to negotiate with the Pink Floyd concert organizers and open the show. The first step to a music career was made, but then unexpectedly Tim Staffell decided to leave the band. I had to look for his replacement urgently. It was suggested that his roommate Faroukh Bulsar came to an audition. He repeatedly attended band rehearsals, but never showed the slightest sign that he himself could sing and wanted to.

The birth of the inimitable Queen
Farukh, nicknamed Freddy at an English boarding school in Bombay, had a clear idea of how to behave on stage, how to present his voice correctly to Queen and most importantly, how to organize the work of the whole band.

As soon as he was accepted into the band he decided to give it a new majestic name, Queen, and even designed a logo (he had studied at an art college for a reason!). The core of the band consisted of vocalist-keyboardist Freddie Bulsara, guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. What was missing was a bass player. Mike Grose, Barry Mitchell and Doug Bogie each stayed for a few months. It wasn’t until 1971 that they managed to find a new member of the band, John Deacon, who solidified the core lineup of Queen for the next 20 years.

Almost all the critics are unanimous in the opinion that from the very beginning of their creative way the band Queen was distinguished by the unique style of progressive rock. The secret of their signature style was in the competent combination of several musical directions – heavy metal, hard rock, Queen disco, lyrical ballads, performed by the unique voice of Freddie with power of four octaves. By the way, Freddie considered the outstanding Jimi Hendrix and no less popular Led Zeppelin his idols.

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Music historians, critics and music lovers are still trying to unravel the phenomenon of the four.

Is it even possible to explain such a massive popularity and a truly popular love to the British musicians, who turned the world upside down in the 1960s.

At the origins of The Beatles
It’s impossible to even imagine the culture of the past century without the legendary four of The Beatles. For at least 20 years, they were the role models not just for music bands and performers but for entire generations of young people. It was they who succeeded in instilling love and peace into the war-torn souls of Europeans with their creativity. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of The Beatles in world culture. Could any of the band members even suppose what heights they would climb when they got acquainted with each other and decided to create together.

And everything started way back in 1957. At that time a very young Paul McCartney met a little older John Lennon. At the age of 17, Lennon was the leader of the Quarrymen and was a fan of rock and roll. The band followed the skiffle style of rock ‘n’ roll, which was the British model of rock ‘n’ roll. The BeatlesPaul impressed the new acquaintance – he knew the chords and lyrics of all the rock and roll hits, could play the trumpet and was trained to play the piano. A few months later they began performing together, joined by one of Paul McCartney’s friends, George Harrison. Thus the permanent basis of the future band The Beatles appeared, and later bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, a classmate of John’s at art college, joined them.

In Search of a Name
After several appearances at city events the young people decided that they had already become a cohesive group of like-minded people and began to develop their musical skills and abilities. Of course there were no real concerts yet, they just had to dream about recording a record, but it didn’t bother the ambitious guys in the slightest.

The musicians began to actively make connections in order to get into the club life of Liverpool and start performing live. They didn’t miss any more or less significant creative competitions, but even that didn’t bring the expected results. And then the guys thought about changing the band’s name. First the Quarrymen became Johnny and the Moondogs, then the Silver Belleys, and finally just The Beatles. The Beatles said that it was a joint idea of John and Stuart. They wanted to invent a word that would have a double meaning. They used beetles, and then they changed one letter in it, and got beatles. It sounded the same, but the root beat meant beat music.

It is impossible to say unequivocally that the name change influenced the activity of the band, but soon after that the musicians began to receive offers for gigs. At the beginning of 1960 the band even went on a small tour in Scotland. They just needed to break out of the row of numerous unknown bands in Liverpool that were performing similar music.

With a new image into a new life
In the summer of 1960 a new stage in the creative process of The Beatles began – the band was invited to play in Hamburg, and this meant that a great chance to show themselves to Europe had opened up. Just before the German tour, the long search for a drummer was successful, and Pete Best was accepted into the band. The trip to Germany and the first performances abroad were a real test of the band’s strength. The Beatles spent seven months in Hamburg, where they were welcomed first by the Indra Club and then by the Kaiserkeller regulars.

Their extremely busy schedule gave them no time for relaxation, their club gigs were non-stop, one band after another, and they had to constantly improve themselves in order not to put themselves at a disgrace in front of the German public. On stage they performed jazz, blues, pop and even folk songs with a rock’n’roll twist. It was the German tour that helped the performers sharpen their skills, which was immediately noticed by music lovers in their hometown.

Another event in the history of The Beatles happened in the glorious port city. There the musicians met a couple of students of the local art college – Klaus Forman and Astrid Kircherr. The girls soon developed a romantic relationship with Stuart Sutcliffe, she also took the band’s first professional photo session in a Hamburg park and during their next tour in 1961 she suggested that the musicians change their image. The makeover involved creating new hairstyles with hair pulled back over the forehead and ears, and replacing concert suits with collarless and lapel collar jackets, as promoted by the famous Pierre Cardin. Thus, Astrid actually became their first real image-maker.

The Brian Epstein era.
In Liverpool the band started regular gigs at the Cavern club and already claimed a leading position in the city. The foursome’s main competitors were Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. Its members also came to Hamburg for a tour, and this is where the Beatles saw their drummer Ringo Starr, who later replaced Sutcliffe, who had left the band.

During their second long tour in Germany, The Beatles made their first professional recording. Then they accompanied Tony Sheridan and got permission to record some of their songs.

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