Progressive psych-rock pioneers Pink Floyd nearly pulled an Aerosmith and went hip-hop in 1987.
The fascinating tidbit comes from a 2013 article in the Guardian, which was recently rediscovered by members of Pink Floyd’s sub-Reddit.
As the story goes, David Gilmour enlisted producer Bob Ezrin to produce Pink Floyd’s 1987 comeback album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. In turn, Ezrin encouraged Gilmour to incorporate elements of hip-hop.
“I became fascinated with [rap] in the Afrika Bambaataa days,” Ezrin recounted. “I’m an early adopter … [I] brought some in when we were doing A Momentary Lapse of Reason … going, ‘Boy, I think this stuff with a rock beat would be awesome.'”
Fortunately, Gilmour did not have a momentary lapse of reason, rejecting Ezrin’s idea as “terrible.” Still, the band did end up using several hip-hop techniques on the album, such as the use of sampling and drum machines. Case in point: opening track “Signs of Life”.
Also don’t expect to hear any hip-hop on Gilmour’s new solo album, Rattle That Lock, due out September 18th.
